Building a Synthesis Claim
IntroducedA sentence neither source could have written
- That is the target: a claim that needs two sources and belongs to neither.
- If your sentence could have come from one source alone, you have quoted, not synthesised.
- If it could have come from no source at all, you have asserted.
When two sources sit at the table, let them talk to each other instead of reading their own menus in turn.
The target for a synthesis claim is a sentence that...
If one source could have written it, you quoted; if none was needed, you asserted.
Three shapes that work
- Agreement that is thinner than it looks: both defend it, for reasons that do not survive together.
- Disagreement about the question: they differ not on the answer but on what is being asked.
- A gap: what neither source is in a position to see.
Turn a source into evidence in three moves
A synthesis essay is not a tour of the sources — the third move is where the synthesis happens.
Select all the synthesis shapes this lesson gives.
The fourth is summary in sequence, which is the shape synthesis avoids.
Writing the paragraph
- Open with your claim, before either source is named.
- Bring the first source in with attribution inside the sentence.
- Bring the second in as what it changes about the first, not as a separate report.
Put the parts of a synthesis paragraph in order.
The claim comes first, which is what makes the paragraph yours.
A synthesis claim that appears in one of the sources is a quotation with the marks removed. The test is not whether you used two sources but whether the claim needed both — search your own sentence for in the sources before you keep it.
Noting that a source never addresses an objection is legitimate evidence in a synthesis essay.
Consideration of other positions is a credibility measure the CED gives you.
Using a source's limits
- Consideration of other positions is a credibility measure you may apply in the essay.
- "Source A's account never addresses the objection Source D raises" is legitimate evidence.
- You are not attacking the source — you are weighing it, which is what synthesis requires.
Test a synthesis claim by ____ every source name and checking a claim remains.
Then search the sources for that claim — it should not be there.
Two tests
- Delete every source name. Is there still a claim? There should be.
- Search the sources for that claim. It should not be there.
- A claim that passes both is yours, built from theirs — which is the definition of synthesis.
"Sources B and D both defend the scheme, but B defends the operation and D the effect — so the agreement holds only while nobody asks which one the funding was for." Neither source says this; both are required to say it.
Aim for a claim that needs two sources and belongs to neither. Useful shapes: agreement thinner than it looks, disagreement about the question, or a gap neither source can see. Open with your claim, attribute inside the sentence, and test by deleting the source names.