What is Synthesis?

Synthesis is when a writer weaves several voices or perspectives into their paragraph. This allows the writer to show differing ideas in conversation with one another. There are a couple ways to show sources interacting with each other's claims or to show source interaction with the writer's main point. Let's take an example:

Confirm

Think of it this way: let's say your friend Jana refers you to a restaurant they really enjoy. Jana exclaims: "You have to check it out! They have the most amazing mocktails!"

Your friend Natasha overhears the conversation and chimes in: "their truffle fries are so good."

As you can see, these two pieces of information confirm one another. In writing, you may also find two pieces of evidence that confirm eachother or your argument. This is fantastic for building an argumentative paragraph. Usually, all you need is a transitional word suggesting agreement between the two pieces of evidence, and a way to tell us what these pieces of evidence are confirming. For example:

"Rising temperatures in the western United States are having a measurable impact on agricultural productivity. A 2022 report from the USDA shows that prolonged drought conditions have reduced wheat yields in Colorado by nearly 18% over the past five years. Similarly, a peer-reviewed study in Agricultural Economics (2023) found a strong correlation between increased average summer temperatures and declining corn output across the region. Together, these sources confirm my argument that climate-related stressors are not isolated incidents but part of a broader trend affecting multiple staple crops, signaling a growing threat to regional food security."

These two pieces of evidence (2022 report from the USDA and a peer reviewed study from 2023) agree with eachother. The author also asserts her argument in the final sentence, allowing her own voice to be heard as well.

Contradict

Let's go back to the restaurant example. When you invite another friend, Oscar, to the restaurant, he goes a bit green and says, "I'm pretty sure I had food poisoning from their salmon. Avoid them at all costs."

Now you have two pieces of evidence for, but one piece of evidence against going to the restaurant. When you have two sources that disagree with eachother, you may want to include both in a paragraph anyways. Why? It's a great way to create counterargument paragraphs or address possible concerns your audience might have with your thesis. In this case, you could use the same format as above, simply adding a transitional word that suggests disagreement between the two sources. For example:

"The impact of screen time on adolescent mental health remains a subject of debate among researchers. A 2021 study published in JAMA Pediatrics concludes that excessive screen use—particularly social media—is linked to increased rates of anxiety and depression among teens, emphasizing the need for stricter limits. In contrast, a 2022 article in The Journal of Adolescent Research argues that screen time alone is not a reliable predictor of mental health outcomes and that factors like offline social support and sleep quality play a far more significant role. This disagreement highlights the complexity of the issue and suggests that screen time may be a contributing factor, but not the sole cause, of adolescent distress."

Notice that while these two pieces of evidence disagree with eachother, they both illustrate that the claim in the topic sentence is likely true.

Complicate

Finally, you can show that two sources might not agree or disagree with eachother, but simply complicate eachother. This is an excellent way to show nuance in a topic, revealing the depth that experts (and you!) understand it.

Let's return once more to the restaurant example. Oscar's roommate overhears the conversation you're having with him about food poisoning. He laughs a moment, and says, "But Oscar, you ate that restaurant's leftover salmon after it was sitting on our counter all day- of course you were sick!"

Now we have a complication- the roommate isn't saying that the restaurant is amazing, but he is saying there's another explanation for food poisoning. So, was Oscar sick because of the restaurant, or because he didn't refrigerate his leftover salmon? Sometimes with complications, we leave with more questions than we began with.

"While many studies suggest that remote work improves employee productivity, the picture becomes more complex when considering long-term effects on collaboration. For example, a 2021 report from Gallup found that employees working remotely reported higher productivity and job satisfaction compared to their in-office counterparts. However, a 2023 study from MIT complicates this finding by showing that extended remote work can weaken informal communication networks, leading to slower project development and reduced innovation in team-based environments. This suggests that while individual productivity may rise, organizational creativity and cohesion could suffer—pointing to trade-offs that single-metric studies might overlook."

Note again that the writer's topic sentence argues for complexity, so these two quotes serve as perfect evidence for the claim.

Strategies to Avoid: Using Quotes as Filler

Sometimes students may be tempted to use quotes as filler in their papers. While this can increase your word count, it most certainly will not improve your paper. See why below.

Strategies to Avoid: Missing the Synthesis

Sometimes, students will use quotes without synthesizing them or having a guiding point to the paragraph (topic sentence). If we did that with our restaurant  example, it might look like this:

"You have to check it out! They have the most amazing mocktails!" (Jana). "Their truffle fries are so good" (Natasha). "I'm pretty sure I had food poisoning from their salmon. Avoid them at all costs" (Oscar). "But Oscar, you ate that restaurant's leftover salmon after it was sitting on our counter all day- of course you were sick!" (Oscar's roommate).

These dropped quotes are placed haphazardly together with no context, and no guiding claim or argument. However, if we add those things, we get:

The new restaurant in town is getting mixed reviews among my peers. My friend Jana says, "you have to check it out! They have the most amazing mocktails!" and another friend, Natasha, agrees that "their truffle fries are so good". However, Oscar warns me that "I'm pretty sure I had food poisoning from their salmon. Avoid them at all costs". Further complicating that stance is Oscar's roommate, who protests: "But Oscar, you ate that restaurant's leftover salmon after it was sitting on our counter all day- of course you were sick!" Since I've seen mostly positive reviews among my friends, I plan to check out online reviews before making a decision to eat there.

Note: the different verbs used (says, agrees, warns, protests) reinforce how each person feels about the restaurant, and clarify how each person feels about eachothers' claims about the restaurant. Use lots of verbs in order to get your own sources' arguments across.