Question 24·Hard·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- Microplastics are plastic fragments smaller than 5 millimeters.
- Zooplankton at the base of the ocean food web ingest microplastics.
- The concentration of microplastics increases at each successive trophic level.
- The progressive rise of a contaminant’s concentration in organisms higher up the food chain is known as bioaccumulation.
- Large predatory fish can carry the greatest loads of microplastics because they consume many contaminated prey.
The student wants to explain what bioaccumulation is. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For rhetorical synthesis questions that ask you to explain a term using notes, first find the note that directly defines the term, then identify any supporting notes that add a clear example or key detail. Eliminate answer choices that use only one narrow detail, leave out the core idea of the definition, or change the focus from explaining the term to describing just one instance. Choose the option that most accurately paraphrases the definition note and, if possible, smoothly incorporates a relevant example from the other notes.
Hints
Locate the definition in the notes
Scan the bullets and find which one directly explains what the word bioaccumulation means, rather than just describing microplastics or specific organisms.
Focus on the idea of a process
Ask yourself: which note describes something that happens over several steps in the food web, not just at a single level like zooplankton or large fish?
Look for increasing concentration up the food chain
Which answer choice talks about a contaminant becoming more concentrated as you move from lower to higher trophic levels, instead of just stating who has more or less of it?
Use more than one bullet point
The best answer should combine the definition of the term from one note with at least one concrete detail from another note to make a complete explanation.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the task
The question says the student wants to explain what bioaccumulation is. That means the best answer must function as a clear definition or explanation of the process, not just give an isolated example or a side detail.
Find the key note that defines the term
Look at the bullet points and find the one that directly explains bioaccumulation:
- One note says that the progressive rise of a contaminant’s concentration in organisms higher up the food chain is known as bioaccumulation.
Any correct answer must match this idea: a contaminant becomes more concentrated as you go higher in the food chain.
Determine what details are most relevant to that definition
Other notes add important supporting details:
- The concentration of microplastics increases at each successive trophic level.
- Large predatory fish can carry the greatest loads because they eat many contaminated prey.
A strong answer will combine the definition (increasing concentration higher in the food web) with a concrete example that fits this pattern (predatory fish at the top having the most).
Eliminate options that are too narrow or miss the process
Reject choices that:
- Focus only on why predatory fish have high loads without describing the step-by-step increase at each level.
- Talk only about zooplankton at the base of the food web.
- Mention differences in microplastic amounts but do not clearly describe the progressive rise as you move up the food chain.
Only one option both defines the process as increasing concentration up the food web and notes that the highest levels appear in predatory fish; that option is B) Bioaccumulation is the process in which microplastics become increasingly concentrated as they move up the food web, ultimately reaching their highest levels in predatory fish.