A transition question with several linked sentences tests how the sentence containing the blank connects to what came before. Cover the choices and shrink each sentence to a few words, keeping what it says rather than its topic. If the final sentence has two parts, ask how each relates to the earlier sentences. Then name how the sentences connect: does it add, show a result, go against an earlier point, mark time, or sum up? A smooth sound doesn't prove a logical link.
Hints
- Hint 1
Start with both parts of the sentence after the blank. What does each part say about what the photograph can tell the curators?
- Hint 2
Shrink the earlier findings into a few words each. What did the materials, numbering sequence, and shipping logs tell the curators?
- Hint 3
Match each part of the final sentence to the findings that support it. What job does that sentence do after those findings?
Step-by-step
Trace the final judgment to the evidence
Step 1Shrink both parts of the conclusion
Read the final sentence as two claims: the photograph carries more evidentiary weight than the materials alone do, but it cannot decisively identify the maker. How can we shrink that for a transition question? The photograph is a stronger clue, but it doesn't prove who made the work. The transition must connect both claims to the earlier findings.
- Step 2
Find the evidence for each claim
Why does the photograph help without proving who made the work? The materials were shared by several artists, while the numbering sequence is tied to Okafor and no other cooperative member is known to have used that sequence. That makes the photograph a stronger link to her. But the card gives a crate number rather than an artwork number, and shared crates and incomplete logs leave us unsure who made the object beside it. The photograph points toward Okafor without proving she made this work.
- Step 3
Name the conclusion's job
What job does the final sentence do with those findings? It sums up what the findings show, including the limit in though it cannot decisively identify the maker. In particular introduces a narrower detail, and In turn marks a following result or step. Neither fits a sentence judging how much the clues prove.
- Step 4
Check the phrase against the whole judgment
For that reason means because of the preceding point, so it would make the shipping logs explain the whole judgment. The logs explain the uncertainty, but not the photograph's stronger value. On balance means after considering all sides, which is the job this conclusion does. Choice A.