Decide on your purpose and audience. Are you explaining in an expository synthesis the various stages of sleep, or are you arguing that sleep deprivation leads to disease? If you are writing the synthesis for a college class, read the assignment carefully. Often an argumentative thesis is required. Depending on the focus, you will make different inferences from sources. Decide on a working thesis or research question. Do some research before formulating a final thesis.
Find and read your sources. Avoid general magazine and encyclopedia articles. Scientific and peer-reviewed journal articles are the best. Use databases such as ProQuest Nursing and Allied Health. After reading the sources for comprehension, reread and mark main ideas and supporting details that would be useful for your nursing synthesis paper. Take notes on your reading. It is best to paraphrase information. Make sure you use your own words and do not plagiarize by copying the source directly. If certain passages are particularly striking or difficult to paraphrase, use them word-for-word but also use quotation marks and credit the original source.
Formulate both a final thesis and an organizational plan. A formal outline is useful in organizing main points and supporting details. Using your outline as a guide, write topic sentences for all major ideas. This step is optimal in making sure your inferences and ideas guide the paper, not your sources. Ideally, source material is blended well in a synthesis. Finally, decide how you will use the material from your sources for substantiation and put material in the proper order.
Write the first draft of your paper using your outline as a guide. Be flexible about adding information. If you think of a new idea that supports your thesis well, add it to the paper. Do not put in irrelevant or filler material. A background or explanatory thesis will use sources to inform. An argumentative synthesis uses sources to persuade the reader. Be sure to use American Psychological Association (APA) parenthetical citations and a reference page to credit all source use. At this stage, concentrate on writing and do not proofread for mechanical errors.
Revise and edit. Read through your paper and make sure ideas flow in a logical order. Add any needed transitions to make the paper flow smoothly. Make sure you have used your ideas to organize the paper and integrated sources well. Replace any outdated sources. Check for errors in spelling, capitalization, usage and punctuation. In a college setting, it is helpful to exchange papers with a fellow student for a peer review of your paper.