Question 13·Easy·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• Honeybees perform the waggle dance on the vertical surface of the comb inside the hive. • The angle of the waggle run relative to vertical corresponds to the angle between the food source and the sun. • The duration of the waggle run correlates with the distance to the food.
The student wants to explain how the waggle dance indicates the direction to a food source. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For rhetorical synthesis questions like this, first underline the task (here, explaining how the dance indicates direction). Then quickly scan the notes and label each by function (e.g., direction, distance, location). Eliminate answer choices that focus on the wrong function or only repeat background details, and select the one that directly and accurately uses the relevant note(s) to achieve the stated goal without adding unsupported claims.
Hints
Focus on the bolded goal
The student wants to explain how the dance shows the direction to food. Ask yourself: which note talks about direction, not distance or location?
Sort the notes by what they describe
One note describes where the dance happens, one describes an angle, and one describes duration. Which of these ideas could encode direction?
Eliminate answers about distance only
If an option talks mainly about how far away the food is, it is not answering the question about direction. Cross out those choices.
Look for angle language
Check which option uses the idea of an angle and connects it to the food source and the sun. That idea is key for explaining direction.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the task in the question
The question asks: “The student wants to explain how the waggle dance indicates the direction to a food source.” So the correct choice must:
- Clearly explain direction, not distance.
- Be supported by the notes provided.
Match notes to the idea of direction
Look at the three notes and decide which one is about direction:
- Note 1: Where the dance happens (on the vertical comb, inside the hive) — this is location, not direction.
- Note 2: The angle of the waggle run corresponds to the angle between the food source and the sun — this clearly relates to direction.
- Note 3: The duration of the waggle run correlates with the distance to the food — this is about distance, not direction.
So any correct answer must be mainly based on note 2.
Check which options focus on distance or just location
Eliminate choices that focus on the wrong idea:
- Choices that talk about how long the bee waggles are using note 3 (distance), which does not explain direction.
- A choice that only mentions where the dance occurs (inside the hive, vertical comb) is using note 1, which also does not explain direction.
These choices do not answer the question’s goal, so they must be wrong.
Select the option that explains direction using angles
The remaining option must:
- Use the information about the angle of the waggle run.
- Connect that angle to the angle between the sun and the food source.
- Make clear that this is how bees signal direction.
Only choice A) On the comb’s vertical surface, the angle of the waggle run relative to vertical matches the angle between the sun and the food source, indicating direction. does this, so A is correct.