Teacher Comments: Roles of Synthesizing

Tom Siller, Civil Engineering: They'll read one thing and then they'll accept that. That will be the whole basis of their writing. Trace and see how an idea was developed over a series of articles--these are research skills. The contradictions in literature are important. If you only read one article you miss it all. One piece typically only takes one point of view. Most students use direct quotes instead of summarizing. This way they don't have to explain it.