ARGUMENT161 =August Rush=小组第5次作业 by crepuscularlyw

crepuscularlywUID: 2645654

TOPIC: ARGUMENT161 - In a study of reading habits of Leeville citizens conducted by the University of Leeville, most respondents said they preferred literary classics as reading material. However, a follow-up study conducted by the same researchers found that the type of book most frequently checked out of each of the public libraries in Leeville was the mystery novel. Therefore, it can be concluded that the respondents in the first study had misrepresented their reading habits.
WORDS: 417
TIME: 00:36:37
DATE: 2009-7-23 21:06:07

In this argument, the arguer cites two studies of reading habits of L citizens conducted by the U of L and makes a comparison, based on which he claims that the respondents in the first study had misrepresented their reading habits.

First and foremost, the arguer just cites two study but did not even tell us some details like the sample, the exact time, place and so on about the study. It is possible that these two groups of people who were researched are not of the same age and do not have the same education level, however, people have generation gaps and those who do not at the same education level may not share the same reading inclination. Apart from this, if the two studies were conducted at different time and different places the answers may be different since people's tastes are always changing and people in different places like in library and supermarket, these two groups of people may not hold the same opinion as well. The arguer should provide more details concerning the studies so that the study can hold water.

Secondly, it may be true that people prefer literary classics as reading material. To begin with, we do not know whether or not the literary books in the public libraries are sufficient for people to borrow, some people may want to borrow the literary books only
to found that the books they want to borrow have already borrowed out and since mystery novels share some commons with the literary books so that people took mystery novels as a substitution. On the other hand, people say they preferred literary classics did not mean they do not like mystery novels, we should take this into consideration since the author did not provide any evidence about this. Without ruling out such possibilities, the arguer can not make his claim convincing.

Thirdly, we can certainly assumes that it is the respondents in the second study not the first study who have misrepresented
their reading habits or the assumption that both of the two groups of respondents did answer with integrity. Moreover, whether the researcher had tell the truth or not still remains a question.

To sum up, the arguer's argument is not persuasive, to bolster it, the arguer should reason more detailed and rationalized and provide more effective evidence relate to the study for the purpose of making it more reasonable as well as ruling out the other possibilities that make the discrepancy of the two studies.





先构思再写的。倒数第二段有点牵强。