Writing Synthesis Paragraphs
IntroducedSort the sources before you write a word
- Most weak synthesis essays were decided before the first sentence — at the sorting stage.
- Sorting sources by side gives you two piles and a paragraph per pile.
- Sorting them by something else gives you an argument.
“For” and “against” are easy piles to make. Unfortunately, piles do not argue.
Sorting sources by side produces...
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
The sorting decision determines the essay's shape before any writing begins.
Two ways to open a paragraph
- Weak: name a source, then say what it says.
- Strong: state a claim of your own, then bring sources in to defend it.
- The order decides whether the paragraph belongs to you or to the sources.
Relevant and sufficient are two different failures with two opposite fixes
A synthesis paragraph should open by naming the source it will use.
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
Open with your own claim, then bring sources in to defend it.
Using more than one source in a claim
- The strongest synthesis sentences hold two sources at once and say something about the relationship.
- "Both X and Y argue Z, but for reasons that do not survive together."
- That sentence could not be written from either source alone — which is the definition of integration.
Which paragraph opening?
Sort each opening by whether the paragraph will belong to the writer.
The strongest synthesis sentences hold ____ sources at once and say something about their relationship.
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
A sentence that could be written from one source alone has not integrated anything.
Sorting sources by side is the decision that produces a low-scoring essay, before a word is written. Two piles give you two paragraphs of summary. Sort by perspective, method, or what each source is in a position to know instead.
Match each attribution style to its effect.
Difficulty 2/5 · 140 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
Attribution inside the sentence does two jobs at once.
Citing as you go
- Attribute inside the sentence rather than in a separate announcement.
- "As Source C's figures show, ..." attributes and integrates at the same time.
- "Source C says the following: ..." announces, and then the reader waits.
Select all the checks this lesson gives for a synthesis paragraph.
Difficulty 2/5 · 140 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
Length is never one of the checks.
Checking a synthesis paragraph
- Delete every source name and read what is left. Is there still a claim? There should be.
- Now check whether that claim appears in any single source. It should not.
- A claim that survives both tests is yours, built from theirs.
Two students use the same six sources. One writes "For" and "Against" and fills each. The other notices that the supporting sources are all administrators and the opposing ones all participants — and writes a paragraph about who is in a position to see what. Same sources, one argument.
Sort sources by something other than side. Open each paragraph with your own claim, then bring sources in. The strongest sentences hold two sources at once and say something about their relationship, and attribution belongs inside the sentence.
Write from a safety argument and a grades argument
- Two sources both support a phone ban.
- One argues from safety. One argues from grades.
- Say how to sort them.
Two sources both favour a phone ban in lessons. One argues from safety and one from grades. How should a synthesis essay sort them?
Same side, different perspective, is the useful sort.
What is the better way to sort these two sources?
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
Perspective gives you a claim. Side gives you a list.