Reading Strategy: Synthesize

When you synthesize, you put together ideas and information from the text to form a bigger picture. You can use this information to draw conclusions about the text.

Reading Strategy Synthesize
    How to Draw a Conclusion

  • 1. Pay attention to the writer’s ideas as you read. What points does the writer emphasize or find important?

  • 2. Think about what the writer’s ideas and the facts have in common. Write it in a Conclusion Chart.

  • 3. Think about what you know from your own experience. How does it help you draw a conclusion about what you are reading?

Strategy in Action

Here’s how one student synthesized information to draw a conclusion.

Look Into the Text

Erosion occurs when wind and water wear away the soil. Soil erosion and overgrazing by animals eventually can turn rich farmland into a desert wasteland. So does this mean we shouldn’t build a highway or plow a field? Of course not. But it does mean we should consider Earth-friendly ways of doing those things.

Today, farmers plow their fields in a variety of ways designed to prevent erosion.

The Writer Says:The Facts:What the Ideas have in Common:
There are Earth-friendly ways to do things that would prevent erosion.Soil erosion turns farmland into a wasteland. Farmers can farm differently to keep soil from eroding.Farmers farm their land in Earth-friendly ways.
My Conclusion: Farmers are already trying to prevent erosion with farming techniques that are Earth-friendly.

Conclusion Chart

Practice Together

As you read “Handle with Care,” put details together to form a conclusion. Follow the steps in the How-To box. Track your thinking in a Conclusion Chart.