Skip to main content
CurTaskHelp
Open CurTask

Concept

Agree, contradict, extend: linking what papers say

What the three kinds of link on the Synthesis Map mean, where you see them, and how they carry into your writing.

A literature review is more than a list of what each paper found. It says where papers agree, where they pull against each other, and where one takes another further. On the Synthesis Map you record exactly that, one link at a time, between two quotes from two different papers.

Every link starts from a theme. Inside a theme, you pick a quote from one paper and a quote from another, then say how they relate. Because a link joins two real passages, each with its page, you can always go back and check why you made it.

You make links in the Network view, in the List. See Link quotes in the theme grid for the steps.

  • Agrees: both papers point the same way. Two studies that find the same effect, or describe the same experience in different settings.
  • Contradicts: the papers pull against each other. A contradiction can carry a short name for the tension, written as X vs Y, for example "Data-driven decisions vs teacher judgement". That name shows on the link, so you can see at a glance what the disagreement is about.
  • Extends: one paper takes the other further: a new group, a new setting, a reason behind the finding, or a next step.

You can also add Your note to a link, to remind yourself why you made it.

Tip: contradictions are often the most useful links of all. A gap or a debate in the literature is usually where your own study fits.

  • In the List, each quote shows its links. Choose Focus on two papers to see only two papers side by side, with lines between the quotes you linked.
  • On the Map, each theme springs out into its categories and codes, and the links are drawn as lines between the codes. Select a line to focus on it, or select a code to see its quotes float beside the lines they belong to.

On the Student and Researcher plans, the AI can suggest links for you: Suggest line labels for one theme, or Link all with AI for every accepted theme at once. Each suggested line rests on two quotes the AI checked in your papers, and it stays Suggested until you accept it. See Suggest categories and links with AI.

Linking by hand works on every plan, and costs nothing.

If you later merge two codes, or adjust where a coded passage starts and ends, its links move with it. You don't lose the relationships you have already worked out.

Some projects also have a few Whole-paper links, made in an earlier version of CurTask, before links joined two quotes. They are listed separately. Link the quotes that show the relationship, then remove the older link.

  • When you send a theme to Writing, a contradiction can come across as a flagged point in the new section, so you remember to discuss it.
  • The writing sidebar builds on your accepted analysis, including your themes and links. See The insight margin.

Your links, like the rest of your analysis, are private to you. See Private by default.