Self-study
Essayist: Some researchers criticize British governmental security agencies for not releasing enough information about sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) made by these military and intelligence agencies. ████████ ███ ███████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████ █████ ███ ██ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██████████ ███████ ████ █████ ████ ███ ████████████████ ██ ███████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The essayist hypothesizes that extraterrestrial spaceships have been spotted near Earth. Why? Because British security agencies don’t release much information about UFO sightings.
Notable Assumptions
The essayist assumes no alternative explanation accounts for the security agencies’ refusal to release information about UFOs. That requires assuming the agencies do, in fact, have information about UFO sightings that they’re withholding.
14.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ █████ ████ ██████████ ███ ██████████ █████████
a
The British government ██ █████████ ███ ███████████ ████ ██████ ████████████
This doesn’t mean the information about UFOs is considered secure—perhaps the government is also not forthcoming with some insecure information. Even if it is secure, this doesn’t advance the argument by making any alternative hypothesis less likely.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
b
The British government █████ ████████ ███████████ ██████████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ██ ████ ███████████ ████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ████████
This implies the UFOs must be extraterrestrial if the British government is withholding information about them. It rules out the possibility the agencies are keeping silent about sightings of aircraft that might be from Earth.
Alternate explanation
Alternate explanation
Weaken: Introduce or support an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
Strengthen: Helps to eliminate an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
c
The British government █████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ █████
This implies the government has something to hide, not that the spacecraft sighted are extraterrestrial. There are many possible reasons the government might want to hide this information that have nothing to do with extraterrestrial spaceships.
d
The British government ██ ████ ████████ ██ ████████ ███████████ ████ ██ ██ ██ ████████ ████████████
This comparison is irrelevant because the essayist doesn’t mention military researchers. Even if the government were particularly mistrustful of civilian researchers, that wouldn't imply they’ve spotted extraterrestrial UFOs.
e
The British government ███ ██████ █████████ ██ ████ ███ █████████ ██ █████
This doesn’t mean their refusal to provide information indicates those UFOs are extraterrestrial. It’s not established whether the security agencies actually have information about UFOs.