Question 243·Medium·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has compiled the following notes:
- A severe cholera outbreak struck London’s Soho district in 1854.
- Physician John Snow marked each cholera death on a map and noticed a cluster around the neighborhood’s Broad Street water pump.
- Snow persuaded officials to remove the pump’s handle; new cholera cases fell almost immediately.
- Snow’s findings contradicted the then-dominant miasma theory, instead indicating that cholera spread through contaminated water.
The student wants to underscore how Snow’s investigation provided evidence that cholera is waterborne. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For rhetorical synthesis questions with notes and a stated goal, underline the goal words (for example, “provided evidence” and “waterborne”). Then select the choice that most directly serves that goal by combining the most relevant notes and making the intended relationship explicit (here, cause-and-effect evidence tied to contaminated water). Eliminate choices that are merely factual, omit the key relationship, or leave out the specific evidence the goal asks you to highlight.
Hints
Focus on the purpose, not just the facts
Underline the key task in the question: the sentence must show how Snow’s investigation provided evidence that cholera is waterborne. Which choices go beyond simply stating what happened?
Use the most relevant notes
Look at the notes about Snow’s map, the Broad Street water pump, the removal of the pump’s handle, and the idea that cholera spread through contaminated water. Which option weaves these together to show a clear cause-and-effect link?
Look for explicit connection to water and evidence
Prefer an option that clearly connects cholera to contaminated water and shows that disabling access to that water affected cholera cases. Avoid choices that are just isolated facts or only discuss miasma without the water evidence.
Step-by-step Explanation
Clarify the writing goal
The student’s goal is to emphasize how Snow’s investigation provided evidence that cholera is waterborne. The best choice should therefore connect (1) Snow’s investigative work to (2) contaminated water and (3) evidence that changing access to that water changed cholera cases.
Identify the most relevant notes
The notes that most directly support a waterborne conclusion are:
- the cluster of deaths around the Broad Street water pump,
- the conclusion that cholera spread through contaminated water (not miasma), and
- the fact that new cases fell quickly after the pump handle was removed (cause-and-effect evidence).
Choose the option that best matches the goal
The choice that best accomplishes the goal is the one that states the contaminated-water source and the drop in cases after the pump was disabled:
In 1854, Snow traced the Soho cholera outbreak to contaminated water from the Broad Street pump; removing its handle caused new cases to fall sharply.