Self-study
Local resident: Conclusion An overabundance of algae must be harmful to the smaller fish in this pond. ██████ ███ ███████ ██ ██ █████ ████ █ ████ █████ █████ ███ ███ █████ ████ █ ████ ████ █████ ███████ ██ ████ █████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ████ ██████ ████████ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ████ █ ████ ███████ ██████████ █████ ███████ ██ █████ ██ ███ ██████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author hypothesizes that an overabundance of algae is harmful to smaller fish in this pond. This is based on the fact that over the past 15 years, the few times that the author has seen a lot of dead small fish has coincided with the times that he has noticed unusually large amounts of algae in the water.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author assumes that the correlation between lots of dead small fish and lots of algae is explained by algae causing harm to the small fish. This overlooks alternate explanations for the correlation. Perhaps there’s a third factor that causes both the algae and the dead fish. The author also assumes that his own observations of the timing of dead small fish and lots of algae is representative of the general pattern of dead small fish and lots of algae in the pond.
6.
The local resident's argument is ████ ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██
a
presumes, without providing ██████████████ ████ ███████ ████ ███ ███████ ████ ███████████ ██ ████ ██ █ ██████ ██ ████████████ █████ ████ ███ ██████ ████
The author never compares the effects of algae to the effects of larger fish.
b
fails to consider ████ ███ ███████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ████████████ █████ ███ ██ ████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ██████████
The author’s conclusion doesn’t concern other bodies of water besides “this pond.”
c
ignores the possibility ████ ███ ████ █████ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ██ ████ ██ █████████ █████
The author’s conclusion only concerns the effects of algae on “smaller fish.” Fish of other sizes are not relevant to the argument.
d
ignores the possibility ████ ███ █████████████ ██ █████ ███ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ ███ ███████████ ███████ ██ █ ██████ █████
This possibility presents an alternate explanation for the author’s evidence. Perhaps algae isn’t harmful to smaller fish, but rather the algae and deads of small fish are both results of some other cause.
e
ignores the possibility ████ ████████████ ███████ ██ █████ ███ ███████████ ██ ███ ██████ ███████ ████
The author didn’t say that below-normal amounts of algae are not harmful to smaller fish. The conclusion is that overabundance of algae is harmful, but this doesn’t imply that the author thinks less than abundant algae isn’t harmful.