Logical Reasoning

PT153 · S3 · Q5 As the current information explosion forces

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As the current information explosion forces the print media, television, and the Internet to compete for public attention and for advertiser and subscriber dollars, journalistic standards are lowered.

Conclusion

We are increasingly bombarded with inaccurate and trivial information.

Evidence

As current information explosion forces print media, TV, and the Internet to all compete for attention and subscriber revenue, journalistic standards are lowered.

Evaluate

This is weird to me, since it seems more like a Causal Chain than an argument. We usually expect "consequently" to be a keyword that indicates a conclusion (but it can also just indicate the Effect in a Cause/Effect relationship).

Ultimately, the Support Test is the best way to figure this one out.

There are two sentences, so which one is supporting the other.

why should we believe that as this happens, journalistic standards are lowered? .

vs.

why should we believe we're increasingly hit by bad info?

That 2nd one seems to make more sense. "Lowered journalistic standards" are support for the claim that "we're increasingly bombarded by bad info".

If we flipped it, and said is support for the claim that "journalistic standards (evidently) have been lowered" it would still kind of work, but it would need to feel more like an Explanation being offered for a curious fact.

Instead, we have a keyword like "consequently" showing us that we should interpret this as "lower standards supports increasingly bombarded".

Goal

Look for an answer meaning the same thing as that final sentence.

5.

Which one of the following most accurately expresses the conclusion of the argument?

  1. The drawbacks of the information

    Never Stated

    On Main Conclusion, the correct answer should match the author's explicit conclusion (in meaning, even if they switch up the wording). This idea was never stated, so it can't be the author's conclusion.

    2% picked this

  2. Correct

    People are more and more

    Why this is right

    Yes, this seems like an equivalent meaning to our last sentence, which is the Conclusion. We can verify this answer using the Support Test: why should we believe that "people are more and more subjected to insignificant / unreliable information"? Because, journalistic standards have been lowered, as everyone is competing for clickbait and ad dollars.

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

    81% picked this

  3. Journalistic standards have fallen in

    Premise / Intermediate Conclusion

    We could potentially call this a Premise or Intermediate Conclusion, but the main conclusion is the idea drawn in the last sentence. This idea then leads to the last sentence. The last sentence is a consequence of the fact that journalistic standards have fallen.

    14% picked this

  4. One result of the current

    Premise

    This tries to turn the dependent clause of the first sentence into its own complete sentence. That alone could scare us away from picking this answer. A main conclusion is not a modifying clause. It's a main clause, if not a standalone sentence. But we also know this first idea was just a Premise, or just the initial spark in the causal chain described.

    1% picked this

  5. If journalists returned to earlier

    Never Stated

    On Main Conclusion, the correct answer should match the author's explicit conclusion (in meaning, even if they switch up the wording). This idea was never stated, so it can't be the author's conclusion. This answer sounds more like a potential inference or assumption we could accuse the author of thinking, based on her claims, but that's not what Main Conclusion is asking for. It wants us to point to the explicit claim that was the conclusion and find an answer that says the same thing as that explicit claim.

    1% picked this

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