Question 103·Easy·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- "Night Skies" is a city-led program in Windham to reduce light pollution.
- The city replaced many streetlights with fully shielded LED fixtures at a warm 2700K color temperature.
- Volunteers, including members of the local astronomy club, take monthly sky-brightness measurements with handheld meters.
- The program began in 2021.
- Within a year, the Milky Way became visible from two city parks on clear nights.
The student wants to write a single sentence that states the program’s purpose and gives one specific outcome. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For rhetorical synthesis questions like this, start by underlining the task words in the prompt (for example, “state the program’s purpose and give one specific outcome”). Then scan the notes and label key pieces: P for purpose/goal, M for methods/activities, R for results/outcomes, and maybe D for dates or who is involved. Next, eliminate any answer choice that is missing one of the required elements (here, anything without both P and R) or that adds irrelevant focus (like just methods or dates). Choose the option that cleanly and directly combines exactly the pieces the question asks for in a single, clear sentence.
Hints
Clarify the task words
Underline “program’s purpose” and “one specific outcome” in the question. Make sure you know you need both in a single sentence, not just a description of what happens in the program.
Locate the purpose in the notes
Look carefully at the first bullet: what does it say the program is to do? That phrase after “to” tells you the purpose.
Locate the outcome in the notes
Which bullet describes a change in the night sky that happened within a year? That is a concrete result of the program.
Eliminate choices that don’t do both
For each answer choice, ask: (1) Does it clearly express the program’s goal? (2) Does it give a result (not just an action, method, or date)? Cross out any option that is missing one of these.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify exactly what the question is asking for
The prompt says the student wants one sentence that states the program’s purpose and gives one specific outcome. So the correct answer must:
- Clearly say why the program exists (its overall goal/purpose), and
- Give one concrete result (something that happened because of the program).
Find the program’s purpose in the notes
Look back at the bullet points and ask: Which note directly states what the program is trying to do?
- The first note says: "Night Skies" is a city-led program in Windham to reduce light pollution.
- That phrase “to reduce light pollution” is the program’s purpose. Any correct answer must include this idea in some clear way, not just describe activities or participants.
Find a specific outcome in the notes
Now look for a note that shows a result or change that happened after the program started.
- The fifth note says: Within a year, the Milky Way became visible from two city parks on clear nights. That is a clear outcome of the program: a change in what people could see in the night sky. A correct answer should mention this or another explicit result (but this is the only true “outcome” listed).
Check each answer choice against both requirements
Now test each choice:
- Choice A talks about volunteers and when the program began. That’s who and when, but not the purpose or an outcome.
- Choice B talks about replacing streetlights. That’s how the program works (a method), not clearly the purpose or a result.
- Choice D talks about partnerships and taking measurements and replacing streetlights—again, methods and participants, not purpose plus outcome. Only one choice clearly states both the goal (reduce light pollution) and the result (Milky Way visible from parks). That is the correct answer: Windham’s "Night Skies" program aims to reduce light pollution, and within a year the Milky Way was visible from two city parks on clear nights.