Synthesis

Bringing together relevant ideas and evidence from different texts to explain a shared point.

The process of bringing together relevant information and ideas from different texts to develop a connected understanding.

We will use two accounts to practise moving from summary to synthesis. Source A is part of George Orwell’s The Road to Wigan Pier, published in 1937. Orwell describes watching miners at the coal face, where coal is being removed.

Bringing together relevant information and interpretations from more than one text to explain a connection, similarity or difference.

Check the qualification code on practice papers: 1EN0 synthesis guidance does not replace the specific requirements for 1EN2 Question 5.

Use the marks to control your time: keep retrieval and synthesis answers brief, and protect time for the final 10-mark comparison.

Bringing evidence from different texts together to develop a connected understanding of a particular topic.

Combining relevant information from different texts into linked points. In Question 7a, these points show similarities about the question’s specific focus.

Synthesis goes a step further: it joins information from two texts under a shared point. Instead of giving one account of Text 1 followed by another account of Text 2, you bring matching details together.

Bringing evidence from different texts together to establish a shared point.

Combining relevant information from different texts into a connected point.

Synthesis brings information from different texts together: instead of describing Text 1 and then describing Text 2, you connect them through a shared point.

Bringing together evidence from different texts to make a connected point.

Component 01 Question 2 is different. It asks for similarities on a specified focus and is worth 6 marks for AO1ii: selecting and synthesising evidence. Its three levels distinguish limited links (1–2), clear connections (3–4) and detailed, perceptive synthesis (5–6).

Bringing together relevant ideas and evidence from different texts to explain a connection between them.

Bringing together relevant ideas and evidence from different texts to establish a shared point.

Bringing together relevant information from more than one text to answer a particular question.

Synthesis means bringing information together under one focus. You are not writing two complete summaries: you are selecting what each text says about the particular subject in the question. Nor are you comparing the writers’ methods.

Bringing together relevant information from different texts to answer a shared question.

Definition

How each exam board covers it

AQA GCSE English Language · 8700

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Edexcel GCSE English Language · 1EN0

Edexcel GCSE English Language 2.0 · 1EN2

OCR GCSE English Language · J351

Eduqas GCSE English Language · C700