Reading Comprehension

PT158 · S1 · P3 · Q16 Plagiarism

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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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Topic

The debate over how to approach the concept of plagiarism—whether as a moral issue or as a historically relative idea shaped by power and context.

Framework

Present Debate

Main Point

Ricks (Passage A) criticizes historical (especially postmodern) approaches to plagiarism that see it merely as a power construct rather than a moral failing, arguing this undermines valuable moral judgments; Kewes (Passage B) counters that while some historical approaches are flawed, proper historical context is valuable and not inherently relativist. **Most Valuable Sentence(s):** - Passage A, last paragraph: - Passage B, last paragraph:

P1: Passage A — Critique of Postmodern Approach

Ricks argues that Rosenthal’s history of plagiarism erases differences between key concepts like plagiarism, imitation, and originality, reducing the idea of plagiarism to a matter of power dynamics, rather than genuine moral concern.

P2: Passage A — Political vs. Moral Dimensions

He complains that Rosenthal's "political" approach ignores honest/dishonest distinctions, instead focusing solely on the context and power structures surrounding a text or author.

16.

Which one of the following is a central purpose common to both passages?

  1. to trace the historical development

    Describes Neither Passage's Purpose

    While both passages allude to people who have studied the historical development of plagiarism, neither of these passages do that. They both spend more time alerting the reader to the potential danger of studying the historical development of plagiarism. They're worried that the people who do trace the historical development will end up making plagiarism seem like an arbitrary term, rather than a moral failing.

    10% picked this

  2. Correct

    to find fault with a

    Why this is right

    Both passages are calling out the problem of approaching plagiarism by considering its myriad meanings and interpretations through the ages. A point made in both passages was, "If you get too relativistic about plagiarism, then you risk losing an essential piece of how we should think about it:

    Skill tested: Primary Purpose · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    54% picked this

  3. to examine shifting scholarly attitudes

    Not the Central Purpose

    Passage A talks about Rosenthal's scholarly attitude towards plagiarism, and then it pivots to the author's view. There isn't any shift in how scholars view plagiarism that's addressed in passage A. Passage B never talks about scholars at all, other than Christopher Ricks. So it also has no discussion of how scholars have shifted their attitudes in regards to plagiarism.

    34% picked this

  4. to explain why a type

    Not the Central Purpose

    Neither passage ever mentions whether the problematic relativistic stance towards plagiarism has become dominant. So that's already out of scope; thus, there's definitely no causal explanation for how a type of scholarship came to dominate the scholarly understanding of plagiarism.

    1% picked this

  5. to argue that a particular

    Too Narrow for Passage B

    Passage A definitely has this purpose, but Passage B isn't talking about any book.

    1% picked this

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