Collecting sources is just part of your research journey. The other part is figuring out which ones are most useful for your assignment.
This is where synthesis and your new evaluation skills come together.
Synthesis is the process of bringing sources together, thinking critically about how they relate to one another, and determining how they connect to your research.
At this stage, you aren’t just asking, “Is this a good source?”. You should be asking, “Is this the right source for my project?”
Evaluation helps you determine if a source is credible and trustworthy. Synthesis pushes the evaluation process further by having you determine HOW a source fits into your work and WHY it belongs there. Synthesis is what makes your evaluation meaningful as you go from gathering information to making informed decisions on how to use it. Let’s explore what that looks like in action.
