Synthesis Essay – A Comprehensive Writing Guide for Students

Among different types of essays, a synthesis essay is one which requires you to perform rigorous research on the chosen topic with curiosity. Curiosity, extensive research, and original thoughts about the topic are some of the main ingredients needed to write this essay. This type of essay writing involves great intellectual work because it requires you to synthesise two or more ideas which are different from each other.

Although writing a synthesis essay is difficult, knowing the steps of writing this essay can give you an edge. Therefore, in today’s article, we are going to discuss all the steps involved in writing this research-demanding essay. But before moving on towards the steps, let’s define it in a formal way.

What is a synthesis essay?

The word “synthesis” confuses a lot of students, although it is not that difficult to comprehend. A synthesis essay is a type of essay that collects information from many sources and synthesises them in one place to form a new idea or argumentative thesis. As the writer of this essay, you will gather data and shreds of evidence from a number of sources either to explain an original idea or argue on that idea. Hence, this is the definition of this essay type.

Top writing guidelines for a synthesis essay

Most high school and college students write this essay as part of their coursework. To write this essay, often the standard five-paragraph structure is followed. However, the real question is about how to write those five paragraphs. What steps do you need to take to structure a perfect synthesis essay? A brief description of all the steps is as follows:

Choose a curious topic

The first step in writing any essay is to choose an essay topic. Without having an essay topic that you are curious about, you cannot craft a good synthesis essay. The reason is that without having an interest in the topic, you will not be able to research properly. If you are not able to research properly, know that you cannot write this essay well. Therefore, always go for a topic which piques your interest and that you are curious about.

Do the research

Here is the most important step of writing a synthesis essay. It is evident from the definition that this essay synthesises two or more different ideas. So, to collect those ideas, you need to conduct thorough research. Conducting this research means collecting all the pieces of information that are relevant to your essay topic. As the writer, you can turn to primary and secondary academic sources for collecting relevant information.

Write the introduction of the essay

The introduction is the opening section of any essay, and it should be the case for the synthesis essay. After conducting thorough research on the topic, start the essay by introducing the topic. In this section, present the general premises of the essay, necessary background information on the topic, and capture the reader’s attention. This is also the section where you state the central idea that you intend to explore more or argue on.

Craft the body paragraphs

Right after the introduction comes the body paragraphs of the essay. A synthesis essay usually contains three body paragraphs. Each paragraph in the essay discusses a unique idea and gives concrete shreds of evidence in support of that idea. As it is a synthesis academic writing, it means you need to synthesise two or more different ideas. Hence, at least discuss two to three ideas and give adequate pieces of evidence.

Conclude the essay well

A conclusion is a final step that you take towards completing this essay. The purpose of the conclusion paragraph is to summarise all the points discussed in your essay. However, in the concluding paragraph, it is important to restate the main thesis statement, so that reader’s mind gets refreshed about what he has learnt. Once done, offer your central opinion about the topic. The cheap essay writing service is always there to help you if you cannot do so.

Edit and proofread the essay

Editing and proofreading are two important steps in writing a good synthesis essay. It is an established fact that the first draft of an essay is not always its final draft. There are still many mistakes in the essay that need to be identified and eradicated. For this, you must edit and proofread the essay once the writing process gets completed. During this process, identify all spelling, grammatical, contextual, and syntax errors to let your essay shine bright in the final assessment.

Conclusion

In this article, we have discussed that a synthesis essay is an academic text which takes two or more different ideas and combines them to form a new idea. Along with this, we have also talked about the 6 important writing steps involved in writing this essay. Thus, whenever you are asked to write this essay, ensure that you follow all the guidelines and steps mentioned above. Otherwise, get ready for failure.