Wrap up the synthesis with a concluding paragraph in which all the major themes are covered. The conclusion should also clarify the ways each outlined theme connects to the topic of the essay. In this paragraph, you may offer your own interpretation of the themes and points or suggest directions for further research if these activities are relevant to the task.
The first emotion students often have when they hear the words “synthesis essay” is bewilderment. This is a completely natural reaction because it isn’t easy to guess from the name what the peculiarities of this task might be. If you have been given the assignment to write an essay of this type and you have no idea how to get started, you have come to the right place! Below you will find the ultimate guide on how to write a synthesis essay. Learn how to write a winning synthesis paper that will impress your teacher.
Writing a synthesis essay outline is the first thing you should do before you get started. The process of creating an outline isn’t a waste of time. Even if you don't need to show it to the teacher, you should do it in order to make sure you create a well-organized paper. A good outline serves as the backbone of your essay, keeping you on track and on point throughout the entire writing process. Writing without an outline increases the risk of you creating a meandering, disorganized paper.
In order to make the best choice from the synthesis essay topics presented to you, it is important to know what a synthesis paper is. Defining a synthesis essay is quite easy once you understand what “to synthesize” means—namely, to form a single whole by putting separate pieces together. Correspondingly, a synthesis essay requires students to piece together information or facts gathered from several sources in order to build a single argument that reveals their position on the topic. The challenge of writing a synthesis essay stems from the fact that students should not only summarize the major themes they obtain from their sources but also explain the specific relationships between said pieces of information. Synthesis essays can be written with different purposes in mind, and there are multiple types.
How to Write a Synthesis Essay Outline
- Include phrases that signify the relationships between different pieces of information.
One of the biggest problems today in academia is that incoming students do not know what a credible source is, and as a result, they cite Facebook, blogs, and other types of unreliable media in their papers. When writing a paper, stick with academic journals and websites, books, and other such material.
As synthesis papers are primarily informative in character, it is important to clearly explain how the discovered facts interact in the context of the examined topic. You should show both similarities and differences in the ways different sources address the topic. Argumentative synthesis essay topics often require students to present views that oppose their chosen position, as well as a refutation of the opposing argument.
Well, the structure of the synthesis essay varies, determined by the writing. To write a well-organized essay, you should follow the below steps:
The primary purpose of the essay is to make connections between small parts of the work. The goal is to present and support evidence on the topic. You have to do thorough research about the topic.
By reading the sources, pick facts, ideas, and statistics in support of your thesis statement.
- The author should have a minimum of three sources for the essay. Analyze all the sources that relate to your topic. Note down the important points in a paper and to keep track of your ideas and thoughts.
Understand the concept:
This type of essay present’s the author’s view and opinions. Also, it arranges the relevant information collected from various researches in a rational way to provide support for the thesis. Hence, students use this type of essay for writing an AP test.
Choose a broad topic that may put together several sources. You are free to choose a topic. But make research before you go ahead. Fully understand the assigned topic and carefully mark your observations.
Generally, this type of essay described the discussion that has done on a previous topic and critically analyzing the sources. Also, it indicates that deep research should have done or the issues in the part have not adequately described. And, this essay is mostly written in medicine and social science.
- It is used in investigating documents to study theories.
- Research documents to merge different sources
- Business papers to check varying concepts and incorporate into a consistent plan
- Argument reports to match contrasting views and uphold a systematic claim
Find the sweet spot between a topic that’s too broad, which can be difficult to address fully, and a topic that’s too marrow, which might not have enough available information.В
Once you have a topic in mind, find at least 3 sources and read them thoroughly while taking notes on specific facts to help build your thesis statement.
APA stands for American Psychological Association and is a citation style used for science, education, and psychology. These are the key formatting rules for APA:
Citation is important for any paper, but especially for one that is research-driven. The three main citation styles are MLA, APA, and Chicago. Each one has its own synthesis essay format and conventions described below.В
How to Write a Synthesis Paper
Now that you know what a synthesis essay is, what the structure should be, and have an outline to fill, let’s get to how to write a synthesis essay!
Body paragraphs are the main text of your essay. This is where you will present your research, support your thesis, and build your case.В
If you have to choose your own topic make sure that the issue you choose has opposing views so that you can find research backing both sides.В
The basic synthesis essay structure follows the 5 paragraph essay format.В
When you choose synthesis essay topics, you should think of subjects that have debates around them. Pick issues with grey areas around them or the ones you can form a unique view or opinion on.
- Your understanding of the major issues presented in the synthesis essay.
- Your understanding of the smaller issues in the sources.
- Critical reading, analytical and evaluation skills.
- Your ability to develop an argument.
At the end of the introductory paragraph of a synthesis essay comes a thesis statement. It should answer the question succinctly and state your position on the issue or title of the essay. Moreover, it should explain why this issue is important and how the world would be different without you raising this problem.
A profile essay, or article, is a piece of journalistic-cum-literary writing. The aim is to present factual information on a given topic (person, place, animal, or event) while writing with an individual tone and style. In this article, we will expand on the concept of a profile essay. We will also tackle what a profile is and what purpose profiles serve. Finally, we will present strategies for preparing your research and strengthening your writing technique, as well as offer tips on structure and potential topics.
Interesting Synthesis Essay Topics
The definition of synthesis is ‘the combination of components or elements to form a connected whole. So, to synthesize a text you have to combine information from a number of sources into a coherent paper.
- Restate the thesis statement. Remind the readers what the main point of your synthesis essay was. It is always a good idea to help them remember it.
- Mention the evidence. You used various sources to support your thesis statement in a synthesis essay. And a conclusion is the perfect time and place to remind of them. Don’t take too long though. Just briefly go over each one of them. If someone forgot something and needs a more vivid reminder, they can go back to a particular place in your article and read it.
- Call to action. This might not be applicable all the time. However, if you are trying to persuade the audience in something, you should definitely make sure that use your chance now to encourage them to take measures after finishing your synthesis essay.
- Analyzing the source.
- Choosing an interesting title.
- Building an outline.
- Crafting an introduction.
- Developing the main body paragraphs.
- Writing a conclusion.
An argumentative synthesis essay is one where you’re using the source material to prove your claim by citing credible conflicting theories, experiments where the theory was falsified, quotes or statistics. You’re not seeking to explain. You aim to understand how to persuade and write an argumentative essay that supports and proves your argument.
Essays earning a score of 5 take a position that defends, challenges, or qualifies the claim that minimum wage decreases the competitiveness of the job market. They support their position by synthesizing and citing at least three sources, but the downside is that the use of cited sources is limited, inconsistent, or represented in an unclear manner. The writer’s argument is clear, and the sources support the writer’s position, but the established relationship between the sources and the argument is not somewhat fragile. The writing may lack on the front of diction or syntax, but it adequately conveys their idea and stance.
Before you scurry off to write your bombastic, controversial point of view, you need to plan. Make sure you have a particular approach to an outline and you will not need to rewrite essay.
This type of assignment is frequently used in the AP English Language and Composition class, which as you have probably noticed, is quite scrupulous. It requires a student to showcase a deeper understanding of the subject matter through analytical reading and writing. Being able to mold language into one’s favor is a critical skill within college application and everything after it.
1.Those earning a score of 1 meet the criteria for the score of two but are notably simplistic or weak in their control of writing or do not use or cite a single source.
How to Format a Synthesis Essay (MLA / APA)
First things first, what does synthesis mean? Synthesis revolves around working with a mix of elements or ideas and implementing them into one whole. Within this context, you probably got an assignment that involves several texts, and the aim is to dissect them. Synthesis usually requires a thesis, an idea that the essay bases on to get the point across. Playing with this idea is instrumental to college success.
A 9 is tough to achieve because it fits all of the criteria that an eight would, but advances in the level of sophistication of presenting a compelling argument or exceptionally good language usage.
Here is an example of a comprehensive synthesis essay outline used by writers from our write my essay service.
"Minimum wage should be abolished because a perfect capitalist system allows the market to decide how much a good or a service is worth and employers need to compete for employees as much as they need to compete for profit."