To Inform and Delight: Employing Synthesis for Scholarship that Shines By Annie Pezalla Dissertation Editor

1. To Inform and Delight: Employing Synthesis for Scholarship that ShinesBy Annie PezallaDissertation Editor

2. Overview • Importance of synthesis • Synthesis vs. summary • Common synthesis mistakes • Group work

3. So…you have to write a literature review • What’s the point? • To determine the current state of knowledge about a particular topic. • What do we know about this issue? • What DON’T we know?

4. So…you have to write a literature review • What does that require? • A literature review requires a synthesis of different subtopics to come to a greater understanding of the state of knowledge on a larger issue.

5. Summary vs. synthesis • So…basically I just read the articles and summarize each one separately? • No. A literature review is not a summary. • A summary is a recap of a source (or sources). • A synthesis is an integrated essay based on multiple sources.

6. Howard Gardner’s Five Minds… The disciplined mind The ethical mind The creating mind The respectful mind The synthesizing mind Five Minds for the Future

7. The Synthesizing Mind • “…takes information from disparate sources and puts it together in ways that make sense to the synthesizer and also other persons.”

8. A synthesized paper • “…is an integrated, critical essay on the most relevant and current published knowledge on the topic.” – Walden’s rubric • Works like a jigsaw puzzle • The individual pieces (arguments) must be put together in order to reveal the whole (state of knowledge).

9. A synthesized paper • “…is organized around major ideas or themes and subconcepts of all aspects of the study.” – Walden’s rubric theories trends methods

10. Synthesis • One section of the literature review might read: Zuckerman (2008) has suggested that X is true. Pezalla (2009) has also argued that X is true, but has pointed out that the effects of X may be different from those suggested by Zuckerman. X

11. Synthesis • Subtopic X is the main idea covered in these sentences. • Zuckerman and Pezalla agree that X is true, but they disagree on X’s effects. There is both agreement and disagreement, but what links the two arguments is that they both concern X. X

12. Evidence of synthesis • “The results of X are consistent with Y…” • “Although X suggests ___, Y reaches a different conclusion…”

13. Evidence of synthesis • But synthesized paper is more than one that includes those synthesizing phrases. • A synthesized paper should leave a reader with a HOLISTIC SENSE that the writer has conveyed his or her own new ideas, and has drawn on a chorus of support.

14. Synthesis as transformation • Synthesis is mental gymnastics. Inside your mind, you combine elements of separate material or abstract entities into one uniform concept.

15. Evidence of synthesis • Dinner party analogy

16. What synthesis AIN’T: Common blunders • Two or more sources in a paragraph—period. The effects of dark chocolate have been found on mood (Hershey, 2004); namely, the more dark chocolate one eats, the more cheerful one tends to be. White chocolate has little effect on mood (Ghirardelli, 2005). • Synthesis does not mean simply having two or more sources. Having more than one source is an excellent first step, but real synthesis isn’t happening unless a relationship between the sources is apparent.

17. What synthesis AIN’T: Common blunders • Random synthesis words thrown in for good measure One reason that chocolate should be on every elementary school lunch menu is that it makes students feel good. Rita Dove, president of Dove Chocolate, agrees, stating, “ Chocolate is the perfect end to a satisfying luncheon” (Hershey, 2009, p. 18). Use words deliberately. A word like ‘agrees’ should be reserved for occasions when a real relationship is being explored.

18. What synthesis AIN’T: Common blunders • Quotes upon quotes “Dark chocolate contains antioxidants” (Ghirardelli, 2008, p. 3); “antioxidants protect cells from free radical damage” (Oz, 2009, p. 27). “Dark chocolate can be incorporated into many snacks or meals” (Crocker, 2002, p. 22). • Always ask yourself: are you interpreting quotes and furthering your own ideas, or are you just piling quotes one on top of the other?

19. What synthesis AIN’T: Common blunders • Too much of one source Hershey (2005) has found that chocolate can boost one’s mood… Hershey (2005) has discovered a relationship between happiness and consumption of chocolate… Hershey’s (2005) study revealed that women eat significantly more chocolate than men… • One source shouldn’t be driving your study.

20. What synthesis AIN’T: Common blunders • Starting or ending a paragraph with a direct quote. “Potato chips are tasty treats but leave your fingers feeling greasy,”(Smith, 2005, p. 267). Potato chips are a favorite snack food among Americans (Wise, 1997, p. 23), but researchers have documented how they tend to leave your fingers, arteries, and intestinal tract with a Vaseline-like substance (Edwards, 2006). “There is a big problem for people who eat potato chips while typing on a laptop” (Edwards, 2006, p. 19). “Another snack food with potential problems is the corn chip” (Jones, 2008, p . 45).

21. What synthesis AIN’T: Common blunders • Organization based on solely on authors, not ideas. Author A Author C Author B

22. Group Work Split into three separate groups. These handouts represent material on similar topics from three separate disciplines. The groups have documents labeled either A, B, or C.

23. Group Work Summarize the material in the space provided. Work quietly for the next ten minutes to summarize three main ideas in the text you have been given. Try not to disturb others.

24. Process • Find an individual from the other two groups to turn your three summarized documents into one cohesive piece of synthesis. • Together, come up with a few sentences that incorporates the divergent concepts and looks at them with a singular lens. • This will take about fifteen minutes. Come back together for discussion.

25. In a New York Times editorial “The central process driving this [shift in thinking] is the skills revolution. We’re moving into a more demanding cognitive age. In order to thrive, people are compelled to become better at absorbing, processing, and combining information. This is happening in localized and globalized sectors, and it would be happening even if you tore up every free trade deal ever inked” (Brooks, 2008).

26. Questions?