Beyond Notecards

Synthesizing Information with Electronic Study Tools

By Lynne Anderson-lnman & Leigh Zeitz

Computer outliners and concept mappers make the study process concrete and encourage students to analyze information.

The report is due next week! But where to begin? Three sources, but what do I do with them? I don't know how to put things in my own words. I have trouble integrating information from more than one source. My ideas are disorganized, my papers disjointed. Help!

Do these complaints sound familiar? Do your students have difficulty writing a report when asked to synthesize information from multiple sources? If so, one solution to their problems may be the computer. We have had great success teaching students to plan and write reports using software designed to facilitate information organization. Electronic information organizers provide students with a wonderful vehicle for gathering, recording, and manipulating information obtained from a variety of sources. More importantly, the fluidity of the process helps students understand that there are many good ways to organize and present the same information. We have found two types of information organizers useful for students' prewriting tasks: programs for creating electronic outlines and programs for creating electronic concept maps. Several of each type exist and software can be found to support most computers used in today's schools. (Please see the end of this article for a list of the programs we know about.) In the examples to follow, we use a program called Inspiration® (Inspiration Software, Inc.). Inspiration® enables its users to create both electronic outlines and concept maps (called "diagrams" by the program's developers). Furthermore, an outline can easily be turned into a concept map and vice versa. Originally conceptualized as a thinking tool for high-powered business executives and professional writers, the company now sees schools and educators as an important part of their market. To help bring the flexibility and power of computer-based information organizers to all levels of education, they offer the software at reduced prices to teachers and students. Programs to create outlines and concept maps on the computer offer students several advantages over the more traditional approaches using paper and pen (Horney & Anderson-Inman, 1992). First, the product is "globally expansible." Students can insert information under any topic, at any point in the process. The outline or concept map automatically expands to accommodate the material inserted. This feature allows writers to add to their outlines or concept maps any time new information is found. In contrast to outlining or concept mapping in a paper-based environment, electronic information organizers facilitate placing the information where it belongs conceptually, not just at the end or where there is space.

Second, the product is "infinitely modifiable." Students can easily change their minds about where a fact or idea should be placed. No erasing or recopying, just click-and-drag to rearrange topics and subtopics to match a new vision about how the ideas in a report should be ordered. Although modifications can be made to paper-based outlines and concept maps, it is difficult to make internal changes without creating a mess or engaging in time-consuming recopying.

And third, the product is "focusable." Special features allow the student to hide unwanted detail, leaving only a selected portion of the outline or concept map in view. This enables the writer to keep the whole paper in mind, even while working on one section in depth. Long outlines and big concept maps easily become unwieldy. Because electronic information organizers are focusable, unneeded material is hidden and out of the way, but instantly available when needed. These advantages can be put to good use when students are assigned to write a report requiring the synthesis of information from multiple sources. To illustrate how this occurs, we have created both an outline and a concept map using information from the same three sources. From the student's perspective, the assignment is to choose a mammal and write a report covering the following topics: appearance, habitat, and behavior. From our perspective, the assignment is to gather information from a variety of sources and synthesize that information into a paper, which is written in the student's own words. To accomplish the task successfully, the student must do three prewriting activities: (a) create a topical outline or concept map, (b) read and insert information, and (c) organize the information into conceptual units. These activities can be accomplished using a computer-based outlining program or concept mapping program.

Synthesizing with an Outliner

To illustrate the use of an electronic outlining program, we are going to write a report on the cheetah. The first task is to create a topical outline. This is an outline of the major topics to be covered in the report. In our example, the teacher has provided three major topics to be addressed by all students in their reports on mammals: appearance, habitat, and behavior. To the topics assigned by the teacher we have added one more, bibliography (see Figure 1). The purpose of the bibliography topic is to ensure an accurate recording of where the information in the outline came from.

If the teacher has not provided direction as to the report's content, the student will need to generate major topics independently. This is most easily accomplished by scanning one or two sources that provide an overview of the subject (e.g., an encyclopedia entry or comprehensive magazine article). At this point the student is just looking for organizing topics, not detailed information. Due to the ease of modifying an electronic outline, the major topics can always be changed or refined if further reading suggests an alternative organization.

The second task is to read and insert information under the major topics of the outline. The student should read one source at a time, looking for information that fits into the outline. Each source is recorded under the bibliography topic, and each entry is cross-referenced to its source. For example, in Figure 2 we see that the student found quite a bit of information in the first source about the cheetah's appearance, only one piece of information about habitat, and several about behavior. Entries are written using keywords and short phrases, not sentences copied out of the book. This is essential, because it will ultimately help the student write the report in his or her own words. The only time sentences should be copied verbatim is when the student feels something may later be used as a quote. A number is placed after each entry indicating the source from which the information is taken. This too is essential, as it allows the student to verify information at a later time if needed.

After reading and inserting information from the first source, the student moves on to another. The process is repeated, first referencing the source under the bibliography heading and then inserting new information under the other headings as appropriate. In Figure 3, it is clear that the student found considerable new information about habitat and behavior in the second source, but nothing about appearance. Notice that the new information about habitat has been organized into categories, the first related to female cheetahs and the second related to male cheetahs. With an electronic outline, this type of categorization can be imposed at any time and later modified if new ideas for the structure emerge.

In Figure 4, we see that information under the topic of appearance is greatly expanded after reading the third source, as is information under the topic of behavior. By comparison, there was only one new detail for the student to include under the topic of habitat. This the student inserted as a detail under the heading "Africa and India." Finding little or nothing to add does not necessarily mean that the reference did not include information about a given topic. It may mean that the relevant details were already in the outline. This illustrates another advantage to using an electronic outlining program for recording and organizing research for a report. Because the outline is infinitely expansible, the student can create it while still in the process of gathering information. By referring to the existing outline, it is easy to see when information is already known (e.g., already listed in the outline) and where there are gaps in the student's research (e.g., insufficient detail under some topics).Where gaps occur, the student must choose either to search further for more information or to restructure the report so that the topic is eliminated.

Upon completion of the information gathering and recording phase, students should engage in the third major prewriting task, organizing the information into conceptual units. As indicated previously, this type of organization can occur at any time. Nonetheless, it helps to take a thorough look at the details under each major topic when the information gathering phase is completed. The purpose of this examination is to look for ways to group the various ideas and facts into logical subtopics in preparation for writing. This in formation manipulation is greatly facilitated by the electronic outlining program because inserting new headings and moving topics around is easy to accomplish.

In Figure 5, we can see that the student has looked carefully at the various details under the topic of appearance and decided that they could be regrouped under three subtopics: basic statistics, legs, and body. This is easily accomplished by inserting a new heading (e.g., basic statistics) and then dragging all relevant details into place under that heading. When the student begins to write the report, the structure for describing the cheetah's appearance is already in place. Important to note is that the information for writing about the cheetah's appearance is now synthesized across sources. The resulting description will not have the structure or language of any of the original sources.

In a similar manner, the student was able to re-conceptualize the details listed under the heading of behavior (also in Figure 5). That topic now contains four subtopics: hunting behavior, running behavior, mating behavior, and other behavior. In this part of the outline, the level of synthesis across sources is even more pronounced, as details have been drawn from all three readings used by the student. In short, the student has successfully manipulated the information into a format that is personally meaningful and the final written product will be both original and unique.

Synthesizing with a Concept Mapper

The process of synthesizing information across sources using a computer-based concept mapping program is similar to the process for using an outlining program. In fact, any outline can be turned into a hierarchical diagram that looks like a concept map. This, however, does not use the power of concept mapping to its greatest advantage. A concept map, like other forms of graphic representation (e.g., webs, mindmaps, and clusters), is composed of nodes and links. The nodes represent the concepts and the links represent the relationships between those concepts. The primary difference between concept maps and other forms of graphic representation is that, in a concept map, labels are placed on the links. In fact, link labels are an important feature of concept maps and are used to depict the relationships more explicitly than would otherwise be possible. These relationships are called "propositions" (Novak & Gowin, 1984), semantic units comprised of two or more concepts connected by a labeled link.

Figure 6 illustrates the propositions obtained from reading the first source on cheetahs. Notice that at the core of the concept map are the same four major topics found in the outline: appearance, habitat, behavior, and bibliography. Each is now a node in the concept map. Attached to these nodes are labeled links specifying the relationship between that concept and another one, represented by another node. Thus, under appearance, it is specified that the cheetah "weighs 100-140 pounds" and "has legs." Going to the next level, the cheetah has "legs with strong forelegs" and "legs with powerful hindquarters." In turn, the "strong forelegs have unretractable claws." Even in this simple example, it is possible to see the effect that concept mapping imposes on the recording and organizing of information. In contrast to the outlining process where little organization is necessary until all the information is gathered, concept mappers are constantly looking for relationships and trying to depict those relationships graphically.

Figure 7 is a completed concept map using all three sources of information. The reference for each concept in the map is clearly indicated using a feature built into the software. A variety of node shapes can be selected by the student to clarify relationships or communicate additional information. In this case, a shape was selected for each source that contained the desired numeral. In other words, all concepts from the first source were customized by selecting a node shape that contains a "1." This is accomplished quickly and easily by selecting the desired graphic from a menu of possibilities to the left of the screen. Once selected any node that builds from the customized node will present the same shape or contain hi the same graphic. For example, when constructing the propositions that cheetahs "meet only to mate" and "have cubs who stay with their mothers for 15 months," the customized graphic indicating this information came from the third source only needed to be selected once, for the node "only to mate." All other nodes automatically contained the numeral 3 because they built off of this one. When something else is wanted the node is easily changed by highlighting it and selecting another shape, or graphic from the menu of possibilities. It is even possible to bring in additional shapes or graphics from outside the program.

There are two other features about prewriting with an electronic concept mapping program that should be mentioned. First, an electronic concept map (like an electronic outline) is a easily modifiable. Notice in Figure 7 that the student has done more than add new pieces of information. There has also been some rearrangement of the existing nodes (e.g., the nodes about legs under appearance and the nodes representing the bibliography). In this case, these nodes were moved over a bit to make room for additional information, but the rearrangement could have occurred for other reasons. Rearranging electronic nodes is a simple matter. When the student clicks and drags a node to the desired spot, all connecting lines are automatically redrawn.

Second, it is possible to reference information in an electronic concept map to multiple nodes using "crosslinks." This is illustrated under the node "territory." There is a close relationship between the territorial nature of cheetahs and their mating behavior. For this reason, the student might want to mention their territorial nature when discussing behavior or might want to mention their mating behavior when describing the territories they live in. Recognition of this relationship is indicated using crosslinks which, in this case, are bi-directional. Changing the direction of a link is an option in the software and can be used to indicate the direction in which the propositions should be "read." A bi-directional link suggests the propositions make sense when read from either direction.

In short, an electronic concept mapping program has much of the same flexibility of an electronic outlining program. Information can be added and modified easily; there are simple ways to record the original source for any specific detail; and the process of synthesizing across sources is facilitated. The primary difference between the two approaches is inherent in their structure: An outline is strictly hierarchical, whereas a concept map can be more representational. The linear and textual nature of outlining appeals to some students while the graphical nature of concept mapping appeals to others. Both strategies, however, are enhanced by the fluidity of the electronic medium and both can be used effectively to help students gather, record, and organize the information they need to write a report. With the study tools we call electronic information organizers, your students will never again have to complain: "Three sources! But what do I do with them?"

Lynne Anderson-lnman, Center for Advanced Technology in Education, College of Education, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-5265; lynneai@oregon.uoregon.edu. Leigh Zeitz, Malcom Price Lab School, 19th and Campus Sts., Cedar Falls, IA 50613; zeitz@cobra.uni.edu.

References

Horney, M., & Anderson-lnman, L. (1992). Computer-based outlining programs as tools for gathering, organizing, and studying information across the curriculum. Paper presented at the annual American Educational Research Association conference, San Francisco.

Novak, J. D., & Gowin, D. B. (1984). Concept mapping for meaningful learning. In R. M. Smith (Ed.), Learning how to learn (pp. 15-54). New York: Cambridge.

Software
Outliners
Acta Advantage, Portfolio Software.
GreatWorks, Symantec.
IdeaLiner
Inspiration®, Inspiration Software.
MaxThink, MaxThink.
More 3.1, Symantec.
PC Outliner, Brown Bag Software.
Thinkworks, MicroMedia.
Microsoft Word, Microsoft.

Concept Mappers
Inspiration®, Inspiration Software.
MindMap, Full Circle Media.
The Learning Tool, Arborworks.