A student notes question tests whether you can use the notes to meet a writing goal. Read the goal first and name what the answer needs to do, including what it must explain. A goal about causes calls for what makes the event happen, so look for notes that connect a cause to its effect. Cross out sentences that don't do the goal's job, even if they're true. Then check every fact against the notes, because a sentence can stay on topic and still change what they say.
Hints
- Hint 1
Read the goal below the notes and say what it asks you to explain.
- Hint 2
Look at the last note and how it connects to the goal. What does that note help you explain about the northern lights?
Step-by-step
Goal first, facts second
Step 1Name what the answer needs to do
Start with explain what causes the northern lights, which tells us to look for a cause, not every fact in the notes. What should the sentence let a reader understand? It needs to say what happens that makes these lights appear.
- Step 2
Set aside sentences that miss the goal
The sentence with seen in the polar regions gives a location, while the one with another name gives a second name for the lights. Does either sentence explain what causes the northern lights? No, because neither says what makes the lights appear, so we can cross them out.
- Step 3
Check the direction and the cause
What about the sentence with toward Earth? The notes say the magnetic field guides particles toward the polar regions, so that sentence changes the direction and stops short of explaining the light. The last note says particles collide with gases in Earth’s atmosphere to produce visible light. The sentence connecting particles from the Sun to that collision gives the cause of the lights. Choice B.