While historian Margaret Chen receives recognition for her groundbreaking studies of ancient trade routes, this focus obscures her equally significant...
GMAT Craft and Structure : (Structure) Questions
While historian Margaret Chen receives recognition for her groundbreaking studies of ancient trade routes, this focus obscures her equally significant contributions to understanding social structures. Her detailed analyses of family networks and community organization in medieval societies provide crucial insights into how ordinary people lived. These scholarly works illuminate aspects of history that traditional political narratives typically ignore and deserve greater attention from the academic community.
Which choice best states the main purpose of the text?
To advocate for broader recognition of Chen's social history research
To compare ancient trade routes with medieval family structures
To encourage historians to study multiple historical periods
To explain Chen's methodology for analyzing community organization
Step 1: Decode and Map the Passage
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
|---|---|
| "While historian Margaret Chen receives recognition for her groundbreaking studies of ancient trade routes, this focus obscures her equally significant contributions to understanding social structures." |
|
| "Her detailed analyses of family networks and community organization in medieval societies provide crucial insights into how ordinary people lived." |
|
| "These scholarly works illuminate aspects of history that traditional political narratives typically ignore and deserve greater attention from the academic community." |
|
Main Point: Margaret Chen's research on social structures deserves greater academic recognition alongside her already-acknowledged work on trade routes.
Argument Flow: The text starts with a "yes, but" structure—acknowledging Chen's current fame while pointing out what's being missed. It then elaborates on what makes her social history work valuable before concluding with a direct call for the academic community to give this work more attention.
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 passage follows a clear advocacy pattern - it acknowledges Chen's current recognition, then argues that something else she does is equally important but overlooked
- The right answer should capture that this text is advocating for greater recognition of Chen's social history work
To advocate for broader recognition of Chen's social history research
- Perfectly matches our passage analysis - the text argues Chen's social history work deserves broader recognition
- Aligns with the advocacy structure we identified
To compare ancient trade routes with medieval family structures
- The passage mentions both ancient trade routes and medieval family structures, but never compares them
To encourage historians to study multiple historical periods
- The passage is specifically about Margaret Chen and her work, not giving general advice to historians
To explain Chen's methodology for analyzing community organization
- The passage describes what Chen's social research covers but doesn't explain her methods or techniques