Integrating Information

Abstract

The case study reported here explores the processes involved in producing a written synthesis of three history texts and their possible relation to the characteristics of the texts produced and the degree of comprehension achieved following the task. The processes carried out by 10 final-year compulsory education students (15 and 16 years old) to produce their syntheses, including the integrations they verbalized while performing the task, were examined in detail with a double-analysis system. The results revealed a tendency for the students who engaged in more elaborative patterns to make more integrations and produce better texts. These students seemed to benefit more from the task in terms of comprehension. Conversely, the students who followed a more reproductive pattern by and large copied ideas from the source texts and achieved low levels of comprehension.

In search of an effective source use pattern for writing argumentative and informative synthesis texts

“…However, many students find writing synthesis texts challenging. This is not surprising given the cognitively demanding nature of this task (Martínez, Mateos, Martín, & Rijlaarsdam, 2015;Mateos, Martín, Villalón, & Luna, 2008;Solé, Miras, Castells, Espino, & Minguela, 2013).…”

“…In the latter case, these reading activities play an intermediary role during the writing activity and act as a mediator. Martínez et al (2015), Solé (2009), andSolé et al (2013) found a positive correlation between the quality of a synthesis text and the amount of recursion and mediation during the process in audio-video recordings of students' synthesis processes. These findings seem in accordance with the very nature of the synthesis task, which involves sub-processes such as comparing and contrasting the information from the different sources, linking the sources to one another and integrating the information in a new independent text.…”

“…During the writing process, students alternate between reader and writer roles as they read sources, select relevant information from the sources, compare and contrast the information from the different source texts to each other, and write and revise the actual text. Key to synthesis writing is the integration process which encompasses connecting the ideas from the different source texts by organising and structuring them around a central theme in the target text (Solé et al, 2013;Spivey & King, 1989).…”

“…A small body of research looks into the use of sources during the writing process and its relation to text quality, and found that a more complex process leads to a better quality text (Martínez et al, 2015;Mateos & Solé, 2009;Solé et al, 2013). Generally, more complex processes involve recursive activities and mediation between the different process activities.…”

Source Based Writing: Writing to Learn from Sources

“…Az ilyen jellegű szövegalkotás általában kevésbé törekszik a témakör, terület meglévő tudásának szintetizálására, mint inkább forrásszöve-gek stratégiai integrálására, mintavételezésére és új kontextusba helyezésére. A szakemberek célja tehát gyakran nem a forrásokban található információk összegzése, szintetizá-lása (Solé, Miras, Castells, Espino, & Minguela, 2013), hanem az ott található információk elemzése, a legértékesebb gondolatok kiválogatása és összegyűjtése innovatív megoldá-sok megfogalmazása érdekében (Leijten et al, 2013) barkácsolt tartalom (bricolage) (Turkle, 1997), egyveleg (pastiche) (Slattery, 2007) létrehozása által. A dokumentum ismételt felhasználása és adaptációja tehát a szakmai kommunikáció gyakorlatában folyamatosan jelen van (Swarts, 2010).…”