The present invention relates generally to a system and methods for the selection and use of content. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system and methods through the use of which information of one or more types and from one or more information sources may be selected, accessed, analyzed, and managed in order to extract content from which synthesized information may be developed that may be used to produce an information product relevant to a selected topic, issue, subject, or other target. Certain embodiments of the present invention are configurable to permit a user to identify the target for which the synthesized information is sought, select the source or sources from which the information is drawn, identify content in the information relevant to the target to produce the synthesized information, and select the detail of and the form in which the synthesized information is presented in order to produce a customized information product.