Authors Argument

Which of the following best describes the author’s argument in the first paragraph?

• A

  The demographic makeup of Barbadian society and the structure of its economy make existing punishments for enslaved people justified.

• B

  Barbadian enslaved people are punished more leniently than those working on the larger plantations of French Caribbean islands.

• C

  Plantation owners who punish enslaved people too harshly are not fulfilling their duties as Christians to treat the less fortunate kindly.

• D

  The punishments of enslaved people in Barbados are the result of a long experience of deadly uprisings and anti-planter violence on the island.

Which of the following best describes the author’s claim in the second paragraph?

• The extensive mining of precious metals on Caribbean islands has destroyed the islands’ natural environment.

• Despite the small size of Barbadian plantations, the landowners on Barbados are very wealthy.

• Enslaved people’s political grievances are threatening the political order in American colonial societies.

• Barbadian plantation owners are the wealthiest social group in the Caribbean.

Which of the following is an implicit argument made by the author in the passage?

• A

  The current political and economic makeup of European colonies in the Caribbean is not sustainable over the long term.

• B

  Christianity will provide a solution to the social ills of colonial societies in the Caribbean.

• C

  Coerced labor systems have allowed a minority of the population of Caribbean colonial societies to reap enormous economic benefits.

• D

  It is incumbent upon France to try to wrest control of Barbados from Great Britain.

Which of the following would a historian most likely cite as evidence in support of the author’s argument in the second paragraph of the passage?

• A

  The Ottoman millet system, an arrangement designed to utilize the economic contributions of non-Muslim groups within the empire while granting them limited autonomy to organize their communal affairs under their own religious leaders

• B

  The Ottoman practice of devshirme, a military levy of Christian boys who would be converted to Islam and trained as Ottoman Janissary soldiers or bureaucrats in state service

• C

  The Ottoman practice of farming out the collection of taxes to local private individuals (some of them non-Muslim), because of the shortage of trained government financial officials

• D

  The Ottoman sultans’ continued powers of granting final approval for any high-ranking appointment of a non-Muslim religious leader, including the power to approve patriarchs and bishops of the various Christian communities and chief rabbis of the Jewish community

What is the primary purpose of an author's argument in a social studies context?

• To entertain the reader

• To inform and persuade the reader

• To confuse the reader

• To summarize a story

Which of the following is a common characteristic of a strong author's argument?

• Lack of evidence

• Emotional appeal

• Logical reasoning

• Ambiguity

In social studies, an author's argument is often supported by which of the following?

• Personal opinions

• Anecdotal evidence

• Statistical data

• Unrelated facts

What role does bias play in an author's argument?

• It strengthens the argument

• It weakens the argument

• It has no effect

• It makes the argument more entertaining

Which of the following is a method authors use to present their arguments in social studies?

• Narrative storytelling

• Descriptive imagery

• Expository writing

• Poetic devices

How can an author's argument be evaluated for credibility?

• By checking the author's popularity

• By analyzing the evidence provided

• By considering the length of the argument

• By assessing the emotional appeal