Question 6·Hard·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has compiled the following notes:
- Synchronous online courses let instructors and students interact in real time.
- Synchronous courses require reliable high-speed internet and adherence to fixed meeting times.
- Asynchronous online courses allow students to study at their own pace but can leave them feeling isolated.
- Traditional in-person courses provide face-to-face engagement and immediate feedback but require commuting and fixed class schedules.
The student wants to point out one drawback unique to synchronous online courses and one drawback that synchronous courses share with traditional in-person courses. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For rhetorical synthesis questions with notes, start by underlining exactly what the question wants (for example, “one unique drawback” and “one shared drawback”). Then, in the notes, make a quick T-chart or mental list separating benefits vs. drawbacks for each item and marking which drawbacks are unique and which are shared. Finally, test each answer choice strictly against the notes (no outside assumptions): eliminate any option that (1) misstates a note, (2) turns a benefit into a drawback or vice versa, or (3) fails to include both required elements, and select the one that cleanly matches both the content and the structure the question asks for.
Hints
Separate benefits from drawbacks
Look back at the bullet points and underline only the negative aspects (disadvantages) for each type of course: synchronous online, asynchronous online, and traditional in-person.
Find the unique synchronous drawback
From your list of disadvantages, which one appears only in the bullet about synchronous courses and not in the asynchronous or traditional bullets?
Find the shared drawback with traditional courses
Which disadvantage appears in both the synchronous bullet and the traditional in-person bullet (even if it is worded a bit differently)?
Match the pattern to the answer choices
Now look for the choice that first mentions the drawback you found as unique to synchronous courses and then mentions the drawback you found that synchronous courses share with traditional in-person courses. аnіkο.ai
Step-by-step Explanation
Restate what the question is asking
The question says the student wants to point out:
- One drawback unique to synchronous online courses (a disadvantage only they have), and
- One drawback synchronous courses share with traditional in-person courses (a disadvantage both have).
The correct answer must do both of these using only information from the notes.
Identify the drawbacks in the notes
From the notes, list only the drawbacks (not the benefits):
- Synchronous online courses:
- Drawbacks: require reliable high-speed internet and adherence to fixed meeting times.
- Asynchronous online courses:
- Drawback: can leave students feeling isolated.
- Traditional in-person courses:
- Drawbacks: require commuting and fixed class schedules.
Now decide which drawback is unique to synchronous and which one is shared with traditional.
- Unique to synchronous: only synchronous courses are said to need reliable high-speed internet.
- Shared with traditional: both synchronous and traditional courses require fixed meeting times / fixed class schedules.
Check each answer against the notes and the goal
Now test each option:
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A) Mentions a benefit (real-time interaction) plus isolation. But the notes say asynchronous, not synchronous, can leave students isolated. Also, we need two drawbacks, not a benefit + a drawback, and it doesn’t mention the shared drawback with traditional courses.
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B) Says synchronous and traditional courses both require commuting. The notes say only traditional requires commuting; synchronous courses do not. So this creates a shared drawback that the notes do not support, even though it correctly mentions reliable high-speed internet.
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C) Claims synchronous courses share flexible pacing with asynchronous courses, but the notes say the opposite: asynchronous courses allow students to study at their own pace, while synchronous courses require fixed meeting times. It also fails to give a drawback unique to synchronous courses.
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D) Mentions that synchronous courses depend on steady high-speed internet (a drawback not mentioned for asynchronous or traditional) and that, like traditional courses, they require students to meet at predetermined times (the fixed-schedule drawback both share). This exactly matches the notes and the student’s stated goal.
State the correct answer
The only option that correctly gives one drawback unique to synchronous online courses (needing steady high-speed internet) and one drawback shared with traditional courses (having to meet at fixed times) is D) Unlike asynchronous classes, synchronous online courses depend on steady high-speed internet and, as with traditional courses, oblige students to gather at predetermined times.