TPO 07 Integrated Writing Task In an effort to encourage ecologically sustainable forestry practices an international organization started issuing certifications to wood companies that meet high ecological standards by conserving resources and recycling m

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TPO-07 - Integrated Writing Task

In an effort to encourage ecologically sustainable forestry practices, an international organization started issuing certifications to wood companies that meet high ecological standards by conserving resources and recycling materials.

Companies that receive this certification can attract customers by advertising their products as ecocertified. Around the world, many wood companies have adopted new, ecologically friendly practices in order to receive ecocertification. However, it is unlikely that wood companies in the United States will do the same, for several reasons.

First, American consumers are exposed toso much advertising that they would not value or even pay attention to the ecocertification label. Because so many mediocre products are labeled 'new" or improved,'' American consumers do not place much trust in advertising claims in general.

Second, ecocertified wood will be more expensive than uncertified wood because in order to earn ecocertification, a wood company must pay to have its business examined by a certification agency. This additional cost gets passed on to consumers-American consumers tend to be strongly motivated by price, and therefore they are likely to choose cheaper uncertified wood products. Accordingly, American wood companies will prefer to keep their prices low rather than obtain ecocertification

Third, although some people claim that it always makes good business sense for American companies to keep up with the developments in the rest of the world, this argument is not convincing. Pursuing certification would make sense for American wood companies only if they marketed most of their products abroad. But that is not the case,American wood businesses sell most of their products in the United States, catering to a very large customer base that is satisfied with the merchandise.

The lecture and the passage both discuss whether wood companies would benefit from being eco certified, a globally recognised certification. The author of the page believes that this certification would not bring any significant benefits to an American wood company. He explains his stand with three specific reasons. The speaker of the listening passage disagrees with the author's claims and believe they do not hold water. He thus opposes each point made in the passage.

First and foremost, the author of the passage states that the people of the United states are so used to advertising that adding on a certification label would make no difference to them. He further adds that, Americans do not have faith in advertising claims as many normal products are claims to be new and improved. However, not everyone agrees with the author's viewpoint. The lecturer for example believes that American customer distinguish certification labels as self and globally recognised. Additionally he states that they are more favorable to internationally accepted certifications and are also now much more informed about the ecological conditions.

Secondly the author mentions that adding a eco certification would be costly for the company as it would have to pay for the certification. He highlights that Americans prefer to buy cheap products and while choosing between two products, the cost is an important factor in the decision of choosing one. This reason does not sit well with the lecturer and he strongly opposes it. He mentions that Americans look at cost when the difference of cost between the
the two products vary greatly. If the difference between the two is within the 5% range then customers most definitely choose the one which is certified and of better quality.

Lastly to conclude his stand the author mentions that American companies aim to only satisfy the needs of the local markets and do not have to participate globally. Hence the certification will not be beneficial in a business sense. The lecturer refutes this claim by explaining that while internally the people may be satisfied with the products of the companies currently, this may not be the same when foriegn companies with certified products may enter the market. He emphasises that even if the American companies may not wish to sell abroad, they must be capable enough to be the best in the local market and compete with any outside companies.

Thus clearly the author and lecturer are unable to find a common ground on this topic.

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No. of Words: 413 250
Write the essay in 20 minutes.

Number of Paragraphs: 5 4
better to have 4 paragraphs:
para 1: introduction
para 2: doubt 1
para 3: doubt 2
para 4: doubt 3

Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 22 in 30
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 6 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 5 2
No. of Sentences: 20 12
No. of Words: 413 250
No. of Characters: 2071 1200
No. of Different Words: 199 150
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.508 4.2
Average Word Length: 5.015 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.749 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 153 80
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 119 60
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 88 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 48 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 20.65 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.332 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.75 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.304 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.518 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.139 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 4