Recent research has suggested that best-selling authors gradually lose

Question

Recent research has suggested that best-selling authors gradually lose their ability to excite readers with age. This suggestion is based on the fact that on average, such writers produce the majority of their best-selling works before the age of fifty. However, there is also data showing  that authors who began their writing career later in life created more of their best-selling works after the age of fifty.  This may indicate that lack of innovation and creativity is not necessarily a product of age, but rather  a result of creative exhaustion following too many years of writing.

In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

A. The first contains evidence which contradicts the position favored by the argument; the second is that position.

B. The first is evidence which supports an explanation that the argument rules out; the second is another explanation dismissed by the argument.

C. The first lends credibility to the position that the argument favors; the second describes that position.

D. The first is evidence which supports an explanation that the argument rules out; the second is that explanation.

E. The first is the claim whose validity is discussed in the argument; the second is evidence supporting that claim.

This is a  CR Butler Question

Check the links to other Butler Projects: 
 
   Data Sufficiency Butler 
   Problem Solving Butler  
   Sentence Correction Butler  
   Reading Comprehension Butler  
   Integrated Reasoning Butler

Sathvik02 · Answer

Seems like a good question to me. The claim made by the research that "best-selling authors gradually lose their ability to excite readers with age" is a stretch according to the author here. So the first B-F "  that authors who ........... the age of fifty  " is not in support of the claims of the research but rather it supports the authors' take. The second boldface " a result of creative exhaustion following too many years of writing  " seems like the author's take on what is happening. 
Hence,  BF-1 is the evidence that lends credibility to BF-2 the position made by the author . IMO,  option C  looks like the exact candidate we are searching for.

Prob2303 · Answer

Hi expert,

Can I get the OE for this question?

Bunuel · Answer

OFFICIAL EXPLANATION

Recent research has suggested that best-selling authors gradually lose their ability to excite readers with age. This suggestion is based on the fact that on average, such writers produce the majority of their best-selling works before the age of fifty. However, there is also data showing  that authors who began their writing career later in life created more of their best-selling works after the age of fifty.  This may indicate that lack of innovation and creativity is not necessarily a product of age, but rather  a result of creative exhaustion following too many years of writing.

In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?

A. The first contains evidence which contradicts the position favored by the argument; the second is that position.

Incorrect.

This is a Boldface Type question, in which you are required to define the role of the two boldface sections in the argument. Read the argument and break it down using indicative words:

Recent research has suggested that ->  . This suggestion is based on ->  . However, there is also data showing that ->  . This may indicate that ->  , but rather ->  .

So there are actually two claims in this argument. Since some of the answer choices include references to the argument's favored position, make a note of that as well: the evidence that that late-starting authors managed to create best selling works after fifty signals that there's nothing "magical" about the age of fifty itself. The first claim (that writers lose their ability to excite with age) is therefore refuted, and the second conclusion (that it's the number of years of writing, and not age itself, that causes lack of innovation and creativity) is the argument's favored position (=conclusion 2).

The sections in boldface are the premise and conclusion of the second claim.

We can eliminate this answer choice according to its classification of the first boldface type portion: although it contains evidence, this evidence supports the argument's favored position (conclusion 2) rather than contradicts it.

B. The first is evidence which supports an explanation that the argument rules out; the second is another explanation dismissed by the argument.

Incorrect.

We can eliminate this answer choice after reading its first part. There's no need to waste time and read the part after the semicolon (;). Although it contains evidence, the first boldface portion supports the argument's favored explanation (conclusion 2) rather than the explanation it rules out (conclusion 1).

Why is the conclusion called an explanation in this answer choice?

Because this argument is constructed in such a way that the conclusion is an answer or explanation to the question why do writers lose their ability to excite with age?

Remember that advanced Critical Reasoning questions will not only use the basic terms: conclusion/premise/assumption. Part of your job is to translate the terms of the argument into the terms of the answer choices.

C. The first lends credibility to the position that the argument favors; the second describes that position.

The first section (premise 2) supports (gives credibility) the position favored by the argument, by stating that there are authors who manage to create their good work after the age of fifty. This supports the position favored by the argument - that it's not necessarily the age of fifty itself that causes writers to stop writing exciting work at some point, but rather that the long years of writing that lead to exhaustion - which is correctly described by the second boldface portion. (conclusion 2).