#16 - Global Reference, Must Be True, Purpose

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

The correct answer choice is (B).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C):

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[mkarimi73]

Could I have an explanation as to why (C) is incorrect? Thanks.

[Luke Haqq]

Hi mkarimi73!

For this one, we're asked to compare the passages and identify a common purpose to both. To understand why (C) is wrong, let's compare answer choice (C) and (B):

(B) to find fault with a way of approaching a scholarly topic
(C) to examine shifting scholarly attitudes toward a particular topic

For answer choice (C), in my reading it is hard to see which specific scholarly attitudes are "shifting," or what this might mean. There are scholarly attitudes mentioned in both passages to be sure, but I don't see anything about them shifting. Something like that might look, for example, like discussing trends in scholarship over time--that would make sense as "shifting scholarly attitudes," but there isn't material like that in this passage. In addition, even if one could identify a place where shifting scholarly attitudes is mentioned, this would need to be common to both passages given the question stem.

It's possible that the mention of postmodernism might have made mention of shifting scholarly attitudes to be appealing. In addition, postmodernism is mentioned in both passages. In the end, however, postmodernism doesn't seem to be discussed within a context of a shift in scholarly attitudes (there's no discussion of what came before or after it, for example).

Answer choice (B), like (C), mentions "scholarly," but does better at describing specific similarities between the two passages. They are both discussing the history of plagiarism. The blurb at the start of the passages seems important to note in terms of how they related to one another: "Passage A is adapted from an essay by historian Christopher Ricks; passage B is from the introduction, by historian Paulina Kewes, to a book in which Ricks’s essay appears." Passage A involves Ricks providing criticism of a scholar's book on the history of plagiarism. Passage B involves Kewes summarizing Ricks and also criticizing Ricks in the second half of the final paragraph. So both passages are criticizing a scholarly approach.

[mkarimi73]

Wonderful, thank you!

[lfssonruno]

Would you please explain why (C) is incorrect? Thanks.

[Jeff Wren]

Hi lfssonruno,

Please see Luke's earlier post above addressing Answer C.

I will only add a few other points.

First, Question 16 is asking about a central purpose common to both passages. Before reading the answers, you should definitely prephrase an answer, especially for questions like this one.

When trying to figure out the central purpose of each passage, a good place to start is what is the main point of each passage.

For Passage A, the Main Point may be stated as something along the lines of "Moral conventions are valuable and worthy of respect, and the removal of moral conventions from political histories (such as in Rosenthal's book on plagiarism) is a sad loss for political history."

For Passage B, the Main Point may be stated as something along the lines of "While Ricks is correct to be critical of the postmodern reductions of moral standards, the differences in the attitudes of the past to our own attitudes still need to be acknowledged when doing historical research."

A key point in both passages is the negative/critical tone that appears. It's crucial to pick up on the critical tone of each author, and that difference is the main reason why Answer B is correct and Answer C is not.

Answer C, "examine shifting scholarly attitudes" does not convey any negative tone. This makes it sound like each passage is neutral and just providing information about the changing attitudes without really having an opinion on the issue, which is not at all what happens in these passages.

The author of each passage has a strong opinion on how best to approach the issue, and each author "finds fault" with the postmodern method as Answer B states.

Second, the simple difference between whether a word in an answer is singular or plural can make the difference in a right and wrong answer. In Answer B, it discusses "a way of approaching" (singular). This is correct because the authors are finding fault with one way (postmodernism). Answer C discusses "shifting scholarly attitudes" (plural). The passages aren't really examining multiple scholarly attitudes and certainly not how they have changed across time. (Be careful because Passage B does discuss differences in attitudes across time, but not scholarly attitudes, just cultural/moral attitudes, such as how people felt differently about plagiarism in the past.)

Finally, if you read the correct answer for question 15 (Answer E), the authors would most likely agree that "an inferior kind of historical scholarship practiced today," you can see how this answer supports and reinforces Answer B in this question. Again both authors are critical of the postmodern approach.