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Please identify the conclusion (1 point) and then identify an unstated assumption (1 point) for the following argument prompt. Then write a 5-7 sentence body paragraph (2 points). A sample body paragraph (for a different prompt) is shown below. To get full credit, your body paragraph must follow the same format as the sample body paragraph (the format is after the sample body paragraph). Many other companies have recently stated that having their employees take the Easy Read Speed-Reading Course has greatly improved productivity. One graduate of the course was able to read a 500-page report in only two hours; another graduate rose from an assistant manager to vice president of the company in under a year. Obviously, the faster you can read, the more information you can absorb in a single workday. Moreover, Easy Read would cost Acme only $500 per employee—a small price to pay when you consider the benefits. Included in this fee is a three-week seminar in Spruce City and a lifelong subscription to the Easy Read newsletter. Clearly, to improve overall productivity, Acme should require all of our employees to take the Easy Read course. The author's conclusion is: An unstated assumption is: Here is my body paragraph: Model Answer The following is a model body paragraph for an alternative argument prompt. Please remember to write your body paragraph addressing an unstated assumption from the prompt in the assignment above. Please remember also to identify the conclusion and an unstated premise. Prompt: Woven baskets characterized by a particular distinctive pattern have previously been found only in the immediate vicinity of the prehistoric village of Palea and therefore were believed to have been made only by the Palean people. Recently, however, archaeologists discovered such a "Palean" basket in Lithos, an ancient village across the Brim River from Palea. The Brim River is very deep and broad, and so the ancient Paleans could have crossed it only by boat, and no Palean boats have been found. Thus it follows that the so-called Palean baskets were not uniquely Palean. Sample body paragraph: The author supports his/her conclusion with the claim that the Brim River is very deep and broad and therefore could have been crossed only by boat. However, in making this argument, s/he seems to be assuming that the conditions of the Brim River today are reflective of the conditions of the Brim River at the time when the ancient Palean civilization was around. We can see this from the fact that if the Brim River used to be shallow and narrow (rather than deep and broad as it is today) then the Paleans might have been able to wade across it to exchange their baskets with the people of Lithos: this would explain how the uniquely Palean baskets turned up in Lithos. But the author gives us no grounds for believing that this assumption is true and, indeed, there are reasons for being circumspect about it. Geology is not static through time, and there are many rivers that have changed drastically even in the last few hundred years. The Colorado River, for example, is often in the news today as environmentalists discuss the ways in which human use has changed its output. Thus, without additional information, we should be wary of accepting the author's conclusion insofar as we do so based on claims about the present state of the Brim River. Format: Sentence 1 identifies a stated premise. Sentences 2-3 identify an unstated assumption and explain how we know that the author is assuming it. Sentences 4-6 then explain why this assumption might be unwarranted and how this might impact the author's argument.