Question 139·Medium·Rhetorical Synthesis
While preparing a presentation, a student has compiled the following notes:
• Amphibians (frogs, salamanders, and caecilians) are considered sensitive indicators of ecosystem health.
• Since 1970, about 40% of the world’s amphibian species have experienced significant population declines.
• The chief driver of these declines is habitat destruction, especially the draining of wetlands for agriculture and urban expansion.
• Other contributing factors include pesticide contamination and the spread of the chytrid fungus.
The student wants to stress how widespread amphibian population declines have been and identify habitat destruction as the main reason for those declines. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish these goals?
For rhetorical synthesis questions with notes, start by underlining the specific goals in the question (here: show how widespread the problem is and name the main cause). Then scan the notes and mark the exact bullets that match each goal. Before looking at the choices, briefly state what the correct sentence must include (for example, a particular statistic plus a specific cause). Finally, test each answer choice against this checklist, eliminating options that (1) leave out part of the goal, (2) change the main emphasis, or (3) introduce extra information that doesn’t serve the stated purpose.
Hints
Clarify the writing goal
Restate the task in your own words: the student wants one sentence that both shows how big the amphibian decline problem is and names the main cause of that problem. Keep these two parts in mind as you look at the choices.
Find the key notes that match the goals
Look at the bullet points. Which note tells you how many amphibian species have declined? Which note tells you what the chief driver of the declines is?
Check each choice against both parts of the goal
For each answer choice, ask: (1) Does it say that declines are affecting many species, using the information in the notes? (2) Does it clearly state that habitat destruction, especially draining wetlands, is the main reason for those declines? Eliminate any choice that does not do both.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify exactly what the student wants to say
The question states two specific goals:
- Stress how widespread amphibian population declines have been.
- Identify habitat destruction as the main reason for those declines.
Any correct choice must clearly do both of these things, not just one.
Locate the relevant information in the notes
Look back at the notes and match them to the two goals:
- "Since 1970, about 40% of the world’s amphibian species have experienced significant population declines." → This tells us how widespread the declines are.
- "The chief driver of these declines is habitat destruction, especially the draining of wetlands for agriculture and urban expansion." → This names the main cause and specifies draining wetlands for agriculture.
These two bullets contain exactly what the student wants to emphasize.
Turn the notes into requirements for the correct sentence
From those two bullets, we can list what the correct answer must include:
- A large, specific proportion of amphibian species (about 40%) to show that declines are widespread.
- A clear statement that the main reason (chief driver) is habitat destruction, especially draining wetlands, often connected to agriculture.
- A focus on amphibian population declines, not on other side effects or less important causes.
Now we check which choice includes all of these elements together.
Eliminate choices that miss a goal and select the one that meets both
Review each option:
- Choice A talks about chytrid fungus and pesticides causing declines but never mentions how widespread they are and ignores habitat destruction as the main cause.
- Choice C talks about draining wetlands and mentions loss of amphibian habitat but does not say anything about population declines or how extensive they are; it also brings in reduced water filtration, which is not one of the student’s goals.
- Choice D focuses on amphibians as environmental indicators and pesticide contamination, but again it doesn’t say how widespread the declines are and it wrongly highlights pesticides instead of habitat destruction as the main cause.
Only one choice gives both the 40% statistic (showing widespread decline) and clearly links the decline mainly to habitat destruction by draining wetlands for agriculture. That is Choice B: "Nearly 40% of amphibian species have declined since 1970, largely because wetlands have been drained for agriculture, destroying their habitats."