Commentary and Synthesis
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Synthesis/ˈsɪnθəsɪs/ | Combining information, ideas or elements into a coherent whole. |
| attribution and citation/ətrɪˈbjuːʃn ænd saɪˈteɪʃn/ | Naming who said something and where it was found. |
The sentence before the quotation matters too
- Students learn to explain evidence after using it.
- Fewer learn to introduce it before.
- Unit 3 gives commentary two jobs, not one.
A quotation without a lead-in lands on the page like a guest who arrived before the host.
Commentary's two jobs
- Effective use of evidence uses commentary to establish a logical relationship between evidence and claim.
- Writers also introduce source material using commentary, integrating it into the line of reasoning.
- So commentary comes before the evidence as well as after it.
Commentary as four rungs- the reasoning point is awarded for the last one
Commentary's two jobs are to...
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Commentary comes before the evidence as well as after it.
What synthesis actually requires
- Synthesis 综合 requires consideration, explanation and integration of others' arguments into your own.
- The word integration rules out a paragraph that summarises each source in turn.
- A source is integrated when your claim could not be made without it — and is not simply a restatement of it.
Summary or synthesis?
Sort each paragraph shape by what it achieves.
Summarising each source in its own paragraph counts as synthesis.
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Integration is required; one paragraph per source is the classic low-scoring shape.
Match each element to where it sits in a paragraph.
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Commentary wraps the evidence on both sides.
Synthesis is not summary in sequence. A paragraph per source, however accurate, produces no claim of your own — and the claim of your own is what the task is asking for.
Acknowledging others' words and ideas is done through attribution and ____.
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On the exam this is a requirement of the task, not only an academic convention.
Attribution
- Writers must acknowledge the words, ideas, images, texts and intellectual property of others.
- That is done through attribution and citation 归属与引用.
- On the exam this is a requirement of the task, not only an academic convention.
Select all the signs that a source has been integrated rather than summarised.
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One paragraph per source is the shape integration avoids.
Spotting weak synthesis
- One paragraph per source is the classic low-scoring shape.
- "Source A says X. Source C says Y. Both discuss the issue." — no claim, no integration, no reasoning.
- Ask of your own paragraph: whose claim is this? If it belongs to a source, you have summarised.
Weak: "Source B supports the policy. Source D also supports it." Strong: "Sources B and D both defend the policy, but B defends it as an administrator measuring compliance while D defends it as a participant describing what it made possible — so the agreement is thinner than it appears." The claim belongs to the writer.
Commentary has two jobs: introducing source material into the reasoning and establishing the logical relationship afterwards. Synthesis requires integration, not summary in sequence, and all borrowed material needs attribution and citation.
Write from the word tired
- A coach is quoted as saying the team was tired.
- Say what must stand on both sides of that quotation.
A paragraph quotes a coach saying the team was tired. What two jobs does commentary have around that word, and why is the quotation alone not synthesis?
The word tired has to be put to work by the writer.
What is missing if the coach's word tired stands alone?
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Integration is the writer's sentence, not more of the source.