Connecting Ideas

from above, a group of adults drawing a mind map 

Brainstorming & Mind-Mapping

From Mural.co. Offers an overview of mind mapping, a common strategy for organizing ideas before starting to write. 

From the UNC Writing Center. Twelve different strategies to help you start moving from research and ideas to writing the actual paper. 

From the UNC Writing Center. This page defines a concept map as any kind of visual representation of information. Concept maps are study tools that can also help you plan a paper.

Transitions

From the University of Arizona. Consultant notes: Frequently writers, no matter how experienced or new they are to writing, are concerned with making their ideas flow. Transitional phrases can accomplish that. This resource has a list of transitional phrases organized by purpose. To use this resource, ask yourself: What kind of ideas are you trying to connect? Are you pointing out similarities or contrasting differences? Emphasizing or re-stating a point? Illustrating a cause and effect? Once you have figured out the intended purpose, you can browse through the list of transitional phrases to find one that works best for you. This resource can be useful for writers of all levels. - Joanna

From Manchester University: The Academic Phrasebank is "a general resource for academic writers. It aims to provide you with examples of some of the phraseological ‘nuts and bolts’ of writing organised according to the main sections of a research paper or dissertation."

From University of Louisville: provides tips for improving “flow” on the paragraph- and sentence-level.

By Hasmik Antonyan. Consultant notes: This blog post talks about different approaches to addressing flow and clarify in your writing. Specifically, it focuses on choosing subjects and verbs that clarify to readers what you are focusing on in your sentences. It also discusses different effects active and passive voice may have on audiences. Before reading, know that the article presents some of the suggestions as if they are always the most effective way to write, and will always improve clarity. However, we at the Writing Center acknowledge that there are many ways to write effectively, so ultimately we hope these suggestions encourage reflection and lead to you being intentional about your writing choices based on how you intend to impact your audience. - Rebekah

Synthesis

From NC State University Writing and Speaking Tutorial Service Tutors. A synthesis matrix is a tool you can use to track and categorize key information from the different sources you'll use to write the synthesis paper. This PDF has an example matrix.

Details planning, writing, and revising a synthesis

From Purdue. Consultant notes: A synthesis is a common type of writing assignment in many health professions programs. But what is a synthesis? Many students may think it’s simply a summary of a research article, but there is a little more to it than that. This article from Purdue OWL describes what a synthesis is, as well the two types: argumentative and explanatory. It gives a few broad pieces of advice for writing a synthesis, and then two example synthesis – one effective synthesis, and one that is not effective. Because the advice is more broad than specific, this article can serve as a starting point or as a reminder of what a synthesis is. There are other resources out there that have more detailed step by step how-to’s for writing a synthesis. - Joanna

From Lumen: provides questions to ask when writing a synthesis

From USU: 2-minute video overview of synthesizing sources for literature reviews