Self-study
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.
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P1
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Rosenthal's Purpose ·
To question definition of plagiarism
Rosenthal's answer ·
The required postmodern answer
Postmodern answer = there's no difference between plagiarism and things that people don't think are plagiarism. It's just about power; if people in power don't like certain copying, it's plagiarism.
P2
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Rosenthal's assumption ·
Plagiarism doesn't involve a moral issue; it's about power
P3
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Ricks' perspective ·
Political history should involve moral considerations
Although there's no universal moral standard, that doesn't mean moral standards shouldn't exist. (Not sure what "political history" means, but clearly Rosenthal's book is an example of it.)
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P4
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Intro topic ·
Plagiarism
Accusations of plagiarism in history have been very fluid, and are influenced by commercial, artistic, and legal views. Sometimes the same act has been called plagiarism and not plagiarism.
P5
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Ricks' perspective ·
Critical of historical approach to ethical issues
He thinks it leads to moral relativism, which he thinks is bad.
Author's criticism ·
Ricks paints with too broad a brush
Some historical approaches might be good, even if others are bad.
P6
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Concession ·
Ricks is right to criticize some scholarship
Not all moral standards are just about power, and it can be wrong to project modern-day ideologies onto past events. Ricks is right to make these points.
Author's perspective ·
Ricks is too extreme
Some historical scholarship can still be good, even if there's a lot of bad scholarship out there. Recognizing different historical understandings of plagiarism doesn't imply any agreement with one or more of those understandings.
Passage Style
16.
Which one of the following ██ █ ███████ ███████ ██████ ██ ████ █████████
a
to trace the ██████████ ███████████ ██ ██ █████████ ████
This is not a purpose of passage A. Rosenthal’s book looks at the history of plagiarism in a certain era, but author A never traces the development of plagiarism throughout history. He just criticizes Rosenthal’s arguments. This is enough reason to eliminate (A). It’s also not a purpose of passage B. Author B notes that the idea of plagiarism “has a history” and has changed over time, but she doesn’t trace its development throughout history.
b
to find fault ████ █ ███ ██ ███████████ █ █████████ █████
This describes a central purpose of both passages. The central purpose of passage A is to criticize Rosenthal’s way of approaching the historical understanding of plagiarism. A central purpose of passage B is to find fault with author A’s way of approaching his argument. She thinks that author A is too extreme in his dismissal of historical approaches, even though he’s right in some ways. She also finds fault with the postmodern approach that reduces moral standards to expressions of power.
c
to examine shifting █████████ █████████ ██████ █ ██████████ █████
This is not a purpose of passage A. Author A only examines one scholarly attitude toward plagiarism: Rosenthal’s. He never examines any other scholarly attitudes, nor does he suggest that Rosenthal’s attitude is “shifting.” This is enough reason to eliminate (C). It’s also not a purpose of passage B. Author B says that the idea of plagiarism has shifted over time, but she doesn’t examine any scholarly attitudes toward plagiarism.
d
to explain why █ ████ ██ ███████████ ███ ██████ ████████
This is not a purpose of passage A. We have no reason to believe that Rosenthal’s scholarship about plagiarism “has become dominant.” Even if it has, author A doesn’t try to explain why it’s dominant. This is enough reason to eliminate (D). It’s also not a purpose of passage B. Author B never discusses any type of scholarship that has become dominant.
e
to argue that █ ██████████ ████ ██ ██████ ███████████
This is a central purpose of passage A. Author A argues that Rosenthal’s book is deeply problematic. But this is not a central purpose of passage B. She criticizes author B’s approach, but his argument is in an essay, not in a book. She also admits that author B is right in some of his arguments, so she may not think that his argument is “deeply problematic.”