LSAT 137, Section 1, RC Passage 1, Tucker

RC Passage 1 Explanation

This is an explanation for passage 1 of LSAT preptest 67, the October 2012 LSAT. This passage is about a new biography of Lorenzo Tucker. Tucker is an influential but under-appreciated African-American entertainer. The author’s main contribution is that he conducted many interviews with Tucker.

This section has paragraph summaries and an analysis of the passage, links to the explanations for the questions are below.

Paragraph Summaries

1. Lorenzo Tucker played an important role in the development of African American film and theatre.
2. The author researched Tucker by doing library research and examining Tucker’s films. Most importantly, the author interviewed Tucker before he died.
3. When writing a biography, it is useful to listen to what the person says, but also you must be skeptical.
4. How the author used and verified Tucker’s oral evidence.

Analysis

This is an unusual passage. From the first paragraph, you might expect to learn something about Tucker and his art.

But the rest of the passage mainly discusses the author’s research methods. The most important element is oral testimony and whether it can be trusted.

The author is writing a biography of Tucker. They have used all the usual materials, but also conducted extensive interviews with Tucker. The author takes pains to tell us that they have verified Tucker’s oral testimony as much as possible, and included only relevant information.

The tone of this article is scholarly. This seems to be an introduction to a longer piece in an academic journal, or a scholarly biography. It is normal for academics to describe their research methods before they present the results of their research.

The scholar is making an argument. They want to prove that their research methods are appropriate. This is not a particularly difficult passage, except for the final question. As such, my analysis section is short. There’s not much else to say.