CR: A recent study shows that the overall sales of print

[TheGraduate]

A recent study shows that the overall sales of print per capita has declined at an average 5% per capita over the past decade proving that overall interest in reading has steadily declined.
Internet Geek: People get most of the information online and do not need to spend money on print.
Literary Scholar: Shakespeare still remains the most sold author and his books sell very well. However, today's authors produce few works of similar quality. We need more authors like Shakespeare to re-ignite print sales.

Describe the position taken by Internet Geek and Literary Scholar

A) The Internet Geek supports the conclusion and provides an explanation for the observed phenomena while the Literary scholar refutes the conclusion and provides an alternate hypothesis.
B) The Internet Geek provides and alternate explanation to an observed phenomena while the Literary Scholar provides a recommendation and supports the conclusion.
C) The Internet Geek and The Literary Scholar support the conclusion providing a supporting evidence from their respective fields.
D) The Internet Geek provides the circumstances under which the conclusion could be true while the Literary scholar contrasts the writing styles of 2 eras.
E) The Internet Geek challenges the premise of the conclusion while the Literary scholar suggests solutions to address the stated fact.

[dayoajayi]

I approached this question as I would a Boldface CR question. The conclusion is that "Overall interest in reading has steadily declined"

The Internet Geek doesn't dispute the conclusion; rather, he provides additional information to explain the drop.

The Literary Scholar doesn't dispute the conclusion either; she explains the reason for the drop as shortage of quality material.

Looking through the options, Option C matches the above analysis the closest.

[MartyMurray]

Conclusion: Overall interest in reading has declined.

Internet Geek Paraphrased: People are still reading, but they are reading online rather than using printed materials.

Internet Geek disputed the conclusion and offered an alternate explanation.

Literary Scholar Paraphrased: Shakespeare books sell well, but today's authors produce few works of similar quality. Need better authors to re-ignite print sales.

This does not clearly support or dispute the conclusion that interest has declined. Whether Literary Scholar is saying that interest has not declined, just there is not much of quality to read, or that interest has declined because there is not much of quality to read is not clear. Further, in either case, Literary Scholar is not really supporting the conclusion that interest has declined, rather if anything Literary Scholar is merely going along with the conclusion that interest has declined.

Supporting the conclusion requires evidence indicating that that conclusion, rather than some other conclusion, is correct. Literary Scholar does not really provide any such evidence.

What is clear is that the scholar provides a recommendation.

(A) This can be eliminated, because Internet Geek disputes the conclusion, but one could reasonably argue that Literary Scholar refutes the conclusion and provides an alternate hypothesis, saying that interest has not declined, but rather the quality of the work has declined.

(B) This starts off correctly, in that Internet Geek does provide an alternate explanation, and Literary Scholar does provide a recommendation. However, Literary Scholar does not clearly support the conclusion, though one could argue that Literary Scholar agrees with the conclusion.

(C) This is clearly incorrect as Internet Geek disputes the conclusion, and meanwhile Literary Scholar does not clearly support the conclusion.

(D) This is immediately out as Internet Geek simply disputes the conclusion, and Literary Scholar does not contrast styles of eras.

(E) This is clearly half wrong, as Internet Geek does not challenge the premise, that print sales have declined, and this is possibly half right, as Literary Scholar does suggest a solution, though not multiple solutions.

A, C, D and E are clearly out. So we are left with mostly correct B.