Respond to each source and connect it to your research question
Anticipate ways to connect sources to each other by showing how they work together or differ
Find additional sources to fill in gaps or incorporate new perspectives
Formulate your conclusion based on your reading, exploration, and critical thinking
As you write:
Tell the story of your research by mediating your sources—tell us what they mean and how they connect. By mediating, imagine you are a talk show host interviewing an ensemble cast about an upcoming movie or series. The host is central, present, and always in the driver’s seat. The host introduces people, explains connections (“I hear X didn’t want to participate in this project, but Y reached out. X, what convinced you?”), asks thoughtful and guiding questions, determines when people speak, asks for response, etc.)
Choose how to organize your exploration
Use each source purposefully; this means you should have a clear reason for choosing and integrating the pieces of evidence you do. The reason should be clear to the audience, both in the topic sentence and in the analysis/synthesis
