Reading comp PrepTest 112 · Section 2 · Question 4

Topic: Social Science

Paragraph 1

• Paragraph note
  • Background on technology's effect on community and advocates' view (computer conferences replace traditional communities)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Author's view:
    • Tradition communities promote interdependence, mutual respect, and support (first sentence)
  • Comparison, according to the author:
    • As technology develops, people are spending less time in the neighborhood and more time online (second sentence)
  • Comparison, according to the advocates:
    • Internet communities can play the same role as physical communities (last sentence)
  • Author's attitude: "sometimes more alienating" (second sentence), "tend" (second sentence), "require" (second sentence)

Paragraph 2

• Paragraph note
  • Support for advocates' viewpoint (computer conferences are communities with common interests and etiquette/trust)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • List of reasons why computer conferences are communities, according to advocates:
    • They share interests or concerns (second sentences)
    • They by conventions, which displays their etiquette and trust (third and last sentences)
  • Examples of internet conventions, accordign to advocates:
    • Abbreviations, like "pardon me for cutting in" ("pmfci") & "in my humble opinion" ("imho"), typing smiley faces, not using all caps (fourth through sixth sentence)

Paragraph 3

• Paragraph note
  • Author's criticism of the advocates' view (not communities because they are self-selecting and not diverse)
• Views, minor Meta-Structures, and the author's attitude
  • Author's view:
    • computer conferences are not truly communities because they discriminate against people who lack education or means to use computers and are not as diverse as traditional communities (first through last sentences)
  • Comparisons, according to the author:
    • The shared interest of computer conferences is not analogous to the shared space of a traditional community, as you self-select instead of being stuck where you live; it might be easier to find common ground in traditional communities, but an actual community is more diverse (third through last sentences)
  • Author's attitude: "while it is true" (first sentence), "can be both" (first sentence), "nonetheless fall short of communities" (first sentence), "discriminate along educational and economic lines" (second sentence), "this analogy simply does not work" (third sentence), "more likely (fifth sentence) "unfortunate" (last sentence), "valuable" (last sentence)

Main Point: Computer conferences are not an adequate substitute for the community in towns and neighborhoods because these conferences lack an essential element of diversity.

Criticizing a Viewpoint: This passage uses a Criticizing a Viewpoint Meta-Structure.* In such a structure, the author describes a view held by another person or group and then criticizes their view. Importantly, the author's argument should focus primarily on why the view is wrong, unjustified, or misguided.

The first paragraph of this particular passage lays out a claim made by advocates of computer conferences; they say that these conferences "function as communities that can substitute for traditional interactions with neighbors" (P1, S4). The second paragraph, with painfully dated descriptions of internet talk, articulates the support these advocates rely on. Then, in the third paragraph, the author criticizes the advocates' view, arguing that computer conferences "fall short of communities" (P3, S1). Although these computer conferences may share some attributes with real communities, they are missing the essential diversity of towns and neighborhoods. Since the author's main point is that the advocates are wrong about computer conferences, this passage perfectly fits a Criticizing a Viewpoint Meta-Structure.

In a passage that utilizes this type of structure, the main point will be the author's central criticism or a summary of the criticisms. Since there isn't quite a moment in the text where the author offers a succinct summary, we'll have to forge our own. All of the author's criticisms hinge on the fact that these computer conferences are not truly diverse, so we can expect a main point that looks something like "computer conferences are not an adequate substitute for the community in towns and neighborhoods because these conferences lack an essential element of diversity."

*As is true for many passages that fall in the Critical Meta-Structure family, other Meta-Structures would fit this passage as well. You could certainly argue that this is a Rebutting Critics passage (although we typically reserve that designation for passages where the view the author corrects/rebuts is a criticism) or a Correcting the Record passage (although we typically reserve that designation for passages where the view the author corrects/rebuts is a misunderstanding or oversight). You could even say this is a Question/Answer passage since the author provides two answers to the question posed at the beginning of the second paragraph. Any of these Meta-Structures would help you identify the passage's main point and structure.

Comparison: The most prominent minor Meta-Structure is the comparison. Both the advocates' and author's arguments hinge on an analogy between computer conferences and traditional communities. The advocates claim the two are alike in essential ways, while the author claims the two have critical differences. Expect several questions to address the analogy between the two "communities."

This is a particularly dated passage. Its description of computer conferences is antiquated to the point of being comical. Yet, as weird as it is, this passage is good practice for submitting yourself to the author's perspective. It doesn't matter if some of our author's concerns about the web are no longer relevant — we want to imagine ourselves in the world in which the author is writing.