How do scholars determine the writing techniques used by anonymous medieval authors? One research group developed an innovative approach. When...
GMAT Information and Ideas : (Ideas) Questions
How do scholars determine the writing techniques used by anonymous medieval authors? One research group developed an innovative approach. When examining manuscript pages from unidentified texts, they found that most sections contained ink with similar base compounds, but certain pages showed distinctly different chemical signatures. Historical records indicate that medieval scribes typically used one of three main preparation methods, each leaving unique trace elements. Since two of these methods would have degraded completely in manuscripts this old, the scholars hypothesized they could ______
Which choice most logically completes the text?
show how chemical analysis can be applied to manuscripts from other historical periods.
explain why certain chemical signatures in these manuscripts remained detectable for centuries.
identify the writing technique by eliminating the methods that would have left no detectable traces.
determine the preparation methods used in manuscripts lacking any chemical signatures.
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
Part A: Create Passage Analysis Table
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "How do scholars determine the writing techniques used by anonymous medieval authors?" |
|
| "One research group developed an innovative approach." |
|
| "When examining manuscript pages from unidentified texts, they found that most sections contained ink with similar base compounds, but certain pages showed distinctly different chemical signatures." |
|
| "Historical records indicate that medieval scribes typically used one of three main preparation methods, each leaving unique trace elements." |
|
| "Since two of these methods would have degraded completely in manuscripts this old, the scholars hypothesized they could ______" |
|
Part B: Provide Passage Architecture & Core Elements
Main Point: Scholars developed a method to identify anonymous medieval writing techniques by using chemical analysis, knowing that only one of three historical methods would still be detectable.
Argument Flow: The passage starts with a research problem, introduces an innovative solution, presents the key findings about chemical signatures, provides crucial background about medieval methods, and sets up a logical conclusion about what scholars could hypothesize based on the process of elimination.
Step 2: Interpret the Question Precisely
This is a fill-in-the-blank question asking us to choose the best logical connector. The answer must create the right relationship between what comes before and after the blank.
Step 3: Prethink the Answer
- The key insight is that if medieval scribes used one of three methods, and two of those methods would have degraded completely, then any detectable chemical signatures must come from the third method
- This means the scholars could identify which technique was used by a process of elimination
- They could rule out the two methods that would leave no traces and identify the one that would still be detectable
show how chemical analysis can be applied to manuscripts from other historical periods.
- This talks about applying the method to other historical periods
- The passage focuses on solving the current problem of identifying medieval techniques, not expanding to other time periods
explain why certain chemical signatures in these manuscripts remained detectable for centuries.
- This suggests explaining why signatures remained detectable
- The passage already tells us why - one method didn't degrade completely
- This doesn't complete the hypothesis about what scholars could accomplish
identify the writing technique by eliminating the methods that would have left no detectable traces.
- This perfectly captures the elimination logic we identified
- Since two methods degraded completely (leaving no traces), scholars can identify the technique by ruling out those two methods
- The detectable signatures must come from the third method that didn't degrade
determine the preparation methods used in manuscripts lacking any chemical signatures.
- This contradicts the passage setup - they're working with manuscripts that DO have chemical signatures
- The whole approach depends on finding detectable traces, not analyzing manuscripts without them