Question 167·Medium·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has gathered the following notes:
- The Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. (RFFI) was founded in 1998 in Northern California.
- In 2007, RFFI purchased the Usal Redwood Forest, a 50,000-acre tract along the Garcia River.
- The foundation manages the land with sustainable forestry practices that provide local jobs.
- RFFI’s projects are intended to increase carbon sequestration and support rural economies.
The student wants to emphasize the scale of the land purchase made by RFFI. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For questions that ask which sentence best uses notes to achieve a specific goal, first underline the goal words in the question (for example, “emphasize the scale of the land purchase”). Then scan the notes and mark only the details that directly match that goal (here, the acreage of the land). Finally, eliminate any choices that do not use those key details or that shift the focus to something else (such as history or mission); the correct choice will both be accurate to the notes and directly match the requested emphasis.
Hints
Focus on the task word
Underline the words "emphasize the scale of the land purchase" in the question. Ask yourself: which information in the notes tells you how big the land is?
Locate the key note
Look back at the bullet points and find the one that includes a number describing the size of the land RFFI bought.
Compare notes to choices
Once you know which note mentions the land’s size, check each answer choice and see which one uses that specific detail while talking about the purchase itself.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify what the question is asking for
Focus on the instruction: the student wants to emphasize the scale of the land purchase.
- "Scale" here means how large or how big the purchase was.
- The correct sentence must therefore highlight the size of the land that was bought, not just mention the organization, its goals, or its history.
Find relevant information in the notes
Look back at the notes and find anything that tells you about how big the land is.
- The second bullet says that in 2007 RFFI purchased the Usal Redwood Forest and calls it a 50,000-acre tract along the Garcia River.
- This is the only note that includes a number showing the size of the land. That is the key detail for emphasizing scale.
Match answer choices to the key detail
Now compare each answer choice to the notes and the goal:
- Some choices talk about when RFFI was founded or its broader mission (sustainable forestry, jobs, carbon sequestration).
- Only one choice both describes the land purchase and includes the 50,000-acre detail, which directly emphasizes how large the purchase was.
- Choices that do not mention the size at all do not satisfy the goal, even if they are factually true.
Select the sentence that highlights the land’s size
Choose the option that states the purchase and explicitly mentions that the Usal Redwood Forest is a 50,000-acre stretch of land along the Garcia River:
Correct Answer: In 2007, the Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc. acquired the Usal Redwood Forest, a 50,000-acre stretch of redwood trees along the Garcia River.