A finding question with a proposed source and a reason tests whether evidence supports both parts of a claim. Read the proposal and split it into parts, then predict what evidence would support each one. For a claimed cause, check the order of events: the cause must happen before the choice or change it is said to have caused. Evidence about the same topic can still fall short if it doesn't link those parts for the people or things the claim names.
Hints
- Hint 1
Separate the source from the reason in Okafor’s proposal. What does she claim about each?
- Hint 2
Put the flooding and the builders’ decision in time order. Which would need to come first for the flooding to explain the decision?
- Hint 3
Test each part on its own. Does the finding tell us where these beams came from and connect the builders’ choice to the reason Okafor gives?
Step-by-step
Trace the source and the reason
Step 1Split the proposal
Okafor names a source, forests in the inland Arlen Highlands, and a reason, saltwater flooding had weakened the coastal trees. What evidence would support the whole proposal? We need the beams’ source and a link between the builders’ choice and coastal damage. So let's look for a source match plus records explaining why this warehouse bought that wood.
- Step 2
Check cause before decision
How does shortly before construction affect the test? Flood damage must come before the builders’ decision to import oak. The finding with an order dated several years before the flooding began puts the decision first. Cutting the beams after the flood can't make an earlier order a response to it.
- Step 3
Test the records and the source
Next, ask whose decision the records explain and which forest the tests point to. The rise in regionwide Arlen imports doesn't connect this warehouse’s buying decision to flooding. The finding with signatures that match both records the warehouse’s switch to Arlen, but the beams could also fit another inland source. The warehouse’s order points to Arlen without ruling out that other source for the recovered timber, so its evidence for where the beams came from is less direct.
- Step 4
Connect the warehouse’s choice to the damage
The finding with a match to only Arlen Highlands samples also tracks the warehouse’s own orders: they shifted from coastal to Arlen oak after suppliers reported saltwater damage. The supplier report links this warehouse’s switch to coastal damage, while the match to only Arlen samples shows where the timber that was used came from. Choice B.