Q3 - Scientific research that involves

[WaltGrace1983]

This is a necessary assumption question so we are looking for something that the argument absolutely depends on.

International collaboration paper = cited 7x on average
+
Single author paper = cited 3x on average
→
International research teams are of greater importance than those conducted by single researchers

This is Q3 so that gap addressed by the answer choices is probably going to be related to the most obvious one. That "obvious" gap is that the number of citations is not really proportional to its relative importance. The argument is thereby assuming that more citations = more importance. I will also say that there are other mini gaps in this argument that, if this were say a question 17 or 21, I would consider more closely.

It goes from talking about "international collaboration" in the premise to "international research teams." I would also think about the gap about being cited on average and being of greater importance. Maybe importance is not ascertained by how many citations there are but the importance of the papers that cited them. Either way, there is really no way that a typical LSAT would address these mini gaps with such a huge gap staring at you in the face but it is always important to practice right?

(A) When taken as true, this might actually hurt the argument rather than provide a necessary bridge of the gap. If these writers can just continually cite themselves then who is to say that these works are more important? Yet also, who is to say that these writers are "prolific?"

(B) We are not concerned about ascertaining whether or not something is or isn't a work of international collaboration. We are more or less given this as fact in the argument. We need to instead address the gap outlined above.

(D) Now we are bringing in other party to compare. Collaborative efforts of scientists who are "citizens of the same country" is basically talking about "non-international collaboration." We are not concerned with this. We are only concerned with comparing "international collaboration to single authors."

(E) Scope issues here. We don't need to know anything about being more or less generously funded. It doesn't affect the importance of the papers (at least, that we know of in accordance with the argument - which in the LSAT is all we know)

(C) is correct. It is necessary but not sufficient. Look at it closer:

"The number of citations" = "a measure of the importance of the research it reports." Look at how imprecise this wording is. All it is saying is that it's simply a "measure." We don't know of it means that "more citations = more importance" or what. However, we don't need to! All we need to know is that citations is relevant to importance.

[zcxlwj]

I have a couple questions about answer choice C (and general approach for this question type):

Isn't C basically a regurgitation of the stimulus "... greater influence, as measured by the number of times a paper is cited in subsequent papers"? Can an assumption be something that's explicitly stated in the stimulus?

Thanks in advance!

[ohthatpatrick]

Good question.

No, a correct answer to Assumption would not regurgitate something already said.

However, that's not an especially important thing to remember. As far as I can recall, there has never been an Assumption answer choice (Necessary or Sufficient) that has regurgitated something already said.

If something sounds very familiar, chances are you just FEEL like it was already said because your brain already supplied that connective tissue as it read the stimulus.

I'm guessing that you think (C) is re-iterating the first sentence?

Do you see the one word difference?

The first sentence is saying that a paper's influence can be measured by the number of citations it receives.

Does "influence" = "importance"?

They're certainly very close, with a lot of overlap, but they're not identical.

Something could be important but not influential, "getting sufficient sleep every night is important ... is it influential?"

And something could be influential but not important, "maybe I find the advice on fortune cookies to be influential ... but is it important?"

So the author makes a shift from "influential" to "important".

The other shift is from labeling the PAPER influential, in the premise, to labeling the RESEARCH PROJECT important, in the conclusion.

(C) is also patching up that shift.