Chapter 1
Information and Ideas
Course: Sat Prep
Subject: Reading And Writing
Chapter: Craft And Structure 5879 11902
This lesson explains how to combine information from multiple sources into clear, purposeful writing. You will learn to select relevant details, organize ideas effectively, and write sentences that accomplish a specific goal. By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Identify the purpose of a writing task.
- Select relevant information from notes or sources.
- Combine ideas into clear, concise sentences.
- Organize information to achieve a specific goal.
The Goal Governs Everything
A synthesis goal is a statement of what a piece of writing must accomplish. It names an effect the writing produces on a reader, and everything in the writing exists to produce that effect.
Goals are stated compactly and every element carries weight. A goal directing that a sentence emphasize a difference between the two methods contains three requirements: the sentence concerns both methods, it identifies a difference rather than a similarity, and the difference receives emphasis rather than mere mention. A sentence naming both methods and noting that they share an underlying principle has failed on the second requirement, however accurate it is.