Self-study
Panelist: Support Medical research articles cited in popular newspapers or magazines are more likely than other medical research articles to be cited in subsequent medical research. █████ ██ ███████ ████ ███████ ████████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █████ ████████ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ █████████ ████████ ██ ████ ████████ ███ ██ ███ ████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████ ███████████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that medical researchers’ judgments of the importance of prior research is influenced by the publicity received by that research. This is based on the fact that research articles cited in popular newspapers or magazines are more likely to be cited in later medical research.
Identify and Describe Flaw
The author overlooks alternate explanations for the correlation between being cited in popular newspapers/magazines and being cited in later medical research. One potential explanation is that the importance of research leads both to increased citation in popular newspapers/magazines and to increased citation in later medical research.
4.
The panelist's argument is most ██████████ ██ █████████ ██ ███ ███████ ████ ██
a
presents counterarguments to █ ████ ████ ██ ███ ████████ ████ ██ ███ ███████ ██████████
Whether medical researchers hold an opposing view is irrelevant. The author’s argument doesn’t need to counter anyone’s actual views.
b
fails to consider ███ ███████████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ██ █ ████ ███ ██ ███████████ ███ ████ █████████ ███████ ████████ ████████
This possibility, if true, shows that the author’s explanation doesn’t have to be true. The increased citation rate of articles cited in popular newspaper/magazines could be due to the actual importance of the research, and not due to influence from publicity.
c
takes for granted ████ ████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ███████ █████ ██ ████ █████████ ████ ███ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ████████ ████ ████ ███ ███████ ██ █████ ████████
The author doesn’t make any assumption about whether the media emphasizes the scientists involved more than the content of research.
d
fails to consider ███ ███████████ ████ ███████ ██████████ ███ █████████ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ████ █ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███████ ████████ ████████
This possibility doesn’t undermine the author’s reasoning. Even if popular media only reviews a small portion of articles, researchers can still be influenced by the articles popularized by the media.
e
draws a conclusion ████ ██ █████████ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████
(E) describes circular reasoning. The author’s conclusion does not restate a premise.