A SOAR-Fired Method for Teaching Synthesis Writing - IDEA Paper 74 - January 2019

Oct 15, 2026

Students frequently produce ineffective synthesis essays by relying on one source, adding a few disconnected ideas from others (patchwriting), listing all ideas without integration (tag-all writing), or summarizing source after source without comparison (separate-representation). The paper presents SOAR—Select, Organize, Associate, and Regulate—as a teaching system. Across two studies, SOAR supplements improved essay information, organization, intertextual connections, and overall quality, and students reported they would likely use SOAR in future assignments.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

SOAR and its impact on synthesis writing

Types of flawed synthesis writing

Patchwriting

Tag-all writing

Separate-representation writing

Defining effective synthesis writing

A SOAR-Fired Method for Teaching Synthesis Writing IDEA Paper \#74 • January 2019 Linlin Luo • University of Regensburg Kenneth A. Kiewra • University of Nebraska Abstract Students often fail to write effective synthesis essays that compare multiple sources across common intersecting categories. Instead, they compose flawed essays that focus primarily on one source and then add a few ideas from other sources (patchwriting); report ideas from all sources in a disjointed fashion (tag-all writing); or draw from one source after another without comparison (separate-representation writing) . Effective synthesis writing depends on three strategies: selecting important information from each source, arranging the selected information in a graphic organizer for easy comparison, and connecting information from the various sources in a comparative way. The authors report on an established teaching and learning system called SOAR (Select, Organize, Associate, and Regulate) and its newly investigated impact on synthesis writing in the two studies that they conducted. In the first study, students provided with SOAR supplements (a graphic organizer, association prompts, and a regulation checklist) composed essays that contained more information, better synthesis organization, and more intertextual relationships than did essays from students who were not using SOAR supplements. In the second study, SOAR-trained students composed better organized synthesis essays than students who used their own preferred strategies. Across studies, students found SOAR helpful for synthesis writing and reported that they would be likely to use SOAR for future writing assignments. The authors conclude with an example of how to teach students to use SOAR when they write. Keywords: synthesis writing, SOAR strategies, graphic organizers As an instructor, what is your impression of students’ writing, particularly synthesis writing, which requires them to compare multiple topics? In the course of your career, you have probably witnessed one or more types of flawed synthesis writing from your students. Most students need strategies to help them write effectively. The three types of creativity described in Figure 1 are an example of material that students might be asked to read and analyze through synthesis writing. What follows are descriptions of flawed student approaches to an essay on this material. | Adaptive Creativity | Innovative Creativity | Emergent Creativity | | --- | --- | --- | | Adaptive creativity is the ability to bring past knowledge and strategies to bear on current situations. Examples include any of the day-today problems that a homemaker ora skilled person in a profession or vocation would have to solve. For example, a homemaker might have to use adaptive creativity to plan and execute a new house-cleaning and meal-preparation strategy when he or she learns that unexpected guests will soon be arriving. The motivation of the adaptively creative person is to maintain the status quo or to slightly improve the status quo. Adaptive creativity can be mastered over 3–5 years. | Innovative creativity refers to a person’s ability to significantly change or adapt a major process, product, or paradigm. Quite often an innovator’s motivation stems from dissatisfaction with current conditions, which results in a desire to make a significant change. The time demand for developing innovative creativity is 5–10 years. Examples of innovatively creative people include inventors who significantly improve products or produce new products, such as Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Inc. | Throughout history, exceptional individuals have launched intellectual, social, or political revolutions. For example, Einstein’s groundbreaking theory of relativity, along with his contributions to the development of quantum theory, laid the foundation of modern physics. Emergent creativity refers to the person’s ability to fundamentally change existing ideas, beliefs

FAQs

What are the main weaknesses of flawed synthesis essays described in the paper?

They often focus on one source and add only a few ideas from others (patchwriting), report all sources in a disjointed way (tag-all writing), or summarize sources consecutively without comparison (separate-representation writing).

What is SOAR and how does it support synthesis writing?

SOAR stands for Select, Organize, Associate, and Regulate. It helps students choose important information, arrange it in a graphic organizer for comparison, and connect information across sources in a comparative way.

What results did the two studies find about using SOAR?

In study one, SOAR supplements led to essays with more information, better synthesis organization, and stronger intertextual relationships. In study two, SOAR-trained students produced better organized essays than peers using their own preferred strategies.

Oct 15, 2026

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