NABUA NATIONALHIGH SCHOOL

San Miguel, Nabua, Camarines Sur

School|ID 302001

Senior High School Department

LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET NO. 7
Practical Research 1

Complete Name : _____________________________Grade-Strand-Section : _______________

Date : _____________________________________________

TITLE: Synthesizing Information from Relevant Literature

I. Introductory concept :
Synthesis is defined as the combining of separate elements into a whole. It is a way to
make connections among and between numerous and varied source materials.
There are a few different approaches you can take to help you structure your synthesis. If
your sources cover a broad time period, and you found patterns in how researchers
approached the topic over time, you can organize your discussion chronologically.
That doesn’t mean you just summarize each paper in chronological order; instead, you
should group articles into time periods and identify what they have in common, as
well as signaling important turning points or developments in the literature. If the literature
covers various topics, you can organize it thematically. That means that each
paragraph or section focuses on a specific theme and explains how that theme is
approached in the literature. If your topic involves a debate between different schools
of thought, you can organize it theoretically. As you organize the summarized
documents into a logical structure, you are also appraising and synthesizing complex
information from multiple sources. Your literature review is the result of your research
that synthesizes new and old information and creates new knowledge. At the most
basic level, this involves looking for similarities and differences between your sources. Your
synthesis should show the reader where the sources overlap and where they diverge. See
example below

A. Franz (2008) studied undergraduate online students. He looked at 17 females and 18 males
and found that none of them liked APA. According to Franz, the evidence suggested that all
students are reluctant to learn citations style. Perez (2010) also studies undergraduate
students. She looked at 42 females and 50 males and found that males were significantly more
inclined to use citation software (p < .05). Findings suggest that females might graduate
sooner. Goldstein (2012) looked at British undergraduates. Among a sample of 50, all females,
all confident in their abilities to cite and were eager to write their dissertations.
The Chicago School
B.

Synthesized Example

Studies of undergraduate students reveal conflicting conclusions regarding

relationships between advanced scholarly study and citation efficacy. Although
Franz (2008) found that no participants enjoyed learning citation style, Goldstein
(2012) determined in a larger study that all participants watched felt comfortable
citing sources, suggesting that variables among participant and control group
populations must be examined more closely. Although Perez (2010) expanded on
Franz's original study with a larger, more diverse sample...
The Chicago School
REMINDER!
After collecting the relevant literature, you need to organize your notes in a way that allows you to
see the relationships between sources. One way to do this is by creating a synthesis matrix.
A synthesis matrix is useful when your sources are more varied in their purpose and structure –
for example, when you’re dealing with books and essays making various arguments about a topic.
Each column in the table lists one source. Each row is labelled with a specific concept, topic or
theme that recurs across all or most of the sources. Then, for each source, you summarize the main
points or arguments related to the theme. See example below.
Source 1 Source 2 Source 3 Source 4
Theme 1
Theme 2
Theme 3

Example A Study on Personal Learning Environment (PLE)

Theme (Attwell 2007) (Mcloughlin & (Drezler, 2018) (Amberg
Lee,2010) Reinhardt, &
Hofmann,2019)
Definition of PLE Not a piece of PLE- a concept Networked Integration of social
Software but new adopting Web 2.0 Learning- in which software into LMS
approach in using technology to information creates new way of
technologies for promote lifelong communication web based teaching
learning learning technology is used a& learning
to promote
connections
between learners
& tutors.

Rationale for PLE PLE is an Learners able to Promote Enlarge community

extension to make educational knowledge and networking
accessing decisions and take construction access, increase
educational ownership over information which interaction and
technology to be learning for exploring participation.
responsible to experiences. knowledge, active
organize one’s Opportunities for learning tool, social
own learning both authentic learning medium to
formal & informal is personalized promote
conversing,
intellectual partner
to facilitate
reflection.

Skills/ Processes Develop own Ability to select Teacher Browse network,

Required judgement and appropriate professional collect , create,
literacy skill to use learning tools in development – on communicate,
new teachnologies. own learning going mentoring & share
environment to support personal
match on learning learning
goals & needs. management

II. Learning Skills from the MELCS:

Synthesizes Information from Relevant Literature
III. Complete the following activities.

Activity 1 Let’s Do it!

Directions: Read and analyze the following sources of information. Follow the steps indicated below
so that you can come up with one synthesized paragraph on the following paragraphs. Write your
answers on a separate sheet of paper.
Source 1: As everyone who uses Microsoft PowerPoint knows, it is not actually used to
communicate ideas, but rather to not communicate ideas. Forget the advertisement about how
PowerPoint helps you to “organize, illustrate and deliver your ideas professionally.” It’s not used for
for anything of the sort. A PowerPoint slide presentation, with its neatly ordered bullets, generic clip
art, bold, clear typeface and bright colours effectively hides the fact that you don’t really have very
much to say. Joe Jackson, 2001
Source 2: Most people use the same software for presentations and, inevitably, it makes us do
things in a similar way. Everything is reduced to a few bullet points, which makes it hard to introduce
complex ideas and guide people through a critical thinking process. PowerPoint turns almost every
presentation into something similar to a sales presentation, when that’s not always required. Maybe
the problem isn’t so much with the software as with the apparent lack of alternatives. Selena
Maranjian, 2003
Source 3: Despite PowerPoint’s bad reputation, it’s still possible to use it as a powerful tool to
enhance your presentation; just follow these three simple steps. First, stop using the templates, they
make the viewing experience boring. Second, don’t use text, fill your slides with images and colour
instead. Finally, make the audience focus on you to explain everything in your presentation. Cliff
Atkinson, 2003
Step 1: Decide what the topic is
Step 2: Decide how to present the topic
Step 3: Decide on the relationship between the writers
Step 4: Organize the ideas
Step 5: Underline the key ideas in the first paragraph you are going to use
Step 6: Introduce the first writer’s ideas with surname, year and a suitable verb
Step 7: Paraphrase the first writer’s ideas
Step 8: Underline the key ideas in the second paragraph you are going to use
Step 9: Introduce the second writer’s ideas
Step 10: Paraphrase that writer’s ideas
Step 11: Underline the key ideas in the third paragraph you are going to use
Step 12: Introduce the last writer’s ideas
Step 13: Paraphrase the last writer’s ideas
Step 14: Write a sentence to introduce the topic
Step 15: Check the completed synthesis to make sure that there are no changes of meaning.
ACTIVITY 2 LET’S WRITE IT.
II. Directions: For your Chapter 2 the Review of Related Literature and Studies. Based on your own
research topic, look for books, scholarly articles, journals, etc.. Use the synthesis matrix in
describing and analyzing each selected reference. Do this on a separate sheet of paper.

IV. Answer Key

Activity 1.

Step 1: Decide what the topic is (PowerPoint)

Step 2: Decide how to present the topic (the usefulness of PowerPoint for presentations, for and against) Step 3: Decide on the relationship between the writers
(writers one and two are against PowerPoint, but writer three is for it, if it is used well)
Step 4: Organize the ideas (it’s best to present the ideas of writers one and two together, as they are similar)
Step 5: Underline the key ideas in the first paragraph you are going to use: As everyone who uses Microsoft PowerPoint knows, it is not actually used to communicate
ideas, but rather to not communicate ideas. Forget the advertisement about how PowerPoint helps you to “organize, illustrate and deliver your ideas professionally.”
It’s not used for anything of the sort. A PowerPoint slide presentation, with its neatly ordered bullets, generic clip art, bold, clear typeface and bright colors effectively
hides the fact that you don’t really have very much to say. Joe Jackson, 2001
Step 6: Introduce the first writer’s ideas with surname, year and a suitable verb (e.g. Jackson (2001) claims that)
Step 7: Paraphrase the first writer’s ideas (e.g. Jackson (2001) claims that people don’t use PowerPoint to communicate ideas; instead, they use it to hide the fact
that they don’t really have any ideas to communicate.)
Step 8: Underline the key ideas in the second paragraph you are going to use: Most people use the same software for presentations and, inevitably, it makes us do
things in a similar way. Everything is reduced to a few bullet points, which makes it hard to introduce complex ideas and guide people through a critical thinking
process. PowerPoint turns almost every presentation into something similar to a sales presentation, when that’s not always required. Maybe the problem isn’t so
much with the software as with the apparent lack of alternatives. Selena Maranjian, 2003
Step 9: Introduce the second writer’s ideas (e.g. Furthermore, Maranjian (2003) believes that
Step 10: Paraphrase the writer’s ideas.

Activity 2. Answers may vary

VI. References:
McCombes, S. (2020, March 28). How to synthesize written information from multiple sources.
Simply Psychology. https://www.simplypsychology.org/synthesising.html
Lightbulb Idea Enlightenment. Retrieved May 15, 2020, from
https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2016/12/22/23/32/light-bulb-1926533_960_720.png
Notepad Memo Pencil. Retrieved May 15, 2020, from
https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2013/06/07/09/53/notepad-117597_960_720.png
Pautasso M (2013) Ten simple rules for writing a literature review. PLoS Computational Biology 9(7):
e1003149. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1003149

Prepared by:
SHARMAIN INOPIA-IBO
Teacher I

Evaluated:
LORLEINE P. MANAUIS, PhD
Subject Group Head, 1A

Approved:

MOISES C. CABIDA, PhD

Principal IV