How Not to Argue in an Academic Essay, Part MCMLXXVI

If your article contains the following sentence:

Although Mitchell and other doctors often discussed the condition of neurasthenia as if it were a 'disease' that could be 'cured,' their larger discourse presented nervousness as 'the condition of modern life' and, further, as the very sign of one's 'modernity' and exceptional 'brain power.'

Which of the following claims should not appear in your article:

1. Mitchell and other doctors considered men suffering from neurasthenia to have exceptional brain power.
2. Mitchell and other doctors considered women suffering from neurasthenia to have exceptional brain power.
3. Mitchell and other doctors considered women suffering from neurasthenia to be irrational and shrill.

An incorrect answer will land your article in one of the discipline's the preeminent journals.

Comments

[Kevin]

I'm going to pick number three.

[Jeff]

It's a toughie.