You can meet with a librarian to talk about your literature review, or other library-related topics.
This is the point where you sort articles by themes or categories in preparation for writing your lit review. You may find a synthesis matrix, like this one, or in the box below, helpful in understanding how this works.
You can sort the literature in various ways, for example:
by themes or concepts
historically or chronologically (tracing a research question across time),or
by methodology.
In the four examples below, only ONE shows a good example of synthesis: the fourth column, or Student D. For a web accessible version, click the link below the image.
Long description of "Four Examples of Student Writing" for web accessibility
Student A uses quotes from only ONE source and fails to use her own voice to make any arguments
Student B cherry picks quotes from THREE sources and uses block quotes instead of making his own point
Student C quotes from THREE sources but does not show how the sources interact or converse with one another and does not provide sources for their arguments in the final paragraph
Student D synthesizes from FIVE sources, shows how they relate to one another, and makes their own point about the amount of royalties Taylor Swift should receive from Spotify
Synthesis grids are organizational tools used to record the main concepts of your sources and can help you make connections about how your sources relate to one another.
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