Research & Synthesis
Researching is gathering data from credible, reliable, and relevant sources. After data is gathered, it must be synthesized, or merged, into a coherent whole. All sources from which data is gathered must be acknowledged, or cited.
| Choosing Appropriate Sources |
Relevant sources are those that are related to the subject matter.
NOT RELEVANT: Asian Tigers, African Lions, a nonfiction book about big cats in the wild
RELEVANT: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cat Breeds, a nonfiction book about breeds of pet cats.
Credible and reliable sources are those that are believable and trustworthy.
NOT A GOOD SOURCE:
advertisement for a brand of "healthy" cat food
NOT A GOOD SOURCE: website with popular cat videos that people have posted of their pets eating their favorite foods
GOOD SOURCE: website with the
URL www.thecatnetwork.org, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating people about how to care for pet cats
| Primary vs. Secondary Sources |
A
primary source provides first-hand information about a topic.
RESEARCH TOPIC: Civil Rights Movement
primary source: an interview with someone who lived through and experienced the Civil Rights Movement
RESEARCH TOPIC: E.E. Cummings, an American poet
primary source: The actual poems that E.E. Cummings wrote
A
secondary source provides second-hand information about a topic.
RESEARCH TOPIC: Civil Rights Movement
secondary source: A chapter about the Civil Rights Movement in a school textbook
RESEARCH TOPIC: E.E. Cummings, an American poet
secondary source: A biography of E.E. Cummings, published on a website about famous American poets
| Avoiding Sources with Faulty Reasoning |
Hyperbole: A logical fallacy that occurs when something is stated more strongly than the evidence supports.
This statement provides no data to back up the catastrophic predictions offered. Instead, the speaker uses extreme language to frighten the listeners into voting against his or her opponent.
Emotional Appeals: A category of logical fallacies that use emotion instead of reason to persuade audiences.
This statement does not rely on data to convince people of the safety or effectiveness of the medicine. Instead, it relies on an emotional appeal, trying to make people feel guilty about "not being there" for family members due to chronic pain and hopeful that they could be pain free.
Stereotype: A logical fallacy based on making assumptions about people because they belong to particular groups.
The above decision is based on a stereotype that is commonly applied to older people. In fact, it is an illogical assumption that will unfairly exclude many qualified candidates and perhaps deny the employer the best candidate for the job.
In general, BEWARE of sources with the above types of faulty reasoning.
Do not confuse rhetorical devices with faulty reasoning.
A rhetorical device is any use of language that helps an author achieve a particular purpose. For instance, hyperbole can be used as a rhetorical device to emphasize a point.
Logical Fallacy: You should watch this new show because it is more compelling than any police procedural in history!
While the first use of hyperbole merely emphasizes a point, the second use of hyperbole is a logical fallacy because it is designed to persuade without reliance on actual facts, reasoning, or logic.
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| It is important to use a variety of credible, reliable, and relevant sources, free of flawed reasoning and biases, when researching topics you are writing about. After gathering information from your sources, you must synthesize the information from different sources into a coherent piece of writing of your own. Go to the next page to see an example of synthesizing data from a variety of sources. |
6th Grade Writing - Research and Synthesis Lesson