A quotation question with a student's claim tests whether a quoted writer supports what the student says. Start with the claim and put it in a few words, keeping any words that say how or why something happens. Then split the claim into parts and predict what a line would need to show. Put each quotation in plain words and check every part, because sharing the topic isn't enough to support the claim.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start with the student's claim in the second sentence. What does it say about how Iyer blends journalism and fiction?
- Hint 2
Split the claim into parts. Ask where the scientific details come from and where Iyer uses them.
Step-by-step
Match every part of the claim
Step 1Put the claim in plain words
The student says Iyer builds scenes in her novels around precise scientific details drawn from real-world research. What must the reviewer’s line show? We need both details from actual research and a way she uses them inside her novels, so a mention of science alone won’t be enough. Let’s predict a line where real scientific facts help shape an invented scene: research details become part of her fiction.
- Step 2
Cross out lines that only share the topic
Does the quotation show Iyer building scenes in her novels with those facts? The line about firsthand experience links her lab work to topics in interviews and public talks, so it says nothing about her novel scenes. The line about most memorable characters puts scientists in the fiction, but doesn’t give a research detail used there, so a science topic alone can’t support the claim.
- Step 3
Check the direction and details
Which way does the blend go: into journalism or into the novels? The line about essays about rising seas brings storytelling into journalism, so it turns the claim around. The line with real ocean-acidity measurements puts the measurements into dialogue and reproduces a researcher’s field notes within the novel. These are precise scientific details drawn from real-world research that anchor the invented plot, so real research helps build the fiction. Choice A.