Synthesis Station

Synthesis Station

**Q2 (8 marks, AO1)** hands you both non-fiction texts and a focus, and asks you to **synthesise** them. This is the question students most often half-do: writing about one text, then the other, and never joining them. This module builds the real skill: **one point, both texts, compared**.

Text A. A letter, 1854

Two sources on life in the city. First, the older one: *London astonishes and appals in equal measure. By day the streets seethe with humanity. Costermongers bawling, carriages thundering, a thousand chimneys blackening the air. I have seen fortunes and beggary in a single street. At night the new gas-lamps burn like captive stars, yet the fog rolls in thick as soup. It is a marvel and a monster both.*

Text B. A blog, 2020

Now the modern source on the same subject: *People warn you that London will chew you up, and honestly? They're not wrong. The Tube at rush hour is a full-contact sport, the rent is a running joke, and you can go a week without anyone catching your eye. But then the lights come on over the river, a stranger helps you with your case on the stairs, and you remember why eight million of us put up with it. It's exhausting. I love it.*

Summary is not synthesis

Both start from the same evidence, and only one of them scores. The difference is whether the two texts ever meet inside a single sentence:

Glue the point together

_____ texts see the city as both a marvel and a monster: Text A calls it "a marvel and a monster", _____ Text B says it will "chew you up" but is still loved. A striking _____.

Evidence in Text A

In Text A, tap the phrase that shows the **crush of the crowds** overwhelming the writer.

• By day
• the streets seethe with humanity
• .
• Costermongers bawling
• , carriages thundering, a thousand chimneys blackening the air. ...
• It is a marvel and a monster both
• .

Matching evidence in Text B

Now tap the phrase in Text B that makes the SAME point as Text A's crowded streets: the crush of the city.

• The Tube at rush hour is a full-contact sport
• ,
• the rent is a running joke
• , and you can
• go a week without anyone catching your eye
• .

Now make it a point

You have found "the streets seethe with humanity" in Text A and "the Tube at rush hour is a full-contact sport" in Text B. Which sentence turns those into a Q2 synthesis point?

• Both writers present the city as physically overwhelming: Text A's streets "seethe with humanity", while Text B's Tube is "a full-contact sport".
• Text A says the streets seethe with humanity. Text B says the Tube is a full-contact sport.
• Text A uses the powerful verb "seethe" to suggest a boiling, restless movement.
• Both texts are about London, which is a very busy city.

Go one step further

A synthesis point that stops at the evidence has done the easy half. The marks at the top come from **inference**: saying what the comparison SHOWS that neither text states outright. Look at these two together. Text A calls the city "a marvel and a monster both"; Text B ends "It's exhausting. I love it." Neither writer says people stay in spite of the difficulty, and yet putting the two side by side makes it hard to conclude anything else. That is the move to practise: evidence from both texts, then one sentence of what it adds up to.

What does it add up to?

Text A calls London "a marvel and a monster _____", and Text B closes "It's exhausting. I _____ it." Neither writer says so directly, yet together they suggest the city is endured BECAUSE of what it also gives. An inference like that is worth more than either quotation alone, because it states something neither text says _____, and because it could only be reached from _____ sources at once.

Spot the difference

Which of these is a valid DIFFERENCE to build a synthesis point on?

• Text A's hardships belong to its era, the fog and the blackening chimneys, whereas Text B's are the Tube and the rent
• Text A is written as a letter and Text B as a blog post
• Text A is negative about the city and Text B is positive
• Text A uses longer sentences than Text B

Write the synthesis

Q2 practice. Write ONE synthesis paragraph comparing how BOTH texts present life in the city.

• Make ONE point about both texts, joined by a connective (both / whereas / similarly / in contrast)
• Support it with a short piece of evidence from EACH text
• Say whether it is a similarity or a difference, and be explicit about which
• Finish with an inference: what does the comparison SHOW that neither text says outright?

In the exam

Q2 is worth 8 marks and asks you to _____ both sources on a given focus. Make one point that touches BOTH texts, joined by a _____ such as "whereas" or "similarly", and support it with evidence from each. Never summarise one text and then the _____. And go beyond restating: _____ what the comparison shows about the focus.