What is
Synthesizing Information
Synthesizing information is the way that students can take information from multiple sources and bring the information together. When these sources are combined together, it creates one cohesive idea. This is typically how students learn new ideas, theories and information in class. The information can be from primary or secondary sources as long as ideas from each source are brought together in a cohesive way.
Synthesizing information refers to the way people can learn a single topic from multiple sources, and it is often required in academic essays. In an essay, the student must find a range of sources that they can assess. Then, they must compile the information into a logical argument that supports their thesis statement.
Synthesizing is different from summarizing because it uses many sources to build around a single theme. With summarizing, the student is merely recapping the information they read in the text. During the synthesizing process, the student will discover contradictory ideas as well as information that relates to their topic. At its most basic level, synthesizing involves looking for differences and similarities between various sources before combining the information together.