Q2

[ohthatpatrick]

When the question stem is of the form,
"the author mentions ____ in order to"
"the author's reference to ____ serves to"
"the author does ___ primarily to"
the test is asking "how does this specific detail relate to the broader point/purpose of the surrounding sentences?"

I think of these as "bookend" questions, because the correct answer is almost always a paraphrase of the sentence that came before or after the specific lines/detail we're asked about.

What are the bookend ideas here?

The author had just said, in lines 16-20, that the typical educational protection in copyright law was being debateably extended to this specific case of for-profit course packs.

And after lines 23-27, the author mentions the rationale of the publishers who brought suit against the owner.

We'd like an answer that reinforces how lines 23-27 connect to either or both of these bookend ideas.

A) "demonstrate" is very harsh. The author hasn't indicated a clear opinion on the matter, now do we have any support for knowing that the owner is "exempt". In fact, the author suggests that the "typical" protection may not apply in this unique case.

B) maybe keep on first pass, since lines 23-27 do lead into the charges brought by the publishers. However, these lines don't actually explain the charges of these specific publishers. Lines 23-27 are about copyright issues in general, not this specific case. These lines bring up some legal factors that go beyond the charges brought by the publishers, so they can't be correctly said to "explain the charges".

C) This is overly opinionated, just like (A). The author has not indicated her opinion on the matter, and these lines don't indicate that the publishers' reasoning is "flawed".

D) Same as (A) and (C). The author never enters her own opinion on the matter. The author merely describes the owner's position, the publisher's position, and the court's ruling.

E) This is true. These lines do make the reader aware of what factors are considered in copyright cases. And they make the reader better enabled to comprehend the publishers' complaint in the next sentence.

[jasonleb1]

I was between E and B on this one and wound up going with B because it seemed to me that the last of the factors mentioned in lines 23-27, "...the effect of its use on the work's potential market value" is exactly the charge the publishers are bringing against the copy shop owner as given in 28-31 (that the printing of the course packs diminishes the works' value). Can someone clarify further why B is wrong? Thanks

[ohthatpatrick]

Correct, the LAST consideration is the one that publishers used in their suit against the copy shops.

However, if the author's purpose in lines 23-27 was simply to explain the charges, she would have only mentioned "the impact on market value".

The fact that she discussed, in lines 23-27, other aspects of copyright law that were NOT germane to the case makes it seem inaccurate to pick (B).

Really, lines 27-31 are the excerpt of the passage in which the author "explains the charges brought against the copy-shop owner".

The start of the sentence that leads up to 23-27 is what helps lock it in as (E). "Copyright law outlines several factors .... "

Lines 23-27 are the factors outlined by copyright law in considering copyright protection.

Hope this helps.