Faculty Inventions

Answer choices

1. A

   Too Narrow20% picked this

   While institutions expect to prosper from increased research support and royalties from patentable products resulting from faculty inventions, if they do not establish clear-cut

   This answer just describes the Problem outlined in the 1st paragraph, but it doesn't announce the winning Solution we got at the end of the passage. In any Problem / Solution passage in which the author endorses a solution, that solution is the most important ingredient in the main point answer.

   20%
2. B

   Wrong Emphasis6% picked this

   The fourfold classification of institutional policies governing exploitation of faculty inventions is sufficient to categorize the variety of steps institutions are taking to ensure

   The main clause here is saying, "Patricia's Chew fourfold classification is sufficient!" But the passage was not centered around her classification or exploring whether it was or wasn't a good enough framework for categorizing steps institutions are taking. The passage was about reviewing these policies to figure out which one provides the appropriate level of flexibility. This answer doesn't pick a winner out of the fourfold classification, so we know this answer isn't properly spotlighting the Faculty-Oriented option as the solution.

   6%
3. C

   Too Strong: abandon / alone5% picked this

   To prevent the loss of faculty to commercial firms or research corporations, institutions will have to abandon their insistence on retaining maximum ownership of

   This answer correctly identifies the Problem and heads in the right direction of the Solution, but it goes too far in that direction. The author didn't land on the solution that "faculty alone" should own their inventions. The Faculty-Oriented approach is a compromise between the old mentality of maximum ownership and the opposite extreme of "faculty alone own their inventions". It defaults to faculty ownership of inventions, but it still provides some exceptional cases in which the university would have some ownership.

   5%
4. D

   Correct68% picked this

   While the policies of most institutions governing exploitation of faculty inventions seek to maximize university ownership of and profit from these inventions, another policy

   Why this is right

   The main clause of this answer is "another policy offers faculty greater flexibility", which sounds like we are correctly centering this answer on the Solution, which was the faculty-oriented model. Can we sign off on the loaded language that "most institutions seek to maximize university ownership"? Yes, basically. The final sentence of the 3rd paragraph says "most major institutions behave in the ways that maximize university ownership and profit participation". It's very lovable that this answer is saying the author's preferred option provides faculty "greater flexibility", because the final sentence of the 1st paragraph framed the discussion in paragraph 2, 3, and 4 as a review of policies in order to find "the appropriate level of flexibility".

   Skill tested: Main Point · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

   68%
5. E

   Too Strong: indefensible Wrong Emphasis1% picked this

   Most institutional policies governing exploitation of faculty inventions are indefensible because they run counter to common-law notions of ownership and copyright, but they usually

   Even though the author seemed displeased by institutions where the university is, contrary to common law presumptions, assuming ownership of the faculty's intellectual property, she never sounded as scathing as "indefensible". More importantly, this answer doesn't center itself on the Solution the passage identified to the Problem it's discussing. This answer is all Problem.

   1%