User:Remsense/Explicit and implicit synthesis
 | This is an essay on improper synthesis. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
Language is slippery: in reality, neither words nor rhetorical techniques have totally fixed meanings for an individual reader, never mind across a potential readership of millions. However, for our purposes words do have shared, broadly understood meanings, and so do rhetorical techniques. There are many ways to create meaning in a text besides the explicit use of words, and this meaning is also capable of constituting an improper synthesis of sources, and therefore original research.
The examples given here may be characterized as spanning the overlap of Wikipedia's policies on original research and undue weight—fundamentally, both concepts are concerned with the claims made by an article, so this is a reasonable perspective. Here, focus is given to examples of when claims may be easily distilled to explicit statements, but remain implicit in the text.
Simple juxtaposition[edit]
Below are three example sentences demonstrating improper editorial synthesis. On their own, the two factual claims in each example may be reliably sourced. However, in the first example they have been joined with a conjunction such that the second clause explicitly questions the first clause, ultimately synthesizing a claim that the UN has failed to maintain international peace.
The United Nations' stated objective is to maintain international peace and security, but since its creation there have been 160 wars throughout the world.
In the second example, the same sourced material is composed with a different conjunction and an additional qualifying term to synthesize the exact opposite claim, illustrating how easily an article's framing can be skewed by synthetic claims not actually supported by any one source:
The previous two examples both synthesize material explicitly by adding words with specific meanings. However, meaning is also created implicitly by juxtaposition alone. The third example simply states the two factual claims sequentially. Whether it is implicit synthesis depends on further context, as the surrounding material can likewise clarify implications made by its constituent passages. Ultimately, it is more subjective, and arguably where original research overlaps with the distinct policy regarding . Care is warranted, as it is possible to imagine many contexts where a negative implication would be obvious to many readers:
The United Nations' stated objective is to maintain international peace and security. Since its creation, there have been 160 wars throughout the world.
