Question 45·200 Super-Hard SAT Reading Questions·Information and Ideas
A literary scholar examined surviving manuscripts of novels first published in installments and later released as complete volumes. The scholar found that chapters ending at scheduled installment boundaries were substantially more likely to stop amid unresolved action than chapters ending elsewhere. Because publishers often determined the length of each installment while novels were still being written, the scholar argues that serialization schedules actively led authors to construct suspenseful endings, rather than publishers simply placing breaks at suspenseful endings the authors had already created.
Which archival finding, if true, would most directly support the scholar's argument?
For a command-of-evidence question involving causation, break the claim into its required elements: the proposed cause, the relevant effect, and the order in which they occurred. Compare each option against all three elements, favoring direct before-and-after evidence over findings that establish only revision, motivation, correlation, or preexisting conditions.
Hints
Focus on the complete causal claim
The scholar is claiming not merely that schedules affected the writing but that they led authors to construct suspense at installment endings.
Consider timing and content
Look for evidence showing both when the publisher's decision occurred and how the author's treatment of a particular ending subsequently changed.
Distinguish partial from direct evidence
Evidence of revisions, preexisting suspense, or authors' favorable views of suspense may address only part of the argument. Determine which finding connects all the necessary elements.
Step-by-step Explanation
Identify the scholar's argument
The scholar makes a causal claim: installment schedules influenced authors to create unresolved endings. The scholar rejects the alternative possibility that publishers merely selected breaks where suspense already existed.
Determine the necessary evidence
The strongest evidence should connect the publisher's announcement to a subsequent change in the author's writing. Ideally, it should also show that the change specifically introduced unresolved action at the resulting boundary.
Select the most direct support
Dated outlines that initially resolve conflicts, followed by drafts that leave the same conflicts unresolved after installment limits were announced, establish both the relevant change and its timing. Therefore, the answer is Dated outlines resolve certain conflicts, whereas drafts written after publishers announced installment limits leave those same conflicts unresolved at the resulting boundaries.