SAT OwlQuestion bank / Rhetorical Synthesis
While researching a topic, a student has taken the following notes:
• Ötzi is a naturally mummified man found in the Ötztal Alps in 1991.
• He lived around 3300 BCE.
• An arrowhead was found lodged in his left shoulder.
• Analysis of his stomach showed that he ate a meal of ibex meat shortly before he died.
• Researchers concluded that he was most likely killed by the arrow wound.
The student wants to present the researchers' conclusion about Ötzi's death along with the evidence for it. Which choice most effectively uses relevant information from the notes to accomplish this goal?
Ötzi, who lived around 3300 BCE, was found in the Ötztal Alps in 1991.
Shortly before he died, Ötzi ate a meal of ibex meat.
Because an arrowhead was found lodged in Ötzi's left shoulder, researchers concluded that the arrow wound most likely killed him.
Researchers concluded that Ötzi, a mummified man found in 1991, had most likely been killed.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C
The goal has two parts: the conclusion and the evidence behind it. Choice C gives the evidence (an arrowhead in his shoulder) and the conclusion (the arrow wound most likely killed him). Choice D gives a vague version of the conclusion with no evidence, and choices A and B don't address how he died.
Choice D states that researchers reached a conclusion, but it gives no evidence and doesn't even say what killed him.
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