Self-study
More and more academic institutions are using citation analysis as the main technique for measuring the quality of scientific research. ████ █████████ ████████ █ ██████ ████████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████████ ██ █ ████████████ █████ ████████ ████████ ████████████ ████ ██ █████████ ████ █████████ ███ ██ ████████ ████████ ████████ █████ ███████ ████ ████ █████ ██████████ ███████ ██ ████████ ████████ ██████ ████ █████ █████████ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███████ ██████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that use of citation analysis will work against the goal of encouraging good research. This is because scientists will focus on popular short-term projects rather than multi-year ones to maximize their citation counts.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that multiyear projects more often constitute “good research” than short-term projects in fad areas. The author also assumes, without providing evidence, that short-term, faddish projects will be cited more often than multi-year projects.
15.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████████ ███ █████████ ███████ ███ ███ █████████
a
In general scientific ████████ ██ ███ ████████ ██ ██ ████████ █████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████████
If this is true, then multi-year research won’t be cited until it’s completed. Thus, a scientist hoping for a high number of citations per year likely won’t want to pursue such research. This strengthens the argument, since it explains why citation analysis would incentivize scientists to focus on short-term rather than long-term projects.
b
Areas of science ████ ███ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ███ ███ ███████████ ███████ ██ █████████████
If anything, this answer choice weakens the argument. It suggests that the author's assumption that short-term, faddish work doesn't count as “good research” is unfounded.
c
Research that is █████████ ██████████ ██ ██████████ ████████ █████████ █████ ███ ██ ██ ███████████████ █████
This is irrelevant. The argument doesn't talk about how research is received once it is published in scientific journals.
d
Scientists are sometimes ███████ ██ ███████ ███████████ ██ ███████ █████████ █████ ████ ███████████ █████ ████████ ██████████ ██ ████████
Irrelevant. We're not told anything about how interim assessments and funding considerations are connected to citation analysis.
e
Scientists often cite █████ ███████████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██████████████
Irrelevant. We don't know anything about the “scientific establishment” and scientists' response to it.