1. Factor-based synthesis

2. What is that?
This is more of an explanatory synthesis than an argumentative synthesis
The prompt will say something like:
Examine the factors that….
Determine the most important factors in…
Develop a position on the most important considerations
Your most important job is to figure out
What your factors are (let the sources lead you)
What their importance is in relation to the topic
WHY they matter

3. Introduction Museums are collections of artifacts
Introduction Museums are collections of artifacts. Although museums can represent interests from fine arts to whaling, people who visit museums sometimes fail to realize that every exhibit, every display case, represents a series of human decisions: some individual or group of individuals has to decide to include a particular piece of art or specific artifact in the museum’s collection. Assignment Read the following sources (including the introductory information) carefully. Then write an essay in which you develop a position on the most important considerations facing the person responsible for securing a new work of art or an artifact for a museum. Synthesize at least three of the sources for support.

4. Step 1: read the prompt Read the 1st page of the prompt.
What is the specific topic?
Analyze the question. What exactly is being asked of you?
Step 1: read the prompt

5. Step 2: read the sources Read the sources Annotate as you read:
Step 2.1: What factor related to museum curating does the source speak to?
Step 2.2: If the source is a graph, what information can you pull from it that relates to the topic or factor?
Step 2.3: If the source is a cartoon or image, what is the thesis of the cartoon and how does it relate to the topic or factor?
Step 2: read the sources

6. So now it’s time to get organized
So now it’s time to get organized. Obviously, you need to develop several (at least two) factors a museum curator needs to consider, but you should also think about your reasoning:
How does this factor relate to the role of museums?
What are the roles/ responsibilities of museums?
Step 3: brainstorm

7. It’s time to look at what should be in EACH body paragraph:
Factor and issue it raises
A. Definition of museum’s role (your own or source quote)
B. Source quote/example
C. How source reflects A
D. How source reflects factor
Step 4: outline

8. Here’s a high-scoring student example from that year’s test:

9. Factor and issue it raises
Factor: money Issue raised (also the topic sentence): Money is secondary to the goal of the museum.
Factor and issue it raises

10. Definition of museum’s role
“to protect and foster…cultures by reaffirming traditions and beliefs” (Source C)
Definition of museum’s role

11. Source quote/example The National Museum of the American Indian—
provides where cultural heritage is fostered, celebrated, and remembered.
Source quote/example

12. How source reflects museum’s role
Native Americans across the nation reap the benefits of cultural celebration, using the museum to understand better their own heritage and claim a sense of self related to Native American history. Such is the function of a museum—to celebrate what is and has been, and pave the way for an inspired future that can benefit from the accomplishments of the past.
How source reflects museum’s role

13. How source reflects factor
The actual profits of a museum enterprise do not reflect the museum’s essential cultural importance.
How source reflects factor

14. Step 5: write the paragraph
Money is secondary to the goal of the museum. These goals can be to represent art at a specific time period, to capture a grand moment in history, or “to protect and foster…cultures by reaffirming traditions and beliefs” (Source C). Such goals lead to sociopolitical progress that are impossible to pin a price upon. The National Museum of the American Indian, for example, provides a unique medium in which an entire cultural heritage is fostered, celebrated, and remembered. Native Americans across the nation reap the benefits of cultural celebration, using the museum to understand better their own heritage and claim a sense of self related to Native American history. Such is the function of a museum—to celebrate what is and has been, and pave the way for an inspired future that can benefit from the accomplishments of the past. The actual profits of a museum enterprise do not reflect the museum’s essential cultural importance.
Step 5: write the paragraph