English

Many students develop a habit in high school of writing down their ideas and then finding sources to support their ideas and they insert quotes and statistics into their writing. These students know what they believe before they research and they only look for sources to satisfy the minimum requirements of an assignment.

That is the opposite of information literacy. As such, it's not what any professor wants you to do in any class at the university level. Instead, we want you to synthesize your sources, synthesize the information we're giving you, synthesize the information between different classes. If you understand synthesis, you may also better understand why we describe research as a "conversation" and why we insist that you cite your sources. Additionally, synthesis is an important life skill, not just a "school" skill--you will synthesize information in your work life. Let's look at what synthesis is.

Step 1: Watch and Post

Watch the video on Synthesis (FIU Writing Program).

Links to an external site. 1. In your own words, what is synthesis? 2. What part of the video most clarified synthesis for you? 3. Let's practice synthesis, based on what you've been reading. Name one opinion

or conclusion you've drawn about your research topic, based on your research on your topic so far. This can be part of the answer to your research question, or it can be something that is sort of connected. It doesn't have to be a big idea from your research--it can be something smaller that you've encountered along the way. For example, if I'm in the process of researching "should Miami-Dade expand its bus routes?" I might choose to focus for this activity on the idea that I've encountered that busses are not the most environmentally friendly public transport and we need more environmentally friendly options, like trains, or, I might focus on the idea I've read a lot that Miami is behind most major cities in terms of having reliable options for public transit, and that we need more than just busses to solve this problem. These are not directly answering my research question (should we expand the bus routes?), but they are ideas I've encountered a lot, and I've thought about what my sources have said about it, and I've formed an opinion. Take one opinion or conclusion that you've made after reading your sources for Unit 2 and state it in one sentence. Make it a topic sentence. Then, write a paragraph to support that topic sentence. Explain some of the evidence you've encountered that has convinced you of that idea.

▪ Important tip: remember to begin your synthesis paragraph with a specific topic sentence that is your opinion. Then that paragraph will give examples from texts you read to support that observation/ conclusion. Don't forget to cite quotes and statistics! Basically, your job in this paragraph is to share and opinion and then share what convinced you of your opinion as you read, in order to try to convince us to have the same opinion!

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