#13 - When scientific journals began to offer full online

[Administrator]

Question Explanation

Resolve the Paradox. The correct answer choice is (E)

The use of "most helps to explain the surprising outcome" in the question stem makes this a Resolve question, where you must supply an answer that resolves or explains the surprising result (basically a paradox) in the stimulus.

So we are looking to explain why adding access online led to a fewer range of articles being cited, or as the stimulus says, why adding access to online articles led to a greater tendency to cite the same articles.

Answer choice C explains why adding online articles would not change the situation at all since the scientists tend to cite articles by people they know, but it does not explain why the range decreased.

Answer choice E explains why the range decreased. It explains why there are fewer articles being cited because now only the most highly regarded articles are being cited because moving the journals online made it easier to determine which articles are the most highly regarded. Answer choice C does nothing essentially to explain the change in the quantity of the articles being cited.

[jennifersuh]

Hi!
Could I get some help understanding why C is incorrect for this question, as well as why E is the better answer?

Jenn

[Michaelangilo]

Would like to know how C is the right answer?? I really thought AC A was a great answer.

[Ryan Twomey]

Hey Michaelangelo and Jennifer Suh,

So we are looking to explain why adding acccess online led to a fewer range of articles being cited, or as the stimulu says, why adding access to online articles led to a greater tendency to cite the same articles. Answer choice C explains why adding online articles would not change the situation at all since the scientists tend to cite articles by people they know, but it does not explain why the range decreased.

Answer choice E explains why the range decreased. It explains why there are fewer articles being cited because now only the most highly regarded articles are being cited because moving the journals online made it easier to determine which articles are the most highly regarded. Answer choice C does nothing essentially to explain the change in the quantity of the articles being cited.

I hope my explanaiton helps and I wish you both all of the luck in your studies.

Best,
Ryan

[15nae@queensu.ca]

what question type is this? justify the conclusion?

[Dave Killoran]

It's a Resolve question--I added an explanation for the Q Type in the first post above. Thanks!

[earlygreytea]

Why is the answer not A "a few of the most authoritative journals were among the first to offer full online access to their articles"?

I took this to mean that authoritative journals are ones that have been cited popularly in the past. Because they are the first to expand access, more people are able to view the works that have been cited in the past and thus more writers cite the same articles.

Is the operative word to elim A "among"?

[Adam Tyson]

I took this to mean that authoritative journals are ones that have been cited popularly in the past.

That's a pretty big assumption, earlygreytea! Maybe they are most authoritative simply because they are the best, or because they have the best reputation among the top experts?

I think that the biggest problem with answer A, though, is that it doesn't do anything to explain why we are seeing citations to fewer sources instead of to more. Who got online first is irrelevant; the point is that a lot of stuff is now online, and it was thought that easier access to more sources would lead to more variety in citations. To use an analogy, do we care which book was the first one to be available in a library, when all we want to know is whether a lot of books are now being borrowed?

Now if E had said that only the most authoritative journals are available online, I could get behind that answer! That would explain the limited citations if everyone is going online instead of to the paper copies, and they are only finding those few sources. But who got their first doesn't mean that's all that's available.