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To establish the author’s attitude toward the practice of social media mining, let’s consider what she says about the practice, taking particular note of the tone clues highlighted in boldface in the quoted material below.

The first tone clues we see in the passage appear in what the author says about information gathered from social media profiles. In S1 she says that this information “can insinuate itself into the reasoning of hiring managers, who are swayed by it because of personal biases or, out of ignorance, believe it to be indicative of future job performance. Let’s analyze each clue.

In using “insinuate,” which means “get into a position via manipulation” or “sneak,” the author indicates that she has a negative opinion of this information that is “irrelevant” yet sneaks into the reasoning of hiring managers.

Next, by saying that hiring managers believe this information to be indicative of future job performance “out of ignorance,” the author further underscores her negative opinion of this information by suggesting that only an ignorant person would find it useful.

Since this information is “much of the information that can be gathered from social media profiles,” in indicating that she has a negative opinion of this information, the author is also indicating that she has a negative opinion of social media mining.

The next tone clue we see is in the form of the quotation marks around “value” at the beginning of S2. Authors often use quotation marks around a word to show that they are skeptical of the use of the word in a certain context. So, in putting quotation marks around “value,” the author is indicating that she’s skeptical that social media mining actually has “value.”

Then, in S3, we see that the author calls the predictions professional recruiters made using information from employees’ social media profiles “alarmingly inaccurate.” What we can see here is that, by indicating that she finds predictions based on information from social media profiles alarming, the author is indicating that she finds the use of information from social media accounts for employment purposes alarming in general.

Also, in mentioning in S4 the “dubious legality” of using certain types of information gathered through social media mining, the author provides another reason to believe that she finds the practice of social media mining to be of dubious value.

Finally, in calling social media mining “this questionable (unproven, likely to be dishonorable) practice,” in S4, the author directly indicates that she has a skeptical attitude toward social media mining.

So, it’s fairly clear from tone clues and the general direction of the passage that the author’s attitude toward social media mining is quite negative and skeptical.

(A) cautious optimism

The word “cautious” in this choice matches what the author says in the last sentence, that “companies considering engaging in social media mining should proceed with caution.”

However, “optimism” is a positive, hopeful attitude and thus clearly does not match the negative attitude toward social media mining displayed by the author in the passage.

(B) tired resignation

An attitude of “resignation” is an attitude of acceptance of something undesirable. However, the author has not accepted the use of social media mining. After all, she is actively warning against the use of social media mining.

So, it’s not accurate to describe the author’s attitude toward social media mining as “tired resignation.”

CORRECT ANSWER(C) disdainful skepticism

A disdainful attitude involves considering something of low worth, and the author does appear to consider social media mining of low worth.

Also, a “skeptical” attitude involves having doubts or reservations, and what the author says indicates that the author has doubts or reservations about social media mining.

So, this choice accurately describes the author’s attitude toward social media mining.

(D) passive disinterest

An attitude of “passive disinterest” toward social media mining would be neither positive nor negative but, rather simply uninterested. However, the author’s attitude toward social media mining is clearly negative, rather than one of “passive disinterest.”

(E) sorrowful disappointment

A “sorrowful” attitude would involve sadness or grief. While the author displays a negative attitude toward social media mining, she does not appear to be sad about social media mining.

Also, an attitude of “disappointment” would involve feeling that expectations failed to be met, but the author does not indicate that she had any expectations of social media mining. Rather, she indicates that she is skeptical of its value.

LEARNING JOURNAL

What went wrong, and what can you do differently next time?

Was there a particular sticking point, breakdown in your logic or conceptual knowledge, bad habit, or careless mistake that led you to the wrong answer? At what point in your process did that error occur?

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