Paraphrase accurately without changing the source's claim
Paraphrase an academic source without changing its claim, scope or uncertainty. Compare accurate and misleading rewrites of a fictional study.
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Topic guidance
Sources, Synthesis & Referencing
Read sources accurately, bring their evidence together and make attribution traceable.
Find a workable starting point
Preserve the source’s limits
Record the population, method and uncertainty alongside a claim. A paraphrase should not make the evidence stronger.
Compare before combining
Identify agreement, tension and different scopes. Several citations beside one sentence do not establish a synthesis.
Keep attribution traceable
Separate your interpretation from reported findings. Follow your institution or journal’s reference requirements.
Your next step
Compare what each source actually claims, how it studied the question and where its conclusions stop.
Editing and revision apply across all six topics. Choose a resource by the task it helps you complete.
Suggested starting points
Bring two sources into one essay paragraph
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Learn how to justify a research gap with evidence, qualify your claims, and explain why the unresolved question matters. Includes a worked example and checklist.
Tools and worksheets for this task
- Literature-synthesis matrix
Compare several sources by question, context, design, claims and limits before turning defensible relationships into literature-review prose.
Explore this topic
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Bring two sources into one essay paragraph
Combine two academic sources in one paragraph by comparing their claims, populations and evidence. Revise a source stack into a qualified synthesis.
Paraphrase accurately without changing the source's claim
Paraphrase an academic source without changing its claim, scope or uncertainty. Compare accurate and misleading rewrites of a fictional study.
Literature-synthesis matrix
Compare several sources by question, context, design, claims and limits before turning defensible relationships into literature-review prose.