Question 32·Medium·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- Industrial hemp requires far less water than cotton to produce a comparable amount of fiber.
- Cotton cultivation accounts for roughly 24% of the world’s insecticide use.
- Hemp plants grow densely, helping suppress weeds and reducing the need for herbicides.
- Fabrics made from hemp are naturally durable and resist mildew.
The student wants to emphasize two environmental benefits of cultivating hemp instead of cotton. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For rhetorical synthesis questions like this, first underline the exact goal words in the stem (for example, 'two environmental benefits' and 'cultivating hemp instead of cotton'). Then quickly label each note (environmental vs. non-environmental, about hemp vs. cotton) and identify which notes the sentence must draw from. Eliminate any answer that: (1) uses non-target notes, (2) adds claims not supported by the notes, or (3) fails to meet the exact goal (wrong number of ideas, wrong focus). Choose the option that cleanly combines only the relevant notes and directly fulfills the stated purpose.
Hints
Focus on the goal phrase
Re-read the question stem: what, exactly, does the student want to emphasize about hemp, and how many separate points are needed?
Sort the notes by type of information
Look at the four bullets and decide which ones describe environmental effects of growing hemp and which ones describe other properties like fabric quality or problems with cotton.
Match two environmental benefits of hemp to one sentence
Once you know which two bullets show environmental benefits of hemp, look for the choice that uses both of those ideas together and clearly contrasts hemp with cotton without adding unsupported claims.
Step-by-step Explanation
Understand the task and goal
The question asks for a sentence that emphasizes two environmental benefits of cultivating hemp instead of cotton.
So the right answer must:
- Mention two separate benefits.
- Make sure both benefits are environmental (related to water, chemicals, pollution, etc.).
- Clearly relate those benefits to hemp cultivation, ideally in comparison to cotton.
Identify which notes show environmental benefits of hemp
Look at each bullet and decide if it is an environmental benefit of hemp:
- Industrial hemp requires far less water than cotton to produce a comparable amount of fiber. → Environmental (less water use) and directly compares hemp to cotton.
- Cotton cultivation accounts for roughly 24% of the world’s insecticide use. → Environmental, but this is a problem with cotton, not a benefit of hemp.
- Hemp plants grow densely, helping suppress weeds and reducing the need for herbicides. → Environmental benefit of hemp (fewer herbicides).
- Fabrics made from hemp are naturally durable and resist mildew. → This is about product quality, not clearly environmental.
The two clear environmental benefits of hemp are:
- Uses far less water than cotton.
- Grows densely and reduces the need for herbicides.
Check each answer choice against the goal and notes
Now compare the answer choices to those two hemp benefits.
- Choice A talks about hemp fabric being durable and mildew-resistant, plus claims farmers often prefer hemp. Durability and mildew resistance are about quality, not environment, and 'farmers often prefer' is not in the notes.
- Choice C mixes cotton’s heavy insecticide use (a problem with cotton) with hemp fabric being durable and mildew-resistant (again, quality, not environment). That gives one problem with cotton and one non-environmental property of hemp, not two environmental benefits of hemp.
- Choice D mentions hemp suppressing weeds (environmental benefit) but then only says cotton uses a lot of insecticides, which is about cotton’s harm, not explicitly a benefit of hemp. It also doesn’t give two hemp benefits.
Only one choice should clearly combine two environmental benefits of hemp drawn directly from the notes.
Select the sentence that uses the two hemp environmental benefits
The remaining choice states that hemp cultivation uses less water than cotton and that its dense growth reduces the need for herbicides. These are exactly the two environmental benefits identified in the notes and they are framed in direct comparison with cotton.
Therefore, the correct answer is:
B) Hemp cultivation uses less water than cotton and, because the plants grow densely enough to crowd out weeds, it also reduces the need for herbicides.