Question 245·Medium·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• In 2023, agronomist Lucia Perez surveyed coffee farms across Costa Rica.
• She found that rising nighttime temperatures reduced flowering by 15 percent.
• Perez collaborated with engineers to test shade-cloth roofs that lowered nighttime temperatures by 2 °C.
• After one season, farms using the roofs saw flowering rebound to previous levels.
• Coffee flowers determine bean yield; fewer flowers mean fewer beans.
The student wants to add a sentence to the end of a paragraph that describes Perez's survey results. The new sentence should emphasize why Perez's findings are important for coffee growers. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For rhetorical synthesis questions, first restate the task in your own words (for example, “I need a sentence that explains why these results matter”). Then match that purpose to the notes: identify which notes concern the specific part of the study mentioned (here, the survey) and which note explains its consequence or significance (here, fewer flowers mean fewer beans). Eliminate choices that use irrelevant notes (wrong phase of the study, different focus like solutions or global trends) or that fail to directly serve the purpose stated in the question. Choose the option that both uses appropriate notes and clearly fulfills the rhetorical goal.
Hints
Locate where the new sentence goes
The new sentence will be added to the end of a paragraph describing Perez's survey results. Think about which note(s) are about the survey itself, not about later experiments or general climate trends.
Focus on the purpose: why is it important?
The question asks you to emphasize why Perez’s findings are important for coffee growers. Look for a choice that makes the consequences of the survey clear for farmers’ coffee production.
Decide which notes are most relevant
From the notes, which details connect warmer nights to changes in flowering and then to bean yields? A good answer will link these ideas instead of introducing a separate experiment or a broad, global pattern.
Watch out for details from the wrong part of the study
Some choices may mention the shade-cloth roofs or how flowering rebounded afterward. Ask yourself: is the question about reporting those experiment results, or about explaining the significance of the original survey findings?
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the task and context
The question says the new sentence goes at the end of a paragraph that describes Perez's survey results and must emphasize why Perez's findings are important for coffee growers.
So the correct answer must:
- Refer to the survey findings (not later experiments), and
- Explain why those findings matter in practical terms for coffee growers.
Pull out the key notes about the survey and its impact
From the notes, the survey-related information is:
- Perez found that rising nighttime temperatures reduced flowering by 15 percent.
- Coffee flowers determine bean yield; fewer flowers mean fewer beans.
Together, these two points show a cause-and-effect chain: warmer nights → fewer flowers → fewer beans for growers. That is the “importance” the sentence should highlight.
Eliminate choices that focus on the experiment, not the survey’s importance
Choice B talks about installing shade-cloth roofs and lowering temperatures.
- That comes from the note about Perez collaborating with engineers, which is a later experiment, not the original survey.
- It doesn’t explain why the survey’s findings matter to coffee growers.
Choice D describes flowering rebounding after the roofs and calls the intervention promising.
- This also focuses on the experiment’s results, not the survey.
- It emphasizes the solution, not why the survey was important.
Eliminate choices that shift to broad trends instead of growers’ concerns
Choice C talks about rising nighttime temperatures becoming common in tropical regions beyond Costa Rica.
- This describes a wider climate trend, not directly what Perez’s survey means for coffee growers.
- It doesn’t clearly connect to bean yield or growers’ livelihoods, so it doesn’t fully answer the “why important for coffee growers” part of the question.
Confirm the choice that explains the consequence for bean yields
Choice A mentions that the survey found a 15 percent decline in flowering with warmer nights and then directly states that this threatens future coffee bean yields.
- It uses the survey result (reduced flowering) and the note that fewer flowers mean fewer beans.
- It clearly explains why this matters to coffee growers: it threatens their future yields.
Therefore, the correct answer is A) Perez's survey showed that a 15 percent decline in flowering accompanies warmer nights, a change that threatens future coffee bean yields.