Recognizing the Question Type
Section titled “Recognizing the Question Type”| Question type | What you are being asked to do |
|---|---|
| Rhetorical synthesis | Use a set of notes to accomplish a specific writing goal |
| Transitions | Choose the word or phrase that expresses the logical relationship between ideas |
There are two main jobs:
- Rhetorical synthesis: select information from notes that fulfills a stated goal.
- Transitions: identify the logical relationship between two ideas.
Rhetorical Synthesis
Section titled “Rhetorical Synthesis”Read the goal before inspecting the notes. The correct answer must:
- directly accomplish the stated goal,
- use only relevant notes,
- represent the notes accurately,
- avoid unsupported information.
Pay close attention to the goal word:
| Goal | What the answer should do |
|---|---|
| Introduce | Provide basic identifying information |
| Compare | Mention both subjects and their relationship |
| Emphasize a difference | State the contrast clearly |
| Give an example | Provide one specific instance |
| Explain chronology | Make the time sequence clear |
| Present a finding | State the research result |
Example. While researching contemporary sculptors, a student has taken the following notes:
- Amara Cole is a sculptor who began working with recycled glass in 2018.
- Cole collects glass discarded during building renovations.
- Luis Ortega is a sculptor who began working with discarded metal in 2020.
- Ortega obtains much of his metal from industrial scrapyards.
- Cole and Ortega work with different materials.
The student wants to emphasize a similarity between Cole and Ortega. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
- A. Cole began working with recycled glass two years before Ortega began using discarded metal.
- B. Both Cole and Ortega create sculptures using materials that would otherwise be discarded.
- C. Cole works with glass, whereas Ortega began working with metal in 2020.
- D. In 2018, Cole became a sculptor who used recycled glass.
B is correct because it mentions both artists and emphasizes their shared use of materials that have been discarded. A and C emphasize differences in timing or material, while D discusses only Cole.
Example. While researching public art, a student has taken the following notes:
- In 1986, artist Lidia Arce installed Tidal Ledger, a row of steel columns, along a harbor.
- The columns’ heights correspond to monthly high-water measurements recorded in 1985.
- In 2022, the city moved the work inland because of repeated flooding.
- Arce approved the move on the condition that the columns retain their original height differences.
- Critics disagree about whether relocation changed the work’s meaning.
The student wants to emphasize a tension between preserving the artwork’s physical design and preserving its original context. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
- A. Installed along a harbor in 1986, Tidal Ledger consists of steel columns based on high-water measurements from the previous year.
- B. Although Arce required the relocated columns to retain their original height differences, moving Tidal Ledger inland separated the work from the harbor that its design records.
- C. After repeated flooding, the city moved Tidal Ledger inland in 2022, a decision that Arce approved.
- D. Critics disagree about the meaning of Tidal Ledger, which was installed in 1986 and relocated in 2022.
B is correct because it directly contrasts the preserved physical relationship among the columns with the loss of the work’s original harbor setting. A supplies background without addressing relocation. C mentions the move and Arce’s approval but omits what was physically preserved and what contextual feature was lost. D reports disagreement without explaining the tension the student was asked to emphasize.
Transitions
Section titled “Transitions”Ignore the choices at first. Summarize the sentence before the blank, summarize the sentence after it, and name the relationship between them.
Do not choose a transition because you often see it in formal writing. Two transitions can sound equally academic while expressing opposite logical relationships.
| Relationship | Common transitions |
|---|---|
| Addition | moreover, furthermore, additionally |
| Contrast | however, nevertheless, in contrast |
| Cause or result | therefore, thus, consequently |
| Example | for example, for instance |
| Specification | specifically, in particular |
| Similarity | similarly, likewise |
| Sequence | next, subsequently, finally |
| Concession | admittedly, even so, nevertheless |
| Emphasis | indeed, notably |
Then select the transition that expresses that relationship. Do not choose based only on what sounds academic.
Example. Conservators once treated the presence of copper resinate, a translucent green pigment, as evidence that a disputed painting was produced after the period to which it had been attributed. Chemical analysis has since detected copper resinate in layers added during documented restorations of several authenticated paintings from that period. _____, the pigment’s presence in the disputed painting cannot by itself determine when the original work was created. Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
- A. Consequently,
- B. Nevertheless,
- C. For example,
- D. Likewise,
A is correct because the final sentence draws a conclusion from the restoration evidence: if the pigment could have been added later, its presence does not establish the age of the original painting. B signals a concession even though the conclusion follows from the preceding evidence. C would present the conclusion as an example, and D would signal a similarity to a separate idea that is not given.
Example. Some historians interpret the standardized weights found at several Bronze Age ports as evidence that a central authority regulated trade across the region. The weights differ slightly from port to port, however, and those differences follow no clear geographic pattern. _____, archaeologist Ren Ito argues that merchants may have adjusted shared conventions locally rather than obeying a single authority. Which choice completes the text with the most logical transition?
- A. Likewise,
- B. Consequently,
- C. For instance,
- D. Nevertheless,
B is correct because Ito’s interpretation follows from the unexplained local variation in the weights. D is tempting because Ito challenges the first interpretation, but the immediate relationship is evidence to conclusion, not concession. A signals similarity, and C would make Ito’s conclusion an example of the variation rather than a conclusion drawn from it.