Individual skill
phg-argument-synthesis
Use when turning a mapped literature into one cumulative argument for a Progress in Human Geography (PiHG) review essay — synthesizing many sources into a claim the field could not see from any one of them. Builds the synthetic spine; it does not gather sources (see phg-literature-positioning) or make the critical turn (see phg-critical-intervention).
Progress-in-Human-Geography-Skills/skills/phg-argument-synthesis/SKILL.md
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- Observed behavior
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- Last checked
- Nov 9, 2026
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- Sep 27, 2026
- License
- MIT
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# Argument Synthesis (phg-argument-synthesis)
The single most important craft in a PiHG essay: **synthesis**. A review is not an ordered summary of what
others found; it is an **argument the sources add up to but none of them made alone**. Reviewers and
editors reject "annotated bibliography" pieces on sight. This skill turns a mapped literature
(`phg-literature-positioning`) into a **cumulative claim** organized by your concept
(`phg-theory-building`).
## When to trigger
- You have the corpus and the concept, and must now build the spine
- The draft reads as "A found X, B found Y, C found Z" — a list, not an argument
- A reviewer said "this is descriptive," "where is the argument?," or "just a summary"
- You cannot state the essay's thesis in one sentence