2007 Form BSample Intro/Thesis Statements: (Synthesis type II—most important issues)
- When securing a new work of art or artifact, the person responsible should consider the three most important things: money, the vision of the museum, and educational value.[Okay thesis. A bit bland and basic, but workable. But this has NO intro! Remember you need some sort of intro. Keep it brief and relevant, but do include at least something.]
- Although museums are under a great deal of pressure to make money these days, it is important to remember the reasons museums exist. Museums are important institutions with the serious task of educating the public. They are not theme parks or circuses. They should not have gift shops or sensational, freakshow exhibits. [BAD thesis. This is more like a thesis for a Pro/Con prompt than one responding to a prompt asking you what are the most important consideration to take into account. This paper will fail. The first two sentences weren’t bad as an introduction, however.]
- When securing a new artifact or work of art for a museum, one must consider a wide range of issues. While it would be nice to say that the museum’s decisions should be based only on the artistic and educational value of the piece, unfortunately museums do not exist in an ideal world, so they must be practical, as they all have limited budgets. When acquiring art, museums must think not only of educational or intrinsic value, but also of financial and ethical considerations.[Strong intro and thesis. I’ll be happy if you write this on block day (or on the AP exam!).]
- Choosing artifacts for a museum is a difficult and complicated task. Those people whose job it is to procure the artifacts may easily be led astray by all sorts of influences and flawed arguments. It is important that only the artifacts that accurately describe the past be selected.[Only mentions ONE consideration. The prompt asks for MULTIPLE ones, which means at least two!]
- When acquiring artifacts for a museum, one must take into consideration a number of different things. If one does not pay careful attention to all of these considerations, the museum could run into all types of trouble. The way things are today in the U.S., museums cannot afford to acquire just anything and everything. They must be judicious in their choices, and consider all of the most important factors as they make their decisions.[Never actually gets around to saying what the most important factors are! No real thesis exists.]
Some Sample Pro/Con Organization Outlines:
- Useful basic formula:
-intro/thesis
-concession
-your argument
-conclusion
- another option: (only works well with point-by-point
parallel refutations)
-intro/thesis
-counterargument/your argument
-counterargument/your argument
-counterargument/your argument
-summation
- another option: (hybrid form)
-intro/thesis
-counterargument/concession
-rebuttal/reframing of issue
-common ground/your argument
-more points of your argument
-solution/conclusion