integrate & synthesize

[batmura]

Can someone please tell me how these two verbs differ in the following sentence:

The literature review indicates your ability to integrate and synthesize the existing literature.

This sentence reads as if the lit review serves two different purposes, but to me, these two verbs are basically interchangeable and, thus, one of them seems redundant.

Thank you.

 

[konungursvia]

They aren't redundant. Integrate here means to bring a single work into your understanding. We also speak of integration in the case of individuals joining a group. Synthesis is the establishment of links between all of the various parts, and implies deeper comprehension, as it is harder to notice the relationships between the parts and the whole than merely that between two parts.