Critical Thinking: Analysis and Synthesis
ANALYSIS is breaking down the text or problem that you are
examining in order to understand each individual part.
The Rhetorical Essay in ENGL 110 I an example of an analysis paper. In this essay,
students take an article and break it down into parts to evaluate the different
forms of Rhetoric (logos, ethos, pathos) that they find in the essay they are given.
Analysis is like taking an already completed puzzle apart OR breaking down a chemical
compound to look at the individual components that make up that compound. The goal is to
look at the individual pieces that make up the whole. When writing an analysis…
o Look at a source to see how it both supports and discredits the argument
you are making.
o Identify the different steps in the author’s argument, the different
rhetorical tools used, or the different logical fallacies that the author
makes.
o When looking at multiple resources, take notes about how each source
differs. (For example: Do they use different evidence to make the same
point? Do they have different ideas on how to accomplish the same end?
Do they use different rhetorical strategies such as: logos, ethos, or
pathos?)
SYNTHESIS is combining multiple sources or ideas into a whole, in order to understand
Shared qualities between each individual part.
Synthesis is extremely important in research driven essays, such as the Sourced
Essay assigned in ENGL 110. In this essay, students are given sources by their
professors and asked to put these sources together to support their argument.
Students put each source in conversation with the others and their own argument,
pointing out where they build on, support, or disagree with one another.
Synthesis is the opposite of analysis: it is like taking individual puzzle pieces and putting
them together to make an entire puzzle OR combining chemicals to create a new compound.
When writing a synthesis…
o Look at all your sources, highlight similar key points in one color, to
easily identify similar arguments and claims that can help you support
your paper. Do the same thing for similar arguments and claims that
discredit your argument.
o Identify shared themes, rhetorical strategies, logical fallacies, or ideas
that your sources may share and underline them.
See page 86 of the Bedford for more information. CAC 2012 Draxler, Adams.
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