Question 101·Medium·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching renewable-energy technologies, a student assembled the following notes:
- Offshore wind farms typically achieve a high capacity factor.
- Installing underwater turbines can disrupt marine life migration.
- Floating solar panels do not require clearing land for solar arrays.
- When deployed on reservoirs, floating solar panels can reduce water lost to evaporation.
The student wants to add a sentence to a report that highlights an environmental advantage of adopting floating solar panels instead of installing underwater turbines. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For rhetorical synthesis questions with notes, first read the task sentence very carefully and underline the key requirements (for example, which technologies are being compared and whether the focus is environmental, economic, etc.). Then scan the notes to find the specific pieces of information that match those requirements, and eliminate any answer choice that (1) uses notes about the wrong topic, (2) fails to mention both elements that must be compared, or (3) doesn’t clearly match the goal (such as not showing an advantage or not focusing on the environment). This targeted matching is faster and more reliable than just choosing a sentence that “sounds good.”
Hints
Focus on the goal language
Underline the words "environmental advantage" and "instead of installing underwater turbines" in the question. Make sure the answer you pick clearly matches both parts of this goal.
Sort the notes by topic
Look at the notes and separate the information about floating solar panels from the information about underwater turbines. Which notes talk about environmental effects for each technology?
Eliminate off-topic comparisons
Cross out any answer choice that compares floating solar panels to something other than underwater turbines, or that doesn’t actually give an advantage of floating solar.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the task and what must be compared
The question asks for a sentence that highlights an environmental advantage of floating solar panels instead of underwater turbines. So the correct choice must:
- Focus on the environment, not cost or energy output.
- Talk about floating solar panels.
- Clearly contrast them with underwater turbines (showing why floating solar is better in some environmental way).
Identify relevant notes
Look back at the notes and mark anything about floating solar panels and underwater turbines that is environmental:
- "Installing underwater turbines can disrupt marine life migration." → This is an environmental downside of underwater turbines.
- "When deployed on reservoirs, floating solar panels can reduce water lost to evaporation." → This is an environmental benefit of floating solar panels (conserves water).
The other notes (about high capacity factor and not clearing land) may be useful in some contexts, but they don’t mention underwater turbines and are less directly about the specific comparison asked for.
Check each answer choice against the goal and notes
Now test each option:
- Choice A talks about farmland and compares floating solar to land-based renewable options, not to underwater turbines.
- Choice C talks about offshore wind farms and land use, which does not match the request to compare floating solar with underwater turbines.
- Choice D only describes the problem with underwater turbines; it doesn’t mention any advantage of floating solar panels at all.
Only one remaining option both uses the notes about floating solar and underwater turbines and clearly presents an environmental advantage of floating solar over underwater turbines.
Select the answer that directly states the environmental advantage and contrast
The correct choice is B) Floating solar panels can reduce water loss from reservoirs through evaporation and do not disrupt marine life migration as underwater turbines can.
It combines the note about floating solar reducing evaporation (environmental benefit) with the note about underwater turbines disrupting marine life (environmental harm), clearly showing an environmental advantage of floating solar instead of underwater turbines.