The following appeared in a memorandum from the manager of WWAC radio station.
"To reverse a decline in listener numbers, our owners have decided that WWAC must change from its current rock-music format. The decline has occurred despite population growth in our listening area, but that growth has resulted mainly from people moving here after their retirement. We must make listeners of these new residents. We could switch to a music format tailored to their tastes, but a continuing decline in local sales of recorded music suggests limited interest in music. Instead we should change to a news and talk format, a form of radio that is increasingly popular in our area."
Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.
The author of the argument asserts that in order to attract more listeners, the radio station should switch its format from rock-music to news and talk. While the suggestion may sound plausible, the author fails to provide a solid evidence that this change would be beneficial to the station, relying on unproven assumptions, omitting relevant information, and not taking several important factors into consideration.
First of all, the author never provides the demographics of the WWAC listeners. If the senior citizens of the considered area were never among the listeners, than a decline in listener numbers is not “despite the population grows” but irrelevant to it, since the growth is mainly consist of retired people. Also, the demographic data could give us possible explanations regarding the decline in listeners. For example, students, who might be the most zealous admirers of the station, are occupied with the exams and, hence, can not spend the time listening to their favorite rock-ballads for now. It isn't mentioned whether the decline is long-term or seasonal.
Second, the author assumes that continuing decrease in local sales of recorded music means that overall citizens tend to listen to the music less and less. However, more probable explanation could be that nowdays, in the century of digital everything, people just switching from discs and music players to music apps on their phones and laptops, making CDs obsolete. Thus, author's observation can not be used to support his suggestion.
Finally, the author proposes to change the direction of the station and go with news and talk, stating that this form of radio is “increasingly popular” in the area. Yet, this advice might lead to more harm than good. If the competitors in the news and talk radio format are very strong, attraction of the new listeners will be an onerous task, moreover, the station might loose its current loyal listeners. Before jumping to such a dramatic changes, it is recommended to conduct a thorough research on competitors and potential new listeners.
To conclude, the argument doesn't sound cogent. The evidence in support of the conclusion that the radio station should change to a different format does little to prove the conclusion since it does not address the points raised above. Essentially, the argument could have been strengthen by the diligent research on the demographic trend of the listeners and by presenting survey data of the favorite music and shows of the citizens.
Comments
Essay evaluation report
Sentence: However, more probable explanation could be that nowdays, in the century of digital everything, people just switching from discs and music players to music apps on their phones and laptops, making CDs obsolete.
Error: nowdays Suggestion: nowadays
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argument 1 -- OK
argument 2 -- OK
argument 3 -- OK
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Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.5 out of 6
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 1 2
No. of Sentences: 17 15
No. of Words: 406 350
No. of Characters: 2040 1500
No. of Different Words: 217 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.489 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.025 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.641 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 153 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 121 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 80 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 47 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 23.882 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 10.238 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.588 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.312 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.556 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.058 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 159, Rule ID: COMMA_THAN[1]
Message: Did you mean 'then'?
Suggestion: then
...ed area were never among the listeners, than a decline in listener numbers is not &a...
^^^^
Line 3, column 291, Rule ID: BEEN_PART_AGREEMENT[2]
Message: Consider using a past participle here: 'consisted'.
Suggestion: consisted
...evant to it, since the growth is mainly consist of retired people. Also, the demographi...
^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 611, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: isn't
...their favorite rock-ballads for now. It isnt mentioned whether the decline is long-t...
^^^^
Line 5, column 104, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...les of recorded music means that overall citizens tend to listen to the music les...
^^
Line 7, column 384, Rule ID: LOOSE_LOSE[2]
Message: Did you mean 'lose' (= miss, waste, suffer the loss etc.)?
Suggestion: lose
...erous task, moreover, the station might loose its current loyal listeners. Before jum...
^^^^^
Line 7, column 491, Rule ID: A_UNCOUNTABLE[3]
Message: Uncountable nouns are usually not used with an indefinite article. Use simply 'thorough research'.
Suggestion: thorough research
...c changes, it is recommended to conduct a thorough research on competitors and potential new listen...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 27, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: doesn't
...isteners. To conclude, the argument doesnt sound cogent. The evidence in support o...
^^^^^^
Line 9, column 278, Rule ID: BEEN_PART_AGREEMENT[1]
Message: Consider using a past participle here: 'strengthened'.
Suggestion: strengthened
...sentially, the argument could have been strengthen by the diligent research on the demogra...
^^^^^^^^^^
Discourse Markers used:
['also', 'but', 'finally', 'first', 'hence', 'however', 'if', 'may', 'moreover', 'regarding', 'second', 'so', 'then', 'thus', 'while', 'for example', 'first of all']
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance in Part of Speech:
Nouns: 0.246753246753 0.25644967241 96% => OK
Verbs: 0.136363636364 0.15541462614 88% => OK
Adjectives: 0.0887445887446 0.0836205057962 106% => OK
Adverbs: 0.0562770562771 0.0520304965353 108% => OK
Pronouns: 0.021645021645 0.0272364105082 79% => OK
Prepositions: 0.114718614719 0.125424944231 91% => OK
Participles: 0.038961038961 0.0416121511921 94% => OK
Conjunctions: 2.84125964097 2.79052419416 102% => OK
Infinitives: 0.0367965367965 0.026700313972 138% => OK
Particles: 0.0 0.001811407834 0% => OK
Determiners: 0.116883116883 0.113004496875 103% => OK
Modal_auxiliary: 0.0281385281385 0.0255425247493 110% => OK
WH_determiners: 0.0021645021645 0.0127820249294 17% => Some subClauses wanted starting by 'Which, Who, What, Whom, Whose.....'
Vocabulary words and sentences:
No of characters: 2527.0 2731.13054187 93% => OK
No of words: 404.0 446.07635468 91% => OK
Chars per words: 6.25495049505 6.12365571057 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.48327461151 4.57801047555 98% => OK
words length more than 5 chars: 0.388613861386 0.378187486979 103% => OK
words length more than 6 chars: 0.311881188119 0.287650121315 108% => OK
words length more than 7 chars: 0.222772277228 0.208842608468 107% => OK
words length more than 8 chars: 0.138613861386 0.135150697306 103% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.84125964097 2.79052419416 102% => OK
Unique words: 224.0 207.018472906 108% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.554455445545 0.469332199767 118% => OK
Word variations: 64.0234924486 52.1807786196 123% => OK
How many sentences: 17.0 20.039408867 85% => OK
Sentence length: 23.7647058824 23.2022227129 102% => OK
Sentence length SD: 66.0506778279 57.7814097925 114% => OK
Chars per sentence: 148.647058824 141.986410481 105% => OK
Words per sentence: 23.7647058824 23.2022227129 102% => OK
Discourse Markers: 1.0 0.724660767414 138% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.14285714286 97% => OK
Language errors: 8.0 3.58251231527 223% => Correct essay format wanted or double check grammar & spelling issues after essay writing.
Readability: 54.9528246942 51.9672348444 106% => OK
Elegance: 1.86868686869 1.8405768891 102% => OK
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.462324912895 0.441005458295 105% => OK
Sentence sentence coherence: 0.0982576827316 0.135418324435 73% => OK
Sentence sentence coherence SD: 0.0667665713905 0.0829849096947 80% => OK
Sentence paragraph coherence: 0.614611794137 0.58762219726 105% => OK
Sentence paragraph coherence SD: 0.17907925673 0.147661913831 121% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.195735305977 0.193483328276 101% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.104729303504 0.0970749176394 108% => OK
Paragraph paragraph coherence: 0.381601483132 0.42659136922 89% => OK
Paragraph paragraph coherence SD: 0.0995481665852 0.0774707102158 128% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.313401813673 0.312017818177 100% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0541804026756 0.0698173142475 78% => OK
Task Achievement:
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 8.33743842365 96% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 3.0 6.87684729064 44% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 6.0 4.82512315271 124% => OK
Positive topic words: 8.0 6.46551724138 124% => OK
Negative topic words: 3.0 5.36822660099 56% => OK
Neutral topic words: 5.0 2.82389162562 177% => OK
Total topic words: 16.0 14.657635468 109% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
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Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6 -- The score is based on the average performance of 20,000 argument essays. This e-grader is not smart enough to check on arguments.
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.