Synthesizing Information

1. Synthesizing Information

2. The Research Process The process of doing research for a project has several stages: first you must find the information, next you must evaluate its quality, then you must synthesize it in order to use it effectively. This tutorial will show you how to go about that third stage of synthesizing information. At the end of this tutorial, you will understand what it means to synthesize information and know how to do it.

3. Synthesizing Information Synthesizing information enables you to draw your own conclusions and generate new ideas based on what you learn. This will help you with many of your assignments. Its important to synthesize information because it enables you to draw your own conclusions and come up with new ideas based on what you’ve learned. This is essential for things like composing speeches and writing research papers.

4. Step One – Study and Learn You must familiarize yourself with the contents of your sources to absorb information. The library has spaces where you can do this, whether you’re reading books and articles or watching films or listening to recordings. The first step in synthesizing information is familiarizing yourself with the contents of the materials you’ve gathered. Cameron University Library provides comfortable and quiet reading areas, computers, and audio-visual rooms where you can accomplish this. You can use computers located outside of the library to view films or read articles and other information that you’ve accessed through the library’s websites and databases.

5. Step Two – Compare and Contrast Your next step is to compare your sources to each other and to information you already know. Ask yourself critical questions: 1) Does the information differ from other sources or from your preconceptions? 2) Did it change your understanding of the subject? 3) Did the information raise new questions? Step two is to think about the various articles, books, and other resources you have used and how they relate to one another. Do you believe what you have read or viewed? Why or why not? Did what you read or viewed change your understanding of the subject? If so, why and how did it change? What would you like others to know about the subject? Answering these questions will enable you to use your own words to create a unique, nuanced, and intriguing interpretation of the subject. When you’ve done that, you’ll be able to present your professors with quality work.

6. Strategies for Synthesizing Information To effectively synthesize information, it helps to engage your mind. Try: • Taking notes • Creating an outline of important points • Paraphrasing and summarizing key ideas Information synthesis is an active process – you have to stretch your brain around new information to internalize it. Some ways to do it include taking notes, outlining important facts and ideas, and summarizing the information. Try paraphrasing new information; if you can put it into your own words, you know that you understand it.

7. Citing Your Sources Citing your sources gives credibility to your work. It shows that you have consulted a variety of sources and examined each thoroughly. Library Resource Guides can help you with your citation style questions. Remember to cite your information correctly in order to support your conclusions about the content. When you use an author’s exact wording, enclose his or her words in quotation marks. When you summarize an author’s ideas, provide information as to the source of those ideas according to your professor’s instructions. You can find information about citation in the Library Resources Guides, available on the website.

8. Synthesizing Information Synthesizing information means looking at it from different perspectives and examining all aspects. Not only will this help you truly learn information, but it will also help you perform better in your academic and professional pursuits. Information synthesis enables you to write a research paper or speech or create a presentation. It enables you to learn from what you read and create knew knowledge or new ways of understanding existing knowledge. Combined with citing sources, information synthesis leads to originality and helps avoid plagiarism. Successful students, employees and consumers use information synthesis skills to make good decisions that achieve goals, whether those goals relate to completing a course or work assignment or purchasing a product.

9. After viewing the tutorial, how do you define “information synthesis?” ? ? ?

10. After viewing the tutorial, how do you define “information synthesis?” • Below is one possible answer to the question: After viewing the tutorial, how do you define “information synthesis?” • I would define “Information Synthesis” as understanding what I’ve read, seen and heard by putting it in my own words and drawing conclusions from it. When I use information synthesis, I don’t just reword or copy/paste the things I’ve learned; I think about the different facts and ideas on their own to better understand them, and then I put them back together so I can see the big picture. To synthesize information I have to first summarize it, and then compare it, and finally draw conclusions from it. I can use these conclusions to explain a situation to others or to argue in favor or against a case.

11. What benefits do good information synthesis skills give you? ? ? ?

12. What benefits do good information synthesis skills give you? • Below is one possible answer to the question: What benefits do good information synthesis skills give you? • One of the things I like about synthesizing information is that I can be original; even if others use the same sources as I do, when I summarize, compare and contrast information to synthesize it I’m drawing my own conclusions. Even if others agree with me, they’ll do it with their own words and from their own conclusions, so I don’t have to worry about plagiarism. What I really like about information synthesis is I can discover new connections between things I already knew and have learned, and that helps me remember and better understand new facts and ideas. Good information synthesis skills are especially useful to make correct conclusions.

13. Congratulations! Now that you have viewed the Synthesizing Information tutorial, click on the button below to complete the Synthesizing Information Activity. Synthesizing Information Activity If you need help, please contact a reference librarian by either calling (580) 581-2957 or emailing culibrarian@cameron.edu