Overview of Synthesis Project

Students will research an area in medical or health informatics by selecting and reading three related works from highly selective conference or journal venues. The student will then synthesize the papers by constructing a taxonomy and use the taxonomy as an organizing principle for the student's thoughts and for the paper. The synthesis paper can be a breakthrough experience in independent scholarship for a student. The synthesis paper will provide a natural lead-in to the final project and a path for independent scholarship beyond this course resulting in publishable material suitable for a workshop or conference. (Modified from B. Plale). The synthesis paper accounts for 30% of the final grade.

Topic Selection

Students may select any topic in health and medical informatics. Ideas for topics can be found on the Overview and Lectures pages. Students are encouraged to research topics of interest and multiple manuscripts before focusing on one topic or subset of papers. Students may not use a paper read in preparation for class as one of the three related works for the synthesis paper, but they may reference the class paper in relevant discussion areas in the synthesis paper.

Taxonomies

Students must synthesize their ideas using a taxonomy that shows how the selected papers are related in some way. Examples of taxonomies are:

  • Themes: Identify a set of recurring theme(s) within the selected papers. Identify, define, and give examples of the themes.
  • Variable or Contextual Analysis: Identify a variable or context that is different in each paper and identify, define, describe how the variable or context influences the three papers.

Formatting

Papers should be formatted in the ACM SIG Template format with appropriate sections, subsections, figure numbering, table numbering, and numbered references. There is a 10 page maximum, but no minimum.

Content

Students are encouraged to write until they are satisfied that their taxonomy is complete and their work addresses the following questions (in no particular order):
  • What is the thesis statement?
  • What are the research questions that motivated you to select this topic?
  • What are the articles about? What did the authors accomplish? How did they accomplish their goals? Why are the results important? How do the results contribute to the field?
  • How are the papers similar and different?
  • How do the papers address your research questions?
  • How could the papers/results/methods/etc. be improved?
  • How could the papers be expanded? What future work can be done? How can this synthesis paper be used in your final project exploration?

Deliverables

  • Topic Proposal (September 26, 2008 - 20 points)
  • Synthesis Paper (October 17, 2008 - 40 points)
  • Presentation (Week of October 13, 2008 - 20 points)

Topic Proposal

Students should submit a topic proposal that includes:

  • Proposed Title
  • Name and contact information
  • Paragraph describing topic, proposed taxonomy, and a subset of papers that have been read.
  • Bibliographic information for each paper referenced in the paragraph above

Synthesis Paper

The synthesis paper should address the questions discussed in the content subsection.

Presentation

Students should prepare a 13 minute presentation that gives an overview of their synthesis paper.

Common Pitfalls

  • Not researching enough papers to find three papers that can be used effectively in the taxonomy
  • Simply summarizing the papers without using the selected taxonomy
  • Not specifically identifying the taxonomy used and relating how the papers tie together
  • Selecting a thesis statement that is too broad or papers that do not address the research questions selected.
  • Grammar and spelling mistakes.

(C) Katie A. Siek