How to Write a Synthesis Essay Outline and Preparation

Synthesis Essay Definition

In simple terms, a Synthesis Essay is a comprehensive essay that uses a variety of information to form a complete argument. Usually, professors will provide one or more sources in advance as the source of information for our Synthesis Essay, and all we have to do is to first determine a topic, declare a claim, and then find useful information in these sources to integrate and refine, and finally use it as strong evidence to support our argument.

The ultimate goal of the Synthesis Essay is to support a certain argument or claim by establishing a logical connection between multiple information or evidence.

Synthesis Essay Outline

Based on the compatibility of multiple information and the rigorous logical structure of the Synthesis Essay, it is particularly necessary to prepare a Synthesis Essay outline before writing.

The Synthesis Essay outline consists of three parts: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion.

Introduction

This part starts with an introductory language to attract readers' interest in reading, and then clearly puts forward the thesis or claim. The thesis or claim of the entire essay of Synthesis Essay must be clear and concise, because it will also be the center point around which the subsequent body of the essay will be fully developed.

Body

The body of the essay will be developed around the thesis or claim of the article. You can refer to the three-paragraph format of the conventional essay, or extend it to the six-paragraph format, and list all relevant information to support the thesis or claim of the entire essay.

Each paragraph starts with a topic sentence that supports the thesis or claim of the entire essay, with a clear position, and then displays the information in the sources to support the thesis. Finally, by analyzing the information in the sources, explain and prove that this information as evidence fully supports the thesis or claim of this article.

The body of the Synthesis Essay should be more about analyzing the information in the sources rather than simply listing or summarizing them. Each paragraph of the article should be centered on the thesis or claim of the article, rather than citing various information or evidence from the sources.

At the same time, all things will have multiple sides, and when you make a clear-cut claim, you must know that there will be opposing voices.

Similarly, when integrating information through sources, you should not only organize the information that supports your own article's arguments or claims, but also pay attention to the existence of negative information. At the end of the main text, you can also simply present negative information that exists at the same time as your own arguments or claims, but at the same time stick to your own position, by proving that although the negative information is equally valid, it is not as strong as your own position.

Conclusion

The conclusion will organize and end the entire article.

In the conclusion, based on the evidence and reasons discussed in the main text, explain the importance of the article's arguments or claims, or explain some serious consequences that will be caused if this argument or claim cannot be implemented, or directly restate the argument or claim.

Synthesis essays are mainly about providing information, so it is particularly important to clearly explain how the various information from sources in this article interact with each other under the same article's argument or claim to form a rigorous logical structure as a whole. Therefore, the writing of a Synthesis Essay is mainly based on the analysis and argumentation of many information in the sources, which shows the importance of integrating various information or viewpoints in the sources.

Before writing, read, understand and analyze the various information in the sources, and then choose a certain argument as your own clear-cut proposition. Around this argument, select the information to be cited from the many information that can support the argument, and establish connections between them to help the full text form a complete logical whole.

At the same time, with the convergence of many pieces of information, a rigorous Synthesis Essay outline will be necessary to make the argument or proposition of the article run through the whole text and stand firm. Once the argument or proposition of the article is determined, it can be used as the opening of the full text. Then, in the main text of the article, list the various sub-arguments that can support its establishment, and under each sub-argument, list the relevant information in the sources, followed by the analysis and argumentation part. Finally, it is the end of the article, the conclusion.

The completion of the Synthesis Essay outline means that the overall structure of the entire article is completed, and then fill in each part according to the entire structure to complete the construction of the full text of the Synthesis Essay.