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Synthesis
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What is Synthesis Essays (Examples)?

A synthesis essay is a very specific type of research paper, where you are asked to draw upon specific sources to support your thesis.  These sources are generally ones that have been assigned as reading for a class or that relate to reading and lectures from your class.  The synthesis referred to in the title is the ability to connect these sources to each other to support a unifying theme or idea in your paper.

There are two main types of synthesis essays: argumentative and explanatory.  An explanatory synthesis essay helps the reader better understand an idea and is similar to an expository essay.  An argumentative synthesis essay uses information gained from the various sources to support an argument.  In your introduction, you will make it clear whether you are writing an explanatory or argumentative essay.  This is usually done via your thesis statement, which provides a very brief explanation of the goal of your essay.

Because a synthesis draws upon your knowledge of sources, you can expect part of the body of your synthesis to focus on summarizing your sources.  Depending on the nature of the essay, you may be summarizing the entire source or simply summarizing one or more of the ideas contained in the source. 

In the body of your synthesis essay, you are also going to carry out the goals you outlined in your introduction.  For an explanatory essay, you will develop the relationship between the sources and show how they work together to explain your topic.  In an argumentative essay, you will focus more on developing the relationship between the ideas expressed in your sources and how, when put together, those ideas support your thesis statement.

The conclusion of your synthesis essay will restate your thesis and then highlight how you have supported that thesis.  If you are still confused about the structure of a synthesis essay, we suggest looking through our free example essays for more guidance.

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Paper Undergraduate
Marketing strategy for Igot high-end electronics vending services in Las Vegas
Igot: A Marketing Plan for High-Priced Item Vending Services
Research Paper Doctorate
Qualitative and quantitative statistical methodologies in education and school counseling
The intent of this study is to define both the qualitative and quantitative statistical methodologies including the development of descriptive and inferential statistics applied to the field of education overall and…
Research Paper Doctorate
Seven characteristics of living things and fundamental biological concepts
¶ … living things are characterized by the following seven characteristics namely mobility, respiration, excretion, sensitivity or response to external stimulus, growth, feeding, and reproduction.
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Quality questioning and classroom observation for teacher development
Quality questioning is fast becoming one of the operative pedagogical techniques in the contemporary classroom. Ever since Benjamin Bloom in the 1950s and the taxonomy of learning, teachers have been encouraged to use…
Research Paper Undergraduate
Organizational theory and leadership in public school systems
Organizational Theory: A Synthesis and Application to the Public School System
Paper Doctorate
12-lead ECG analysis of antero-septal myocardial infarction in Mr. Long
This is a 12 lead ECG taken for Mr. Long at the Emergency Department. He presented with a two hour history of chest pain radiating to his left arm. The ECG is suggestive of an antero-septal Myocardial infarction. Further scrutiny of the ECG displays a normal sinus rhythm, with a rate of 75 bpm that is regularly regular. There is no axis deviation with a PR interval of 200 ms and normal qrs complexes. Leads I and aVL also show a q wave which may be suggestive of an old high lateral wall MI. Leads I, V1, V2, V3 and aVL show ST segment elevation of greater than 2 mm and ST segment depression in leads II and III. Mr. Long is suffering from a fully evolved ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.
Research Paper Doctorate
Elton Mayo and Kurt Lewin's foundations of participative management
Today's international world of business is too complex and competitive for an authoritative approach to management. In order to succeed, companies need the support and expertise of its employees.
Paper Undergraduate
Wal-Mart's organizational inputs and the Nadler-Tushman congruence model
Nadler & Tushman's congruence model explains organizational performance as being the degree to which inputs and matched with desired outputs. This is measured by the degree to which the actual outputs match the desired…
Term Paper Undergraduate
Gary Nash's revisionist account of early American intercultural relations
In Red, White, and Black, Professor Gary B. Nash offers a revisionist account of intercultural relations in early America. Through his expert command of the historical scholarship regarding early American history, Nash is able to place the more specialized recent scholarship regarding race relations in a wider historiographical context. Nash points out the instances where this recent race-relations scholarship clarifies or even contradicts the dominant historical narrative regarding race relations as well as the early American period, fashioning from it a new interpretation of race relations during the early American period which has sparked inquiry to the current day.
Paper Masters
The ethics of organizational downsizing and employee welfare
debatable since the human cost is vaguely discussed when employees are suddenly robbed of their means of livelihood. Since firms do not take into account the "psychological, social, and financial effects" of downsizing, they fail to take appropriate measures for human resource support and building hence lending seriously negative connotations to the phenomenon. And it is not only the terminated employees who suffer, the authors feel that "downsizing has a major impact on surviving employees as well as on the organization itself, both strategically and