For a main-idea question, identify the author's central claim and then track any qualifications that limit it. Favor the option that captures the passage's full argument—including important contrasts and distinctions—without turning a limited observation into an absolute claim.
Hints
- Hint 1
Track the contrast
Notice what Serrano rejects about a single family-tree model and what she proposes instead.
- Hint 2
Consider the qualification
Pay attention to the sentence explaining what paper, ink, and cross-references can sometimes establish.
- Hint 3
Use the conclusion
Ask why the final sentence separates two tasks that editors perform.
Step-by-step
- Step 1
Identify Serrano's central claim
Serrano challenges the assumption that drafts always form a straightforward sequence leading toward one final text.
- Step 2
Account for the qualification
The text does not claim that the order of drafts is entirely unknowable. Physical evidence and cross-references can establish some relationships, but other relationships may remain uncertain.
- Step 3
Include the concluding distinction
Serrano supports models that display both certainty and uncertainty, while distinguishing those models from an editor's decision about which version to publish. Only choice D includes both parts of this main idea.