Question 71·Medium·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• Honeybees perform a “waggle dance” to convey information about food sources.
• The dance indicates both the direction of the food relative to the sun and the distance to it (expressed through the duration of the dance).
• Austrian ethologist Karl von Frisch deciphered the meaning of the waggle dance in the 1940s.
• Von Frisch received a Nobel Prize in 1973 for this discovery.
• Bees perform the dance on a vertical comb surface inside the hive.
The student wants to highlight who discovered the waggle dance’s meaning and when this discovery occurred. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For rhetorical synthesis questions like this, start by underlining the goal stated in the question (for example, “highlight who did X and when it happened”). Then quickly scan the notes to find the exact pieces of information that answer that goal. Finally, pick the choice that directly includes those specific details—no more and no less—and eliminate any answer that focuses on different information from the notes or leaves out a required part (such as the person, the time, or the main idea the question asks you to emphasize).
Hints
Focus on the writing goal
Underline in the question what the student wants to highlight. What two kinds of information must the sentence provide?
Locate the key notes
In the bullet points, find the lines that talk about a person and a time connected to the waggle dance discovery. Ignore the details about how the dance works for now.
Match choices to the goal
Ask of each answer: Does it clearly state who made the discovery and when it happened, using information from the notes? Eliminate any that leave out either part.
Step-by-step Explanation
Clarify the task in the question
The prompt says the student wants to highlight who discovered the waggle dance’s meaning and when this discovery occurred. So the correct sentence must clearly include:
- A specific person (the discoverer), and
- A time or time period (when it happened).
Find the relevant notes
Look back at the bullet points and identify which ones talk about a person and a time:
- "Austrian ethologist Karl von Frisch deciphered the meaning of the waggle dance in the 1940s."
- "Von Frisch received a Nobel Prize in 1973 for this discovery." These notes give the who (Karl von Frisch) and when (in the 1940s, with recognition in 1973).
Check each answer choice against the goal
Now compare each answer choice to the goal:
- Choice A talks about where bees dance and what it encodes, but not about who discovered its meaning or when.
- Choice B explains what the duration of the dance means, but again no person and no time.
- Choice D says the dance was decoded by "researchers" and never mentions a specific individual or a date. Only one choice includes both a specific person and a time frame tied to the discovery.
Select the answer that matches the notes and the goal
Choice C says that in the 1940s, ethologist Karl von Frisch discovered that honeybees use the waggle dance to communicate direction and distance, and it adds that this led to a Nobel Prize in 1973. This directly answers who and when and accurately uses the relevant notes, so choice C is correct.