Which passage provides more effective evidence, and
why?
Read the excerpt from "The Role of Social Media in the
Arab Uprisings" by Heather Brown, Emily Guskin, and
Amy Mitchell
Now, research is emerging that reexamines in a more
detailed way the role that social media played in the Arab
uprisings.
In July 2012 a report was published by the United States
Institute of Peace. ... The authors came to some
conclusions that countered the initial assumption that
social media was a causal mechanism in the uprisings.
Instead, the study suggests that the importance of social
media was in communicating to the rest of the world what
was happening on the ground during the uprisings.....
Data from the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes
Project at least somewhat supports this conclusion with its
findings that the majority of Egyptians are not online.
Nearly two-thirds (65%) of the total population do not use
The first passage provides more effective evidence
because the language it uses is more evocative and
interesting than the language in the second passage,
The second passage provides more effective evidence
because it describes uprisings in many countries rather
than focusing solely on one country, as the first
passage does
The first passage provides more effective evidence
because it has data and statistics from research
reports, while the second passage uses titles of articles
and authors' names as evidence.
The second passage provides more effective evidence
because it includes four sources, while the first
passage provides only two.