4c. Synthesise

4c. Synthesise#

Introduction#

After you have read and summarised relevant sources, it is time to add your own voice to what you have found! A synthesis is therefore not the same as a summary: When you synthesise information, you add your own critical reflection as you compare of the work of others. Why are the articles you have summarised and read important? It is up to you to decide which sources you will include and what point you want to make, based on your critical evaluation of everything you have found and read. You will often be asked to create a synthesis as part of a literature review at the beginning of your project, or at the end of your project by connecting your results to the literature of other scholars.

Watch the video below to learn more about the process of synthesising:


“Research Synthesis” by USU Libraries is licensed CC-BY-NC

Step 1

Organise Your Findings
Organise your sources in such a way that you can compare them

Step 2

Decide how to Group
Pick an organising category like methods or common themes

Step 3

Write Paragraphs
Synthesise your findings in paragraphs with multiple sources

Step 1: Organise your Findings#

During your master thesis synthesising literature is often necessary at two major points of your process (Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, 2022)

  1. Synthesising literature at the start of your project (literature review) Often the starting point of a master thesis are the outcomes of a literature review. Based on what others have done, you formulate your own research questions and proposal. This type of synthesis can be done very early in your thesis process. In your final thesis, this type of synthesis often becomes part of your introduction or a separate literature review. Often here you highlight key works and concepts within a field.

  2. Synthesise literature with your own results (writing the discussion or conclusion of your paper) When you have done your study, you will want to connect your own findings to the main concepts and studies within the field. This synthesis will become part of the discussion and conclusion of your master thesis. Here you connect your findings to the literature to see how they relate, compare how your findings differ and what they add to the body of work that has already been done.

As you are reading and summarising, you should already have thought about how you want to use the information in your project. In what ways are the sources relevant or irrelevant to the project? Why are they important and how do they connect to your research question? Keep these questions in mind as you start synthesising.

There is not just one standard practice for synthesising literature. It can help to create an overview or matrix with information from your different sources to find similarities and differences (as already mentioned in the previous section about summarising). You can also use a mindmapping tool to help summarise the main findings from the different sources you have studied. Ask yourself questions like:

  • What major themes or concepts keep coming up in the literature I am reading?

  • What are strengths and weaknesses of my sources?

  • Are there knowledge gaps discussed? (USU Libraries, 2019)

THESIS SUPERVISOR

Once you have an initial overview of your findings, this is a great time to share them with your supervisor, they can help you refine your arguments.

Step 2: Decide how to group your sources#

When grouping your sources, you integrate the different sources to tell your perspective on the literature you found. Rather than a summary, this is where you combine the sources to create a new overview of the literature on a topic (introduction or literature review), or combine the main findings in the sources with your own results to discuss your findings (discussion).

If your focus is for example on developing or evaluating a specific method, you could organise your synthesis by methods. You could look at data, equations or models from the sources in your literature review, potentially replot graphs connected to proposed solutions or merge data found by different sources and analyse their findings, connecting them to your own ideas or building your own methodology.

To support these types of syntheses, you might want to look into graph digitization tools like Engauge, which extract data from graphs.

When your goal is, for example, to analyse the different discussions going on between scholars, you could use a thematic grouping of sources (College of Arts and Sciences, n.d.). This is often a helpful way of discussing sources when you are writing the introduction of your project.

When you synthesise thematically, you make an argument connected to the themes you have found within the research. For example when you are writing your literature review, it is common to highlight the themes that are playing an important role in a research field. You could for example argue that there are 3 main themes currently addressed around your topic, and continue with a discussion of each of the three themes, presenting sources related to each topic. For each theme, add your own ideas or results to the theme discussed to add to the scholarly conversation.

Point of view can be a helpful format to build a synthesis around when you find many differences between scholars (College of Arts and Sciences, n.d.). You could start your discussion by contrasting and comparing different opinions that come forward in the sources you have selected and add your view on which arguments and evidence is more compelling. In addition, you could connect these opinions to the outcomes of your own research if relevant.

These groupings can help you identify the main ideas within the literature and how they have developed over time (College of Arts and Sciences, n.d.). Rather than providing a timeline of all events surrounding a topic, keep your analysis of the sources critical. This means synthesising sources which came out around the same time and placing your own research within the development of the field. Is your research new? Or is it part of a longer tradition?

Step 3: Write paragraphs with topic sentences#

For each paragraph you write, you should have a clear topic sentence. In these sentences you state your findings and decisions, supported by the sources you have selected. In this way, the paragraphs become the building blocks of your findings within the literature. Your own thoughts and decisions should be leading when you write these topic sentences.

Use Your Voice

Topic sentences in your synthesis should reflect your findings and viewpoints from your literature review, or connect your own research results to the literature. It is not enough to merely provide a summary of the sources.

If you have your own research findings, use them as part of these paragraphs. How do your findings differ from the already established literature?

Do you want more information on how to build good paragraphs and sentences? Have a look at this article to learn different ways to approach the synthesis (Lumen, n.d.)

Practice#

As explained, a synthesis is more than a summary of sources. In a synthesis you add your own thoughts and critical analysis. Unsure about the difference between a synthesis and a summary? Practice with a scenario and see if you recognise the difference between descriptive writing (which is commonly used in a summary) and critical writing (needed for writing a synthesis)


"IL M4 Activity 2" by Educability is licensed under CC-BY-NC-SA

References#