Question 73·Easy·Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
- Bessie Coleman was an American aviator.
- She earned an international pilot's license in 1921.
- She trained in France because U.S. flight schools would not admit her.
- In the 1920s, she performed exhibition flights.
The student wants to identify the year that Bessie Coleman earned her pilot's license. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
For questions that ask which sentence best uses notes to achieve a research goal, first underline the exact goal words in the question (for example, “identify the year,” “explain why,” or “describe how”). Then scan the notes to find the one that most directly and completely answers that goal, focusing on matching key details like dates, causes, or definitions. Finally, choose the answer that closely restates that specific note and eliminate any options that are related to the topic but do not directly fulfill the stated goal.
Hints
Focus on the question’s wording
Underline or mentally highlight the key part of the question: the student wants to identify the year that Bessie Coleman earned her pilot's license. Any correct answer must give both of these pieces: a specific year and the event of earning the license.
Find the matching note
Look back at the four bullet points. Which one talks about earning a pilot's license and also includes a specific year?
Eliminate off-topic choices
Remove any answer choices that talk only about where she trained, her nationality, or her later flying activities without directly giving the year she earned the license.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the research goal
First, restate what the student wants to find: the question says the student wants to identify the year that Bessie Coleman earned her pilot's license. So the correct answer must clearly give a year and must be about earning a pilot's license (not just flying or being a pilot).
Locate the relevant note
Look at the notes and find the one that answers that exact question:
- "Bessie Coleman was an American aviator." (no year, not about earning the license)
- "She earned an international pilot's license in 1921." (mentions earning a license and gives a year)
- "She trained in France because U.S. flight schools would not admit her." (training location/reason, not the year she earned the license)
- "In the 1920s, she performed exhibition flights." (time period of flights, not the year she earned the license)
Only one note gives both the year and the act of earning the license.
Match the note to the answer choice
Now compare the answer choices to the notes and pick the one that directly states the needed information (the year and the fact that she earned a pilot's license). The correct choice is the one that matches the note saying she earned an international pilot's license in 1921: “Bessie Coleman earned an international pilot's license in 1921.”