Self-study
John of Worcester, an English monk, recorded the sighting, on December 8, 1128, of two unusually large sunspots. ████ ████ █████ █ █████████ ██████ ████████ █████████ ███████ ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ██████ ███████ ████████ ██ █████████ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ ██ ██████ █████████ █████ █ ████ ██ ████ ████ ████████ ████ █████ █████ ███ ██████ ████████ █████ ██ ███████ ████ ██ ███████████ █████████
Summarize Argument
The author concludes that the Korean sighting of the aurora borealis 5 days after John’s reported sighting of unusually large sunspots helps to confirm his reported observation. This is because sunspot activity is typically followed by the appearance of an aurora borealis after a time that average five days.
Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that the observed aurora borealis did not appear as a result of phenomena unconnected to sunspot activity. This overlooks the possibility that many other phenomena could give rise to an aurora borealis, which could account for the Korean sighting of the aurora borealis.
8.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████████ ███ █████████
a
An aurora borealis ███ █████████ █████ ████ ████ █████ ███ ████ ██ ███████████ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ ████████ █████
If anything, this undermines the argument by suggesting the aurora borealis may have occurred without any sunspot activity occurring five days before it.
b
Chinese sources recorded ███ ████████ ██ ████████ ████ ████ ████ █████ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ ████
This simply indicates that sunspots have occurred for many years. But it doesn’t help confirm John’s reported sighting of sunspots or connect the aurora borealis with confirmation of John’s sighting.
c
Only heavy sunspot ████████ █████ ████ ████████ ██ ██ ██████ ████████ ████████ ██ █ ████████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ██ ██████
This strengthens by eliminating other potential causes of the aurora borealis. Only sunspot activity could have created an aurora borealis viewable in Korea, so there must have been sunspot activity before the Korean sighting.
Alternate explanation
Alternate explanation
Weaken: Introduce or support an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
Strengthen: Helps to eliminate an alternate explanation for a phenomenon.
d
Because it is ██████████ ██ ████ ████████ ████ ███ █████ ███ █████ ███████ ████████ ███████████ ███ ████████ ████████ ██ ████ ██ █████████ █████ ████ █████ █████ █████ ███████ ███████ ██████████ ████ ██ ███ ██ ████ ███████
This has no clear impact on John’s sighting. This simply gives more details about when his sighting would have occurred.
e
John of Worcester's ███████ ████████ █ ███████ ██ ███ █████████ █████ █████ ██ ███ ████████ ████████████ ██ ███████ █████████
The fact John drew sunspots doesn’t help connect the Korean sighting of aurora borealis with John’s sighting of sunspots. What do drawings have to do with the aurora borealis? Nothing.