Question 207·Medium·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student compiled the following notes on plastic waste:
- According to Ocean Conservancy (2020), the world produces about 300 million metric tons of plastic each year.
- Only 9% of all plastic discarded since the 1950s has been recycled.
- A single-use plastic bag can take more than 500 years to degrade in a landfill.
- Scientists project that by 2050 the mass of plastic in the oceans could outweigh that of fish.
The student wants to highlight the urgency of the global plastic waste problem. Which choice most effectively incorporates relevant information from the notes to achieve this purpose?
For rhetorical synthesis questions like this, start by underlining the task words in the question (e.g., "highlight the urgency," "emphasize benefits," "explain a process"). Then scan the notes and quickly rank which pieces of information best serve that purpose—often future consequences or extreme statistics for urgency. Next, eliminate any answer that misrepresents the notes (adds a fact that isn’t there or twists a time frame). Finally, among the remaining choices, choose the one that uses the most powerful, purpose-matching detail in a clear, concise sentence that directly supports the stated goal.
Hints
Focus on the goal word: "urgency"
Underline "highlight the urgency" in the question. Which type of information—background facts or alarming consequences—would make the problem feel most serious and urgent?
Compare the notes
Look at each bullet point from the notes. Decide which one sounds like the strongest warning sign about the future, and which are more like background information or details about how plastic behaves.
Check which choice uses the strongest warning effectively
After identifying the most alarming note, see which answer choice uses that kind of information and connects it to a global scale (like total production or recycling) without adding any details that are not supported by the notes.
Step-by-step Explanation
Clarify the task and purpose
The question asks which sentence "most effectively" uses the notes to highlight the urgency of the global plastic waste problem.
So your top priority is:
- Emphasizing seriousness and danger, especially with strong or alarming details.
- Staying faithful to the notes (no adding facts that aren’t there).
- Choosing the option that best supports a sense of urgency, not just any statement about plastic.
Identify the most urgent notes
Look over the four bullet notes and think about which ones sound the most alarming:
- 300 million metric tons of plastic each year – a big number, shows scale.
- Only 9% of discarded plastic has been recycled – shows poor recycling.
- A single-use bag takes 500 years to degrade – shows persistence.
- A projection that by 2050 plastic in the oceans could outweigh fish – a dramatic future consequence.
Among these, the projection about 2050 is especially urgent because it paints a shocking picture of the future, not just a dry statistic.
Match choices to both purpose and notes
Now compare each answer choice to the notes and the goal of showing urgency:
- One choice talks about annual production and low recycling, which shows a problem but doesn’t give a vivid future consequence.
- One claims the 300 million tons figure has been unchanged since the 1950s, which is not supported by the notes.
- One focuses on plastic bags taking 500 years to break down but also says they are only a small fraction, which softens the urgency of the global problem.
- One combines the dramatic 2050 projection with the large annual production and low recycling rate, using the numbers to stress how serious the problem is.
Select the sentence that best highlights urgency
The only choice that both:
- Uses the most alarming note (the 2050 projection that plastic in the oceans could outweigh fish), and
- Connects it to the huge annual production and the fact that little of it is recycled, making the situation sound clearly urgent
is D) Scientists estimate that by 2050 plastic in the oceans could outweigh fish, underscoring how little of the 300 million metric tons of plastic produced annually is recycled.