Posting on Behalf of a 7Sage User: Question on Premise & Conclusion

Juliet - Student Service

[I am posting on behalf of a 7Sage user. Please feel free to leave your comments below. Thank you for your help!]

I am confused on one of the lesson. Lesson 11 question 2 says that it's not an argument because the author is only reporting what the researchers concluded. Lesson 16 question 4 has the same scenario that the author is sharing what researchers concluded but yet this one does have a premise and conclusion. Just wondering how this is different. Thank you

elevator_music

In Lesson 11 Question 2 we have a series of statements about someone else's conclusions, not an argument. The breakdown of the stim is something like this:

1st sentence--general statement about methodology.
2nd--a hypothesis
3rd---conclusion #1
4th--conclusion #2.

If this were an argument we would expect the reporter to provide evidence used for conclusion #1 and #2. How do we know that bears and raccoons diverged so long ago? What is it about their DNA? We are given none of the premises/evidence.

In Lesson 16 we have a very short argument. First sentence provides a premise (the increase in prices caused the decline in home use). Second statement is the conclusion. It's a pretty "sparse" argument but it is an argument. Also typically on LR you will have someone else's hypothesis/take (as background info) on an issue followed by the actual argument but here in both cases it is someone else's research which probably adds to the confusion.

galactic

I'm thinking this person's intuition is correct. No arguments present in either Lesson 11 Q2 or Lesson 16 Q4. These are merely reports on what scientists (L11 Q2) and state researchers (L16 Q4) have concluded. There are no authors present who then take these reports and outline their own arguments. Hope this helps.