Synthesise sources

Why this shape

Several documents, one written synthesis with citations: the graduate skill that a literature review is made of.

An example. Using the three sources, write a synthesis of the evidence on retrieval practice.

What it is

Graduate shapes ask for the work of research: synthesise several sources with citations, defend a position with evidence and counter-argument, critique a methods section, write a grant section, review a paper, answer an oral examination.

Why it is needed

Beyond the undergraduate years, assessment is about judgement and argument, and the shapes that serve a first-year quiz cannot carry it. These shapes hold several documents, long written answers and structured critique, and they mark against a rubric written for the discipline.

When to use it

Use them in postgraduate courses, doctoral training, research methods teaching, and wherever the assessment is a piece of scholarly work rather than a recall of facts.

How to write one well

Give the sources or the passage in the question. Write the rubric with the criteria the discipline uses: argument, evidence, method, originality, clarity. Set a word limit that matches the task.

For synthesise sources in particular. Give the sources in the question and the criteria in the rubric.

Mistakes to avoid

A rubric so general that every answer is average. Sources too long to read in the time. A task that asks for a whole paper in an hour.

How EdProcto marks it

By a reader against the rubric: Procto AI where its grading is open, and always with the instructor's release. The sources and the answer stay with the attempt for the examiner.