Graphic organizer Grade 10 English Language Arts
Westbrae Digester Sources: A Research Synthesis Matrix
A grade 10 organizer for narrowing a research question and sorting five sources by what each can answer, with a completed exemplar on a fictional digester decision.
Objectives
- Students will narrow a broad research question into one that evidence can settle.
- Students will record what each source can answer and what it cannot.
- Students will name a point of disagreement between two sources without discarding either.
- Students will write a synthesis sentence that holds more than one source at a time.
Vocabulary
Key words: research question, synthesis, sub-question, corroborate, gap, source type
Teacher overview
This organizer is a matrix rather than a web: five source rows crossed against columns that ask what each source is, what it can answer, and what it cannot. A closing table turns the matrix into three statements about agreement, disagreement, and what no source covers. Two habits at this grade make research writing collapse into a list of summaries. Students narrow a question by making it shorter instead of making it answerable, and students drop any source that disagrees with the others, which removes exactly the tension a synthesis is supposed to hold. The column headed "What this source cannot tell me" is the one to insist on, because it is where both habits become visible.
Organizer
Use the five sources your teacher assigns for this exercise. Complete every cell, writing in phrases rather than paragraphs.
Part 1. From a broad question to an answerable one
| Slot | Write here |
|---|---|
| Starting question | |
| Why this question is too broad to settle | |
| Narrowed question | |
| What would count as an answer, stated as a kind of evidence | |
| Two sub-questions the narrowed question breaks into |
Part 2. Source matrix
| Source | Kind of source | Sub-question it can answer | Key detail, quoted or paraphrased | What this source cannot tell me | Agrees or disagrees with |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 3 | |||||
| 4 | |||||
| 5 |
Part 3. From matrix to synthesis
| Slot | Write here |
|---|---|
| A point on which two or more sources agree, with source numbers | |
| A point on which two sources disagree, with source numbers | |
| Why the disagreement exists, if the matrix shows a reason | |
| A question no source in the matrix answers | |
| One synthesis sentence that uses at least two sources |
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Completed Exemplar
The scenario: the Westbrae Water Reclamation District is deciding whether to build an anaerobic digester, which would hold the solids left over from treatment in a sealed, heated tank where bacteria break them down and give off a gas the plant can burn. All five sources below are fictional, written for this exercise.
Part 1. From a broad question to an answerable one
| Slot | Exemplar |
|---|---|
| Starting question | Are digesters good for wastewater plants? |
| Why this question is too broad to settle | "Good" is not defined, no plant is named, and no evidence could settle it for every plant at once. |
| Narrowed question | Should the Westbrae district build an anaerobic digester at its existing plant within the next five years? |
| What would count as an answer, stated as a kind of evidence | Operating results from a district of similar size, plus a statement of what Westbrae would gain and what it would take on. |
| Two sub-questions the narrowed question breaks into | Does a digester of this size work reliably at a plant like Westbrae, and what does it change for the people living nearest the plant? |
Part 2. Source matrix
| Source | Kind of source | Sub-question it can answer | Key detail, quoted or paraphrased | What this source cannot tell me | Agrees or disagrees with |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. District engineering memo, June | Internal technical document, written by the party proposing the project | Would a digester fit the site and handle the solids the plant produces? | The memo concludes the digester would fit on the north yard and would cut the volume of solids the district hauls away each week. | Whether the projection matches what other districts actually experienced, since it reports an estimate rather than a result | Disagrees with Source 4 about odor |
| 2. Trade journal article on a comparable district, six years after start-up | Reported article, written by an outside author | Does a digester of this size run reliably over years? | The article reports that the gas produced was steady after the second year, but that the first eighteen months required more operator attention than the district expected. | Anything about Westbrae's own solids, staffing, or site | Corroborates part of Source 1 and part of Source 3 |
| 3. Interview with the district's lead operator | Firsthand account from a person who would run the equipment | What would change in daily operation? | The operator says the plant would need a second certified operator on the night shift during start-up. | Whether the district can hire that operator, which is a budget and labor question | Agrees with Source 2 on the start-up period |
| 4. Letter from the Westbrae North Neighborhood Association | Advocacy letter from an affected group | What do the nearest residents object to? | The letter states that residents already smell the solids handling building on still summer evenings and expect a new tank to make it worse. | Whether a sealed digester actually increases or decreases odor, since the letter offers no measurement | Disagrees with Source 1 |
| 5. State grant program guidance | Government program document | What conditions come with grant funding? | The guidance requires a monitoring plan and an annual report for any funded project. | Whether Westbrae would qualify, which depends on an application the district has not filed | Independent of the other four |
Part 3. From matrix to synthesis
| Slot | Exemplar |
|---|---|
| A point on which two or more sources agree, with source numbers | Sources 2 and 3 agree that the demanding period is start-up rather than steady operation. |
| A point on which two sources disagree, with source numbers | Sources 1 and 4 disagree about how the project would affect the neighborhood, since the memo treats odor as a solved design question and the letter treats it as an existing problem. |
| Why the disagreement exists, if the matrix shows a reason | The memo projects how a sealed tank should behave, while the letter reports what residents currently smell from a different building. Neither one measures odor. |
| A question no source in the matrix answers | Whether the district can hire and keep the additional certified operator that Source 3 says start-up requires. |
| One synthesis sentence that uses at least two sources | The strongest case for the digester rests on operating experience elsewhere rather than on the district's own memo, since Source 2 shows steady performance after two years while Source 3 warns that start-up would demand staffing the district has not yet shown it can supply. |
Differentiation
Support
Give these students the Part 2 matrix with the "Kind of source" column already filled in, so sorting begins with the harder columns. Reduce the matrix to three sources, and supply the frame "Source ___ can answer ___, but it cannot tell me ___" for the first row completed together as a class.
Extension
Ask these students to add a sixth row for a source the matrix is missing, naming the kind of source it would be, the sub-question it would answer, and one reason such a source might be hard to obtain. Then have them revise the synthesis sentence so that it survives the addition.
ELL supports
Pre-teach digester, solids, start-up, corroborate, and guidance with a paired example sentence for each and a simple labeled diagram of a sealed tank. Provide a bilingual glossary of the six column headings, and allow the "Key detail" column to be completed with a direct quotation before students paraphrase it in their own words.
Extensions
Have students build the same five-row matrix for a decision under discussion in their own district, using sources they locate themselves, and require that at least one row hold a source that disagrees with the others. Ask them to write one paragraph explaining what the disagreeing source keeps them from claiming.