A question about two texts tests how you'd use one researcher's view to judge another's conclusion. Start with the question to find who answers whom, then sum up each researcher's claim and evidence. Does the responding researcher reject the conclusion, accept it with a limit, or take it further? Check the reason behind that view against the responding researcher's evidence. A choice can sound reasonable and still give that researcher a view the text doesn't support.
Hints
- Hint 1
The question asks Morales to judge Chen's conclusion. Find the claim Chen draws from her soil tests and lily counts.
- Hint 2
In Text 2, look at the difference between fenced and unfenced plots. What did fencing change, and what happened even where nutrient levels were poor?
- Hint 3
Read Morales's final sentence, and check both halves of his view. How does each half answer Chen's claim about the primary driver?
Step-by-step
Judge Chen's conclusion from Morales's view
Step 1Identify the claim Morales must judge
Start with what would Dr. Morales in Text 2 most likely say: Morales is judging Chen's conclusion. What does Chen claim? She links lower nutrients and fewer lilies, concluding that soil nutrient depletion is the primary driver. Her ranking of the causes is the point to test.
- Step 2
Use the fenced plots to test that claim
Morales compares plots fenced to keep grazing goats out with plots left open. What difference does fencing make? Fenced plots, even those with poor nutrient levels, contain three times as many Blue Star Lilies as open plots. Keeping goats out helped despite poor soil, so Chen's soil findings don't settle which cause matters most.
- Step 3
Name Morales's view
Does Morales reject the idea that soil matters? He agrees that nutrient loss can stress the lilies, but says heavy goat grazing is the more decisive factor. He would qualify Chen's conclusion, meaning accept part of it while adding a limit: nutrient loss matters, but it isn't the leading cause.
- Step 4
Match both the view and the reason
Which response gives Morales's view and reason? Incorrectly blames goats reverses the researchers' views, while actually stabilized adds a finding neither text gives. Accurately identifies all major causes leaves out what Morales disagrees with. A genuine problem refers to nutrient stress, and an even more influential factor refers to grazing, so that response gives both his agreement and his objection. Choice D.