Reading comp PrepTest 158 · Section 1 · Question 14

Passage

Passage A is adapted from an essay by historian Christopher Ricks; passage B is from the introduction, by historian Paulina Remaining source text redacted.
Passage walkthrough
Passage Summary Topic:
Humanities

Passage A
Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • Rosenthal: No difference between plagiarism and imitation or adaptation
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Comparison, according to Rosenthal:
      • Rosenthal questions the differences between plagiarism and other forms of imitation (first sentence)
      • Rosenthal finds that historically, there is no difference between them (last sentence)
    • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to the author (Ricks):
      • Questioning of differences between plagiarism and imitation leads to the "required postmodern answer" that there is no difference between them (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "But…” (last sentence); "invariably leads to the required postmodern answer"(last sentence); "opprobrious” (last sentence)
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • Author (Ricks): Rosenthal minimizes the moral dimension of plagiarism
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Author's view:
      • Although Rosenthal's book teems with a "political fervor" which is "clearly moral," Rosenthal minimizes the moral dimension of plagiarism — that it is obviously dishonest (first and last sentences)
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • Rather than focusing on honesty and dishonesty, Rosenthal considers only the "cultural location of the text and the position of the author" (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "clearly…" (first sentence); "What in moral terms is a matter of honesty or dishonesty…" (last sentence); "reduced to…" (last sentence)
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • Author (Ricks): Rosenthal's approach delegitimizes valuable moral considerations
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Cause-and-effect, according to the author:
      • Rosenthal's historical approach to plagiarism leads to the idea that if a moral thought is not universal, it is not valuable (second and third sentences)
    • Author's attitude: "demeans and degrades moral thought" (first sentence); "does not itself entail…" (second sentence); "may be valuable, indispensable, worthy of respect…" (third sentence); "a sad loss to political history" (last sentence)


Passage B
Paragraph 1
  • Paragraph note
    • Author: Attitudes about plagiarism have fluctuated over time
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Comparisons, according to the author:
      • Plagiarism, like all ideas, has a history (first sentence)
      • Virtually identical acts of plagiarism have been greeted with very different responses (last sentence)
    • List of factors that have influenced attitudes about plagiarism over time, according to the author:
      • Commercial circumstances, new theories of artistic creation, developments in copyright law (third sentence)
    • Point of intersection with passage A:
      • The author of passage A wants us to consider plagiarism a moral issue, while the author of passage B affirms the ever-shifting nature of our considerations of plagiarism (last sentence)
    • Author's attitude: "repeatedly complicated judgments of plagiarism" (third sentence); "an abiding sense that plagiarism is morally wrong" (last sentence); "much fluidity" (last sentence)
Paragraph 2
  • Paragraph note
    • Author: Ricks's critique of moral relativism about plagiarism is somewhat simplistic
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Cause-and-effect relationship, according to Ricks:
      • A historical approach causes an "extenuating moral relativism" that degrades the dishonest nature of plagiarism (first sentence)
    • Author's view:
      • Not all historical approaches to plagiarism discount their importance (last sentence)
    • Point of intersection with passage A:
      • The author of passage B recaps and responds directly to the author of passage A's claims
Paragraph 3
  • Paragraph note
    • Author: Documenting historical attitudes about a concept doesn't necessarily involve endorsing them
  • Views, minor Meta-Structures, points of intersection, and the author's attitude
    • Author’s view:
      • Ricks is justifiably critical of anachronistic scholarship and the tendency to reduce moral standards to expressions of power (first and second sentences)
      • But historical analysis should still try to reconstruct how people felt about plagiarism in the past (fourth and last sentences)
    • Comparison, according to the author:
      • Historical and contemporary figures have different views about plagiarism, just like people today have different views about plagiarism (last sentence)
    • Point of intersection with passage A:
      • The author of passage B responds directly to the author of passage A's claim. The author of passage B claims that although the author of passage A is justified in their disdain for scholars who always associate moral standards with expressions of power, a historical relativist approach can still be valuable in understanding past points of view.
    • Author's attitude: "rightly dismissive" (first sentence); "also true" (second sentence); "historically remote" (second sentence); "bad history is no argument against history itself" (third sentence); "no necessarily to vindicate them" (fourth sentence); "hardly a consensus" (last sentence)


Main Points?
Passage A: Removing moral considerations from political histories, such as Rosenthal's book on plagiarism, is detrimental to political history.
Passage B: While Ricks is rightfully dismissive of some attempts to reduce moral considerations to mere expressions of power, historical studies on plagiarism should still attempt to try to reconstruct how people felt about plagiarism in the past.

Key Lines?

Passage A:
Paragraph 3, Sentence 1 (P1, S3) - Author's issue with Rosenthal's book
P3, S4 - Author's conclusion

Passage B:
P2, S2 - Author's response to the author of passage A
P3, S1 - Author's concession in favor of the author of passage A
P3, S3-5 - Author's conclusion

Meta-Structure? Relationship Between Passages?
Relationship - Opposing Viewpoints: The authors of these two passages have slightly opposed viewpoints. While both authors agree that the tendency to dismiss moral standards as expressions of power is unfortunate, they disagree on the implications of this tendency. While the author of passage A asserts that any exclusion of plagiarism's moral dimension compromises the historical analysis (PA, P3, S4), the author of passage B argues that there is, in fact, some value to omitting moral standards in historical studies. By doing so, we can better acknowledge the perspectives of our predecessors (PB, P3, S5).

Meta-Structure - Criticizing a Viewpoint: Both passages utilize a Criticize a Viewpoint Meta-Structure. In passage A, the author criticizes Rosenthal's study on plagiarism, which discounts the moral dimension of plagiarism in favor of the "required postmodern answer" that there is no difference between plagiarism and imitation in the arts — other than the fact that those in power get to determine which artistic appropriations are considered plagiarism (PA, P1, S2; PA, P3, S1). To the author of passage A, Rosenthal's study is unfortunately emblematic of recent political histories on plagiarism (PA, P3, S4). The author of passage B, in turn, criticizes passage A's argument. The author of passage B acknowledges that passage A makes a few good points (PB, P3, S1-2), but ultimately concludes that setting aside moral considerations can help historians reconstruct what historical figures actually thought about plagiarism (PB, P3, S5).

Last Thoughts?
Don't forget to read the introduction before "Passage A"! If you overlooked that, you might have missed that Ricks is the author of passage A and that passage B is a direct response to the argument made in passage A.

Question prompt

Both passages are concerned Remaining source text redacted.
Why the credited answer is right

Credited answer: E

The notes below walk through why it fits the stem and how to eliminate the rest.

Question Type

Humanities

Answer choices

  1. A
    How did the modern Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice A is not credited
    Does this ask a question about how the moral aspects of plagiarism should be addressed in historical studies?

    Nope. Experienced test-takers would eliminate (A) based on its subject matter alone. Remember, the common thread between the two passages is how we should address the morality of plagiarism in historical studies, and this answer choice doesn't bring up any of these topics.

    Additionally, if we look back in the passages, neither author provides thoughts on how the modern concept of the "author" developed. Both passages simply reference authors who've already taken a particular stance on plagiarism. Therefore, we can safely eliminate (A).
  2. B
    During what historical period Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice B is not credited
    Does this ask a question about how the moral aspects of plagiarism should be addressed in historical studies?

    Not quite. Although (B) makes reference to several "buzzwords" from the main points of our passages (history, morality, plagiarism), it uses them in the wrong context. Well-prepared test-takers will remember that each passage offers thoughts on how historical studies should approach the moral aspects of plagiarism. Neither passage clarifies which period the concept emerged. So, we can eliminate this answer choice.
  3. C
    How has the relationship Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice C is not credited
    Does this ask a question about how the moral aspects of plagiarism should be addressed in historical studies?

    No dice. Like (B), this answer choice could be tempting because it uses some terms repeated in both passages. The author of passage A states that Rosenthal's book leads us to believe that what is considered plagiarism was largely determined by those in power (PA, P1, S2), while the author of passage B also addresses the reduction of moral standards like plagiarism to expressions of power (PB, P3, S1). However, neither passage traces how moral standards and power have evolved ingeneral and over time. That's a far broader topic than either passage addresses. Therefore, we can safely eliminate (C).
  4. D
    What are the significant Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice D is not credited
    Does this ask a question about how the moral aspects of plagiarism should be addressed in historical studies?

    Nope. Although this mentions plagiarism, it doesn't bring up historical studies. Since both passages make conclusions about historical studies' treatment of plagiarism, decisive test-takers would eliminate this answer choice because it omits this key component of both passages.

    Moreover, passage B never answers this question. Passage B argues that virtually identical acts of artistic appropriation have been greeted with very different responses (PB, P1, S4), but never specifies why some were considered plagiarism and others mere imitation. And although the author of passage A suggests that plagiarism is more dishonest than imitation (PA, P2, S2), that passage never definitely answers this question either.
  5. E
    How is the moral Remaining source text redacted.
    Why choice E matches the stem
    Question Type:
    Major Point/Main Point

    Strategy Overview:
    Review the main point of both passages, looking for a way to frame the main point as a question that both passages answer.

    Answer Anticipation:
    This is the first question on almost all comparative passages. We can think of this as a Main Point question, in which the main point is framed as a question that both passages are meant to answer. To answer this, we can think of the main point of both passages, find common ground between the two main points, and then frame that as a question.

    The main point of passage A is that ignoring moral standards in political histories is a sad loss to history, as evidenced by Rosenthal's treatment of plagiarism. The main point of passage B is that a historical view of plagiarism that doesn't impose today's moral standards onto the past can help us better understand our predecessors' views on plagiarism. So, both passages address historical studies on plagiarism and whether such studies should consider plagiarism's moral dimension. The correct answer will probably ask a question on how the moral aspects of plagiarism should be addressed in historical studies.

    Answer Choice Explanation:
    Does this ask a question about how the moral aspects of plagiarism should be addressed in historical studies?

    Yes! This has everything we're looking for. Experienced test-takers would quickly select this answer choice once they saw it matched their anticipation.

    If we were unsure and had to review (E) more thoroughly, though, we could ask the following questions …

    1. Did passage A's main point address how the moral dimension of plagiarism should be understood historically?


    Absolutely! The author of passage A asserts that the failure to consider moral obligations in the context of plagiarism is a "sad loss to history" (PA, P3, S4). From this statement, we can infer that the author believes historical studies should include the moral dimension of plagiarism in their analyses.

    Now let's ask ourselves the same question for passage B.

    1. Did passage B's main point address how the moral dimension of plagiarism should be understood historically?


    Also yes! The author of passage B concludes that a historical study of plagiarism that doesn't impose today's moral standards onto the past can help us better understand our predecessors' views on plagiarism (PB, P3, S5).

    Upon review, the authors of both passages answer the question about how moral aspects of plagiarism should be understood historically. Therefore, we can confidently select this answer choice.

    Key Takeaway:
    One useful way to check whether an answer is correct on this type of question is to see if the authors' main points provide an answer to each of the questions posed in the answer choice. Both main points will answer the question posed in the correct answer.

What this tests

Question analytics

Based on historical answer selection rates for this question.

Answer choice distribution

  1. A 2%
  2. B 3%
  3. C 10%
  4. D 5%
  5. E Credited 80%

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Discussion

  • Why E? 2 replies

    Started by Jasmin1

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