Identify Line of Reasoning Practice Test

Read the following embedded passage, then answer the question.

A university op-ed argues that first-year students should be required to take a short course on evaluating online information. The writer begins by observing that students arrive with constant access to search engines and social media, which can create the illusion that information is automatically reliable. When students accept the first result or the most shared post, they may cite inaccurate claims in papers; inaccurate claims lead to weaker arguments and lower grades, and repeated low grades can push students to disengage from college altogether. The writer adds that the problem extends beyond academics: graduates who cannot evaluate sources are more likely to fall for scams or misinformation, which can affect their finances and civic decisions. A brief required course, he argues, would teach students to check authorship, evidence, and incentives, giving them a repeatable method for judging claims. Because a small requirement can prevent larger academic and social harms, he concludes the course is justified.

The passage's line of reasoning can best be described as…

In an essay about phone use while driving, an author writes: “We keep framing distracted driving as a personal moral failure, but the phone itself is engineered to interrupt. Notifications exploit the brain’s attention system, and each glance away from the road increases reaction time. As crashes rise, insurance premiums increase for everyone, and cities spend more on emergency response—costs that show up in taxes and higher prices. Telling drivers to ‘be responsible’ ignores the design problem that created the temptation. A smarter response is to require default ‘drive mode’ settings, limit app notification permissions, and design cars that block nonessential alerts when moving. When interruption becomes harder, safer behavior becomes easier, and the public cost of distraction falls.” The author develops the argument by…