Synthesis Essay Outline Guide with Examples - Write a Powerful Assignment Easily

Sep 18, 2019

Whatever essay you write, preparing a thoroughly considered plan is always a good choice. You might know that any successful assignment begins with writing an outline. Even experienced writers don't neglect this issue because if done appropriately, it helps organize your thoughts and keep track of coherence in your narration. In this article, we would like to share some tips and recommendations on the synthesis paper outline for any academic level. This one is quite specific, and such insights will come in handy. To process your essay appropriately, the first thing to recall is the purpose of this assignment. This way, you will be aware of its basic requirements, and that is a guarantee of not missing anything important.

Synthesis Essay - the Essence

As a rule, your synthesis analysis writing focuses on extensive research and discussion of a certain issue. In the academic context, this assignment has several purposes that aim to assess a student's ability to:

• Investigate a subject matter and get relevant information and facts
• Present the analysis of how the sources and existing statements are interconnected
• Develop discourses with different purposes (argument, comparison&contrast, etc.)
• Apply the information from your source materials for providing supportive evidence

You'll need to do that regardless of your purpose in writing because every professor expects their students to approach synthesis essay diligently.

Is Outline Important?

Just as a solid foundation helps a building to survive any weather, a good outline for a synthesis essay makes your writing well-grounded. After the topic is assigned or formulated, you can start considering the best strategy of how to reach the target point of your essay. You should have an understanding of what sources you need to investigate, decide the topic statement you'd like to make, and pick the appropriate methods to influence the audience. And, for everything to work, an outline is a must. With its help, you will organize the ideas in the text, provide coherence and logic, and make your essay reasonable and completed.

The outline is like a precise step-by-step plan with the main ideas of your essay sections. With it, you process the assignment without doubts about having missed important facts.

The Basics of Synthesis Essay Outline

Now, you know that the synthesis essay assignment aims to analyze a few sources and build a strong and well-based claim about a certain issue. A tutor can provide you with a good number of articles, books, essays, and other important pieces you can use for your assignment. Apart from that, you can refer to relevant interviews, lectures, research reports, etc. to find an idea that supports your own statement perfectly. Here, research plays a pivotal role. When you have collected enough material to work with, you can divide it into corresponding sections of the assignment, highlight the main viewpoints you are going to prove, and see what pieces of evidence you have.

The goal is to process the literature and non-printed articles (videos, interviews, etc.) with your critical thinking skills, and since everything has to be precise and logical, your essay should have a reliable background. Hence, we would like to list a few guidelines on how to simplify the writing process and guarantee you an extensive outline to work with:

• Studying of your sources. Make sure that you understand the topic - that will help you collect appropriate materials. Don't limit yourself with the information provided by the professor. Be initiative and try to find something unique and exciting. Maybe there is a theory or revealed secret of science that nobody knows about, and it will suit your essay perfectly? Then, always make notes and use highlighter while working with different texts and non-written sources. This way, you'll easily find any paragraphs, sentences, and statements to use in the paper and organize them into the corresponding outline points.
• The topic of your essay. First of all, it should be engaging and provide a clear understanding of what your synthesis is about. It's not the topic itself that makes up a challenge, but its formulation. If you know what are you going to write about and have even considered your core ideas, a good decision will be to formulate the topic at the very end. Maybe, there is a catchy phrase in your essay that conveys its essence and can be used as a good topic?
• Synthesis essay thesis statement. That is a major idea that you will challenge or argue while using the findings you've got after profound analysis of sources. It has to be comprehensible to the reader and provide an understanding of what subject matter you have worked on. The thesis statement (a hook for the audience) can be written as a separate essay outline section. This way, you'll never forget to include it.

These are compulsory stages you have to process when writing an outline for a synthesis essay. Otherwise, it will be unorganized and won't help you gather your thoughts and come up with a top-notch assignment. And, of course, nothing is possible without those three main essay parts that every student knows about.

Main Elements of an Outline

Your introduction plays an essential role in your essay. Keep in mind that this is the first section your readers see. Therefore, you need to consider the information which can grab their attention and provide insight on the subject. Your number-one priority is to define the relevance of the topic to your audience. And, as it was said, an introductory section must contain a strong and clear thesis statement with supporting reasons. What to avoid when writing synthesis essay introduction?

• Lengthy and dull sentences
• Too precise information (useless without context)
• Plain phrases like "I've studied these sources, and here's my point"

If you are going to make an introduction cover several aspects, don't forget to indicate that in your outline and consider logical transitions between the thoughts.

What about the main paragraphs of your outline? They should be listed precisely, which, in terms of an outline, means a lot of points and sub-points. Decide how many paragraphs the writing will contain and enumerate them in your plan. A good method is to devote a point for the important idea and make sure you have enough facts for its support, for example:

• 2. The relationships of Insomnia, Stress, and Anxiety
  
  1. Facts from the American Health Association
  2. Recent research report data
  3. Citations from TED talk on the impact of high school on stress conditions

When writing your body paragraphs, you need to provide only credible evidence which will strengthen your claims and resonate with analyzed sources.

Then, provide a conclusion. Usually, it is the shortest section of your essay where you summarize everything said and can state your personal opinion. It is a final chance to prove that your arguments make sense. A concluding paragraph should end with a call-to-action or a question that will provoke your audience to think about an issue. Be attentive while writing a conclusion because if it is too short or doesn't comprise a call-to-action, your grade may be lowered.

Synthesis Essay Outline Example

You cannot start essay writing without learning the theory, but experience has shown that practical examples are more effective. We decided to create an outline sample on a random topic - Poverty as a Crucial Social Issue that Kills. Mayhap, this information will help you understand the rules of outlining easily.

1. Introduction
   
   • Statistics showing how many people live below the poverty line
   • Key reasons why you chose this topic (based on sources you have)
   • Underline the subject's significance
   • Your thesis statement. Nearly 3 billion people live on less than $3 per day. The statistics of UNICEF says that 20,000 children die every day because of poverty. To cut poverty, the following measures should be taken: to raise the level of consciousness, create jobs, and raise the minimum wage.
2. Body
   
   • 1st Paragraph. Importance of this problem today: What countries do suffer from poverty most of all? How many people suffer from poverty?
   • 2nd Paragraph. How to raise the level of consciousness among people suffering from poverty? Those people should understand that no one, but they are responsible for their lives. They shouldn't wait for help and need to take measures to change their lives for the better.
   • 3rd Paragraph. What jobs should be created to solve this problem?
   • 4th Paragraph. What is the minimum wage in these countries? Is it possible to raise it? Can it change the situation?
3. Conclusion
   
   • Main ideas of your essay
   • Your opinion regarding this topic and thought-provoking question (optional).

With this guideline and template, it won't be difficult for you to come up with a synthesis essay. We wish you luck and will be glad if you leave any feedback.

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