Question

read the excerpt from \the role of social media in the arab uprising\ 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 centers global attitudes project at least somewhat supports this conclusion. which passage provides more effective evidence, and why? 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.

Explanation:

When evaluating evidence, data and statistics from research reports (like the Pew Research Center's data in the first passage) are generally more objective and reliable than just using titles of articles and authors' names (which is what the second - like description in the options is missing). Evocative language (as in the first wrong option) doesn't make evidence more effective. Focusing on one country (as the first passage does) isn't a weakness if the data is strong. And the number of sources (as in the last wrong option) isn't the key factor; the quality (data and stats) is.

Answer:

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.