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Rhetorical Synthesis SAT question

Reading and Writing · Expression of Ideas · Medium · Answer it here, explanation included.

While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:

  • The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is a nearly 1,000-year-old alliance of six Native nations in the northeastern US.             
  • The members are bound by a centuries-old agreement known as the Great Law of Peace.
  • Historian Bruce Johansen is one of several scholars who believe that the principles of the Great Law of Peace influenced the US Constitution.
  • This theory is called the influence theory.
  • Johansen cites the fact that Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson both studied the Haudenosaunee Confederacy.

The student wants to present the influence theory to an audience unfamiliar with the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?

ExplanationShow

Choice C is the best answer. The sentence effectively presents the influence theory to an audience unfamiliar with the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, explaining the theory’s position that the Great Law of Peace influenced the US Constitution while avoiding mention of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy itself.

Choice A is incorrect. The sentence broadly emphasizes Johansen’s ideas about the Great Law of Peace; it doesn’t identify the influence theory or effectively present it. Choice B is incorrect. The sentence emphasizes one fact that supports the influence theory; it doesn’t effectively present the theory to an audience unfamiliar with the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. Choice D is incorrect. The sentence makes a broad generalization about Native people’s influence on the founding of the US; it doesn’t effectively present the influence theory.

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