ntroduction
Body
Category 1: graphics in business report writing in the 1970s
Category 2: graphics in business report writing in the 1980s
Category 3: graphics in business report writing in the 1990s
Category 4: graphics in business report writing from 2000 to the present
Conclusion
You may have researched articles on gerontology and found studies that answered three basic questions on how older adults respond to training for physical performance.
You might divide the paper as follows:
Introduction
Body
Question 1
Question 2
Question 3
Conclusion
In order for you to see this concept with a real-life example, you can access a sample synthesis or literature review from a psychology student by clicking here. The student writes her paper on the following topic: Emotional Eating: The Perpetual Cycle of Mood-Food Influence. She divides her literature into the following categories:
Influence of Mood on Eating Behavior
Gender Differences
Influence of Eating Behavior on Later Moods
Chronic Stress Response Network
Notice how she synthesizes and integrates the research into the different categories.
Approach and Requirements
Your synthesis essay, or literature review, should be 2000-2500 words, not including your “references” pages at the end of the review. In other words, the text of the paper should be 2000-2500 words.
In addition your synthesis essay should include at least 10 scholarly sources in the “references” section. As stated above, this means that you may decide not to use all 12 sources that you summarized in your annotated bibliography. You are free to use all 12 of them. However, it is possible that your experience in writing summaries of the 12 sources led you to conclude that a few of them will not be as helpful to your topic as you had originally thought. You may decide not to include such sources in the synthesis essay. This is totally up to you. Moreover, you might find other sources that you would like to include in your synthesis essay that were not included in your annotated bibliography. You may use such sources in your synthesis essay as well.
click here for more information on this paper
Some helpful tutorials and guides from UMUC’s Effective Writing Center:
Click here for a tutorial that features two short videos on writing a literature review.
Click here for a tutorial on principles in synthesizing multiple sources.
In synthesizing your research, you are analyzing the topic on which you have conducted research. Click here for a helpful tutorial on analyzing a topic.
Some helpful guides from other universities:
Some very systematic advice from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill can be accessed by clicking here.
Some helpful advice from the University of Wisconsin-Madison can be accessed by clicking here.
The following is a suggested rubric. Your instructor may modify the rubric.
Introduces the synthesis of the literature by identifying the topic in a clear and specific manner. 10
Divides the research into categories 10
Discusses the research in each category with adequate support from the sources, integrating the sources skillfully throughout the paragraphs. 20
Maintains unity among the paragraphs and themes. 10
Maintains coherence among the paragraphs and themes. 10
Employs a fluid writing style and an appropriate vocabulary 10
Follows APA format in both the citations and in the reference list 15
Maintains accurate grammar and punctuation
