Question

read the following excerpt from a student essay. how can the writer best improve his or her ideas and development?
an elephants trunk has many purposes, including breathing, smelling, drinking, lifting, and communicating. it contains about one hundred thousand different muscles. elephants have a very long gestation period: a female is pregnant for nearly twenty-two months before giving birth. newborn calves weigh as much as two hundred pounds. sadly, thousands of elephants are killed every year for their ivory tusks. even though the ivory trade is illegal, it has not been completely stopped. as a result, elephants are endangered.
by focusing on one main idea
by including more details
by clearly stating the main idea

Explanation:

The essay excerpt jumps between unrelated ideas: elephant trunk functions, gestation, birth weight, and ivory poaching. There is no unifying focus, so the writer's main issue is lack of a single central idea. Adding details or stating a main idea won't fix the disjointed topics; narrowing to one core theme will improve development.

Answer:

by focusing on one main idea