Reading comp PrepTest 117 · Section 1 · Question 8

Topic: Social Science

Paragraph 1

• Paragraph note
  • Background of field; Traditional approach
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Background of Historiography - Recently started focusing on explorers/settlers to get insight into changing landscapes
  • Traditional approach - Writings of 19th c European American explorers (kept logs as part of government jobs) to study history of Pacific Coast

Paragraph 2

• Paragraph note
  • New approach
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • New consideration - Include experience of Asian settlers in region
  • Problem - Didn’t leave a written record for the most part (unlike commissioned European agents)
  • Solution/New Approach - Focus on other kinds of evidence, such as the actions of Asian settlers

Paragraph 3

• Paragraph note
  • Example - Agricultural expansion/Chinese settlers
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Chinese settlers forced to consider agricultural potential of substandard land
  • Example 1 - Willows/Swamp - Chinese settlers saw water, soil, and irrigation potential
  • Example 2 - Wild mustard - Valuable spice/raw material

Paragraph 4

• Paragraph note
  • New dimension added by study of Chinese settler action
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Specialized skills - Swamp reclamation and irrigation systems
  • 80% of cropland is irrigated; top producer of specialty crops
  • Understanding actions of Chinese settlers necessary to understand history of region

Main Point: Understanding the history of the Pacific Coast requires considering the impact that Asian settlers had on agriculture in the region, which has required historiographers to consider other kinds of evidence such as the actions of these settlers.

Lines 10-12 - Traditional approach

Lines 19-22 - Omitted info and why

Lines 29-32 - New approach

Lines 33-35 - Example of new approach

Lines 54-60 - Summary of argument/thesis

Old Approach/New Approach - When a passage describes a “traditional[]” approach (Line 10), there’s a good chance that the passage is going to fall into the Old Approach/New Approach Meta-Structure. Here, the Author pivots from Paragraph 1’s discussion of the traditional approach to studying the history of the Pacific Coast - using the writings of European American explorers commissioned by the US government - to Paragraph 2’s discussion of what this approach missed (the experience of Asian settlers) and how historiographers have used a new approach to incorporate that information (“recogniz[ing] the value of other kinds of evidence,” such as the actions of Asian settlers - Lines 30-32). From there, she explores information learned by using the new method, concluding that this information is necessary to understanding the history of the Pacific Coast (“cannot be fully understood...without” - Lines 57-58). When this Old Approach/New Approach Meta-Structure is present, the Author’s opinion on the new approach constitutes the main point, reflected in our summary above.

Examples - The passage has some layers of examples that back up the point. There’s the main example - looking at the experiences of Asian settlers to understand the history of the Pacific Coast. Within that example, the passage looks at the role of Chinese settlers in Pacific Coast agriculture (Line 33), and that example focuses on two specific examples - willows/swamps (Lines 39-42) and weeds/wild mustard (Lines 43-47). Since there are myriad examples, we should expect some questions about them.

There’s not too much that stands out about this passage, so let’s head straight to the questions!