Synthesize Information

Synthesizing Information

Making connections across and between text

What Is Synthesizing?

Suppose you just watched your favorite football team play on TV. Afterward, you read news articles about the players and listened to radio interviews with the coach. Each of these sources gives you different information about a single topic: a football game.

After considering all this information, along with what you already know about the sport, you come up with a new idea—a strategy that could help the team win its next game. This process is called synthesizing.

What Is Synthesizing?

Synthesizing is the process of combining individual pieces of information in order to come up with a new idea about a subject.

For example, imagine that you have been assigned to write an essay about World War II. You consult a number of different sources for your research. One source tells you about specific battles. Another discusses the technology used.

You might synthesize this information into an essay about how the airplanes used during the war changed the outcome of different battles.

When you synthesize information, you fit together different pieces to make one "big picture."

Ask yourself: Who is the intended audience of this text? Why was it written? How does this source differ from my other ones? Which perspectives, or viewpoints, are given? Which are not?

Identify the main idea of each text. The main idea is the most important idea that the writer wants to communicate.

Then, try to paraphrase the main idea—or restate it in your own words.

Step 1: Find the main ideas.

How to Synthesize

Step 2: Ask questions about sources.

After reviewing your sources and examining the connections between them, ask yourself: What new idea or fuller understanding can I arrive at?

Compare the audience, purpose, main idea, and perspective of each text. What do the texts have in common? How do they differ?

Use your comparisons, prior knowledge, and imagination to make connections across the texts.

Step 3: Compare and make connections.

How to Synthesize

Step 4: Synthesize the information.

Reorder

Put the steps for synthesizing information in the correct order.

• Find the main ideas

• Ask questions about the texts

• Compare the texts

• Come up with a new idea

1

2

3

4

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

Now, you will practice synthesizing information from multiple texts. As you read, try to figure out the main ideas, purposes, and audiences for the texts.

Source 1

Cell phones allow people to be available anywhere, at any time; however, they do have their drawbacks. Some cell-phone users feel disconnected from other humans. Others say that their lives are now too busy. Finally, some worry that children are being given cell phones too young, and might never learn to communicate without them!

Source 2

Cell phones have made modern life much easier in many ways. People are available all the time—when they're far away from the home or the office. Some people argue, though, that cell phones are dangerous for drivers and may cause unknown health issues.

Source 3

If you have been on an airplane, train, or bus lately, you have probably encountered someone yakking constantly on a cell phone. Now that we are always able to be reached, it seems that we never stop talking. Or typing—as technology improves, more and more people use their phones for e-mail, text messages, and Internet, too.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following sentences paraphrases the main idea of Source 1?

Cell phones allow people to be available anywhere, at any time; however, they do have their drawbacks. Some cell-phone users feel disconnected from other humans. Others say that their lives are now too busy. Finally, some worry that children are being given cell phones too young, and might never learn to communicate without them!

• Cell phones can be convenient, but they also can cause problems.

• Cell-phone users do not know how to communicate.

• Cell phones do not have any benefits, only drawbacks.

Multiple Select

Which of the following questions would give you more information about Source 2?

Cell phones have made modern life much easier in many ways. People are available all the time—when they're far away from the home or the office. Some people argue, though, that cell phones are dangerous for drivers and may cause unknown health issues.

• What is the cost of a regular phone?

• What health issues are cell phones thought to cause, and why?

• Who are the people that argue the dangers of cell phones?

​When you synthesize information, you need to compare the main ideas, audiences, and purposes of each source.

Making connections is an important part of synthesizing. Look for ways in which the main ideas relate to other works on the same subject.

Multiple Choice

What idea does Source 3 share with Sources 1 and 2?

If you have been on an airplane, train, or bus lately, you have probably encountered someone yakking constantly on a cell phone. Now that we are always able to be reached, it seems that we never stop talking. Or typing—as technology improves, more and more people use their phones for e-mail, text messages, and Internet, too.

• Cell phones are dangerous.

• Cell phones are improving.

• Cell-phone users are always reachable.

• People use cell phones constantly.

You have analyzed and compared three texts about cell phones. By considering the ideas in those texts, as well as your own knowledge of cell phones, you can now synthesize the information.

Multiple Choice

People shouldn't use cell phones because they can cause humans to feel cut off from others. Cell phones may cause health problems, too. Certainly they do for distracted drivers who have accidents.

• yes

• no

Multiple Choice

Cell-phone technology keeps us more connected than we used to be, but it has some significant downsides—driving hazards, for example, or added stress. We need to work on using cell phones more responsibly.

• yes

• no

Summary

Synthesizing information is the process of combining ideas from multiple sources or texts in order to create a new idea or product.

To synthesize, you must first identify the main ideas of your sources. Next, you must ask questions about the audience and purpose of each. Then, you must compare and contrast the sources.

Make connections between the sources, with other sources on the same topic, and with your own experience. Then use this information to synthesize, or create, a statement that draws on what you've learned, and introduces a new idea.

Next, you will take a short quiz to review what you learned in this lesson.

Multiple Choice

Read the passages. What do they have in common?

Source 1: The Loch Ness monster must exist. More than 10,000 people claim to have sighted the serpent-like monster. Can 10,000 people all just be imagining things? Sonar studies and expeditions have not been able to prove them wrong!

Source 2: With today's underwater cameras and sonar, it's impossible to believe that the Loch Ness monster exists. We would have found her by now! When scientists with the latest technology cannot find a trace of the monster, we have to conclude that it's all a myth.

• a topic

• a main idea

• an overall message

• a purpose

Multiple Choice

Reread these two passages. What statement can you make after synthesizing the information?

Source 1: The Loch Ness monster must exist. More than 10,000 people claim to have sighted the serpent-like monster. Can 10,000 people all just be imagining things? Sonar studies and expeditions have not been able to prove them wrong!

Source 2: With today's underwater cameras and sonar, it's impossible to believe that the Loch Ness monster exists. We would have found her by now! When scientists with the latest technology cannot find a trace of the monster, we have to conclude that it's all a myth.

• The Loch Ness monster is absolutely real.

• The existence of the Loch Ness monster is still debated.

• More than 10,000 people have sighted the Loch Ness monster.

• The Loch Ness monster is a myth.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is NOT a part of the process of synthesizing?

• comparing and contrasting texts

• finding main ideas

• writing an essay

• determining the audience

Multiple Choice

What is one similarity between these two passages?

Passage 1: If you want to become an astronaut, NASA requires that you have a college degree in biology, physical science, engineering, or math. You then must have at least three years of working experience to show that you are responsible. It is helpful to have an advanced degree, too. Teaching experience is valued, so teachers are encouraged to apply to become astronauts.

Passage 2: Mae Jemison was the first African-American woman to travel into space. She went to college at Stanford, where she earned a degree in chemical engineering and African-American Studies. While in medical school, and after becoming a doctor, she traveled around the world helping people. After working as a doctor with the Peace Corps, she applied to become a NASA astronaut. In 1987, she was accepted as one of fifteen astronauts—out of 2,000 applicants!

• Both tell how to apply to become an astronaut.

• Both tell you about the lives of astronauts.

• Both tell you something about becoming an astronaut.

• Both tell you about NASA's space program.

Multiple Choice

Which statement below best synthesizes the information from the two passages?

Passage 1: If you want to become an astronaut, NASA requires that you have a college degree in biology, physical science, engineering, or math. You then must have at least three years of working experience to show that you are responsible. It is helpful to have an advanced degree, too. Teaching experience is valued, so teachers are encouraged to apply to become astronauts.

Passage 2: Mae Jemison was the first African American woman to travel into space. She went to college at Stanford, where she earned a degree in chemical engineering and African American Studies. While in medical school, and after becoming a doctor, she traveled around the world helping people. After working as a doctor with the Peace Corps, she applied to become a NASA astronaut. In 1987, she was accepted as one of fifteen astronauts—out of 2,000 applicants!

• Jemison did become an astronaut.

• Becoming an astronaut is difficult.

• Astronauts must have a degree in math.

• NASA often hires women.