Synthesis Matrix

Many assignments, both short and long, require you to stretch toward the highest categories of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy of Cognitive Skills. Among the highest levels you will find "creating," which includes synthesis--integrating (drawing together logically) information from many different sources. How? The matrix below provides a template to help you develop better syntheses of evidence.

To produce a well-integrated argument, you must find and organize supporting evidence from several different sources. Otherwise, you produce a list of disconnected information, not a unified analysis drawing together evidence from different sources. As you read each source, whether a primary source, textbook, or other secondary source, organize notes topically. For printed sources, indicate a page number so that you can return to the information. For an online document, perhaps use a short phrase that you can quickly search for and find again later.

When you find another reference to the same topic, enter it into your matrix. By the time you've finished the required readings, you will have a matrix that shows what sources relate to which specific topic. Armed with this information, you can develop well-supported topical paragraphs that each draw upon information from several different historical sources.

This process of integration helps you bring together multi-source support for your historical interpretation. It also helps you winnow out less important points. For example, if one of your topics appears in only a single source, drop it from your discussion. Historians seek broader patterns, so any key point should appear in several sources. The example below includes sample issues that might arise in a question about the conditions for the rural masses in 19th-century Latin America.

Once you've done all your reading and organized your matrix, you can now organize and develop well-supported arguments more quickly and easily. This process will help avoid the problems of using each source in isolation and making weakly supported arguments. Give it a try. You must also engage in another of Bloom's highest-level activities, evaluation, as you sort through and determine which evidence from which sources is the most valid and appropriate. I've created a blank matrix template that you may wish to print out and use for a future project. (Print it out in landscape format for best use. If it doesn't fit on a single sheet of paper, reduce the font size of your browser.)

Prefer to work with your computer, rather than with a preprinted form? You may download this Synthesis Matrix Table in RTF format. Save the table file to your computer. The table should work with any word processing software. Follow instructions at the top of the table.

Sample Matrix of Sources and Topics

Source/document	Topic/category 1, quality of life issues	Topic/category 2, employment problems	Topic/category 3, land monopoly	Topic/category 4, legal restrictions	Topic/category 5, racial discrimination
Document 1	"flea-ridden huts"	no data	Rosas	vagrancy law	legal code of 1865
Source 2 (textbook)	no data	p. 34	p. 55	no data	p. 23
Document 3	meager diet	falling wages	no data	Constitution of 1917	no data
Document 4	export crops	injuries and deaths	no data	no data	unofficial slavery
Document 5	asado	no data	terratenientes	elite rule	debt peonage