CS_RS11-IIIf-j-3

LESSON 15: Synthesizing Information from Relevant Literature

Literature Review
Correct Paraphrasing is:
- The literature review is a critical examination
of the materials that are related to your 1. Briefly restating the idea of the article based on
topic. how you understood the article using your own
- Critically examining a piece of literature words.
involves understanding the intent of the
author, the setting upon which the literature Purcell, Heaps, Buchanan, & Friedrich
was written, and the actual content of the (2013) had studied if age trends between the age
literature itself. of Advanced Placement and National Writing
Project teachers in the United States and how they
Published and Unpublished Research experience the impact of digital technologies to
- Published and unpublished researches their profession. The study revealed that 64% of
include an abstract which contains teachers aged 35 and under are more likely to
information on the purposes, settings, describe themselves as very confident in using new
methods, and conclusions of the study. digital technologies compared to only 44% of
- The abstract is useful in giving the reader an teachers aged 55 and above.
idea of why and how the researcher
conducted the study.
2. Interpreting the claims and conclusions
- However, you cannot directly copy the
expressed by the writer into simpler statements.
abstract and place it in your own literature
For example, instead of fully stating the
review. Not only is it very technical and
statistical results from one research, you state its
wordy, it is also illegal.This is plagiarism,
which we will discuss further in a future
lesson. On Device Research reflected a slightly
different trend. Most mobile users in the Philippines
Paraphrasing are men at 56% and women composing the 44%.
- As a researcher, you should be able to share However, the trend of female Filipino users is still
what you have learned from the literature in higher compared to the Southeast Asian average
a concise and readable way. of 37% (Sweeney, 2014).
- In your subject English for Academic and These results indicate that Filipino women
Professional Purposes, you may have are more active in smartphone and internet use
discussed paraphrasing. compared to men.
- Writing a paraphrase requires you to write
the ideas you have learned into your own interpretation and then discuss it.
words.
- This way you remember the ideas you
gathered better and more effectively share Synthesis
them to your readers.
- according to Prieto, Naval, and Carey (2017),
Paraphrasing is NOT: is a discussion that draws on one or more
1. Simply copying what other writers have sources. Put simply, you are going to create
written and then placing ‘according to’ at the a new understanding about your research
beginning. topic from what you have read in your
2. Getting the thesis statement or main idea of reviewed literature.
the referenced article then copying it word- - A synthesis combines these ideas, compares
for-word. them with each other, contrasting them and
3. Taking the paragraph written by the author finding their differences.
and replacing the important words with their - A synthesis is not just a list of ideas, it is a
synonyms. discussion where different perspectives are
considered and presented.
- You can practice synthesizing ideas by asking
different people and combining their ideas
about a certain topic.
 CS_RS11-IIIf-j-3
LESSON 15: Synthesizing Information from Relevant Literature
QUARTER 1 | S.Y. 2024-2025

- For example, when you try to interview 10 K- literature review. You will find them very similar with
pop fans about their experience in a concert the steps for writing an essay.
they all attended, you will not be able to get 1. Identify your purpose for writing a literature
similar narratives despite being in the same review. In this case, solving the research
concert. This is because all of them sat at problem or achieving the research objectives is
different seats, watched from different your purpose.
angles, and observed different details at the 2. Carefully select relevant sources. You would
same time. want to get as close to the root of the issue as
- However, if you will combine their narratives, you can. In the example, you interviewed people
it will give you a picture of how the who attended the concert. In a literature review,
performers performed, what were the fans’ you must select literature that actually discuss
reactions, and how the organizers executed 3. Formulate the theme of your review. What
the entire program. You are creating an particular ideas are you planning to discuss? In
understanding of the concert based on what case of the concert, what particular aspects of
you have learned from different people. the concert are you trying to understand?
- A literature review may have different forms 4. Organize your literature sources logically. With
of synthesis used. the kind of synthesis in mind, how will you use
your sources to explain an event or argue for
1. Explanatory synthesis your position? Which source will be presented
- it helps the readers understand the topic. first, and which source will be used to support or
- This synthesis of ideas aims to objectively attack an idea?
explain certain topics or events based on the 5. Write your literature review.
descriptions or information taken from the
reviewed literature. Synthesis Matrix
- Sometimes, keeping track of all of the
Despite the strength of its economy, it has
resources and ideas that you collected is a
its low moments also. In 1970s, it was gravely
challenge, even to those who are good at
affected by the 1973 oil crisis and the 1974 stock
remembering things.
market crash. Only recently, the country received
- A literature review is rarely accomplished
credit rating cuts from international credit rating
through 5 articles or less.
agencies due to its high government spending and
- Most of the time, you will be reading and
debt-to-GDP ratio. It managed to insulate itself
recording 20 or more sources for your
from the EU sovereign debt crisis in the 2008, and
literature review.
recent national security concerns led the country to
- Using a synthesis matrix helps you keep track
leave the EU in 2016.
of the sources you are using, and the ideas
that they present.
2. Argument synthesis - It is a table where you list down the authors
- it helps you present you own view on the and dates of publication of each article, as
topic or idea by supporting it with facts and well as the themes and ideas that each article
information from other credible sources. - contain.
- This synthesis is used if you are putting
forward your position or understanding on Author Theme 1 Theme 2 Theme 3
the topic. Author 1
(date)
Hirsh-Pasek et al. (2015) disputed the real
Author 2
educational value of the 80,000 apps for education
(date)
claimed by Apple. According to them, most of these
apps are “unregulated and untested”, thus they
You can also create a matrix which lists themes and
suggested that apps be designed with four
the authors that present those themes, just like
principles in mind: active learning, engagement in
below.
the learning process, meaningful learning, and
social interaction.
Author Author
Theme Author 1
2 3
If we consider the example above, we could see Anime is a vehicle Ashbough Barder Zorko
several steps in creating a synthesis for your for the discussion & (2015) (2014)
 CS_RS11-IIIf-j-3
LESSON 15: Synthesizing Information from Relevant Literature
QUARTER 1 | S.Y. 2024-2025

of Contemporary Shintaro
political issues. (2012)
Anime is a vehicle Schindel Chen Rollman
for the discussion (2017) (2018) (2017)
of social issues.