Rhetorical Synthesis

Near the end of each Reading and Writing moduleOne of the two timed parts of each SAT section, each with its own clock.Read the lesson, you'll get questions built on a student's notes. The test calls them Rhetorical Synthesis, which means using notes to write a sentence for a purpose.

You get three to six bullets under the line “While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:” and then a question with the student's goal in it:

The student wants to emphasize a difference in why Mirela and Oskar use beeswax. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

Only the goal changes from one question to the next. Read it first, then read the notes it needs. The bullets have no main point, so don't look for one.

Every choice is built from the notes, and even the wrong ones are usually true, so what matters is which one does the job the goal names. Using more notes doesn't help. You don't need to know the subject, since the notes explain their own technical words.

• Beeswax is a soft wax made by honeybees.
• Furniture maker Mirela rubs beeswax onto the wooden rails that drawers slide on.
• She uses it so drawers slide open without sticking.
• One cabinet she built has 120 drawers.
• Boatbuilder Oskar uses beeswax so screws go into hard wood without splitting it.

The student wants to emphasize a difference in why Mirela and Oskar use beeswax. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

• A. Beeswax, a soft wax made by honeybees, is used on both Mirela's furniture and Oskar's boats.
• B. Mirela rubs beeswax onto drawer rails so drawers slide open without sticking, and one cabinet she built has 120 drawers.
• C. Mirela uses beeswax so screws go into hard wood without splitting it, while Oskar uses it so drawers slide open without sticking.
• D. Mirela uses beeswax so drawers slide open without sticking, while Oskar uses it so screws go into hard wood without splitting it.

1. Turn the goal into a checklist. Write down what it asks you to do, who or what it names, and anything extra, like the reader it's for. “Both” and “and” mean two boxes. This goal gives you three: a difference, Mirela's reason, and Oskar's reason.

2. Read the notes you need, and say the answer. The goal is about reasons, so you need the third bullet and the last. In your own words: Mirela uses beeswax so drawers slide easily, and Oskar uses it so screws don't split the wood.

3. Tick each choice against the checklist. For every choice you cross off, name the empty box.

   • A fills no box. It says what the two have in common.
   • B gives Mirela's reason and stops, so Oskar's box is empty. The 120 drawers fill nothing.
   • C and D both seem to fill all three.

   Count each choice's empty boxes instead of ranking the sentences against each other.

4. If two are left, read them word against word. C looks a lot like your answer from step 2, but the notes give Mirela the drawers and Oskar the screws. C has them backward, so D is the answer.

5. Stop. Once one choice fills every box and matches the notes, pick it and move on.

The goal's verbA word for what something does or is, such as carry or seem. decides what the sentence has to contain.

For a goal like the last one, scan the choices for that detail first.

• The worst flood on record hit the town of Alder in 1951.
• Alder built a dam on the river in 1952.
• The dam was built to stop the spring floods.

For the goal “specify the reason Alder built the dam”:

To refute the belief that bats are blind, the sentence needs a fact that contradicts it. “Bats find insects by sound” doesn't, since a blind animal could do that too. “Every bat species can see” does.

Learn two more goal words before test day, since the notes won't explain them. Applicability means what something can be used for, and disproportionate means larger or smaller than its share.

• Biologist Mara Okon studied a frog species at a pond in Ohio.
• She hypothesized that the frogs call less on cold nights.
• She counted the frogs' calls every night for a year.
• She found that calls fell by half on nights below 50 degrees.

When the notes describe a study, every choice sounds like research. Sort them by their verbs.

Keep the part the goal names. A goal about the methods (or methodology) needs who or what was studied and how, as in “Okon counted the calls of a pond frog every night for a year.”

For the goal “present Okon's hypothesis and the finding that supports it”:

A goal that says “emphasize” wants the thing it names in the main part of the sentence.

• Mirela uses beeswax so drawers slide open without sticking.
• One cabinet Mirela built has 120 drawers.
• Oskar uses beeswax so screws go into hard wood without splitting it.

A similarity or a difference needs both sides and the actual point where they match or differ.

Two facts side by side don't compare anything either. “One cabinet Mirela built has 120 drawers, while Oskar uses beeswax so screws don't split the wood” sets a number next to a reason.

If the notes allow two comparisons, such as why two people use beeswax and how much they use, the goal's exact words decide. If it says “why,” only the reasons count.

When two choices use the same facts, the difference is often one joining word, and each one makes a claim you can check. “Both” gives the same thing to each person. “Whereas” and “while” say the two differ. “Likewise” says the second matches the first. “Respectively” matches names to facts in order, so in “Mirela and Oskar use beeswax for sliding drawers and driving screws, respectively,” check that the first fact is Mirela's.

• In a descending auction, the price starts high and drops until a buyer accepts it.
• Economist Lena Park studied descending auctions at fish markets.
• She found that they end faster than auctions where the price rises.
• Park said, “Every second a buyer waits, someone else might take the lot.”

For the goal “present Park's finding to an audience unfamiliar with descending auctions”:

Words about the reader or the kind of sentence are checklist boxes too.

• Beeswax is a soft wax made by honeybees.
• Furniture maker Mirela rubs beeswax onto the wooden rails that drawers slide on.
• She uses it so drawers slide open without sticking.
• One cabinet she built has 120 drawers.

For the goal “explain an advantage of beeswax for Mirela”:

Length tells you nothing by itself. A long sentence may need every word for a two-part goal.

Sometimes you need two notes joined. If one bullet defines binding as a drawer catching on its rails, and a later one says Mirela uses beeswax to stop binding, you need both to explain the advantage.

Before you pick, check your choice against the notes once more.

Make sure each fact still belongs to its owner. When two people, dates, or lists look alike, jot down the pairs as you read the notes (Mirela: drawers; Oskar: screws).

Make sure cause and effect point the way they do in the notes, and that the choice is no surer than the notes are. If a note says a new glue “may” last longer, a choice saying it “lasts” longer is too sure.

Last, check what each number measures.

• Fields planted with the new seed produced 52 percent more corn than fields planted with the old seed.

Work through the three examples with a checklist for each goal, then try five more.