An ancient, traditional remedy for insomnia—the scent of lavender flowers—has now been proved effective. In a recent study, 30 volunteers with chronic insomnia slept each night for three weeks on lavender-scented pillows in a controlled room where their sleep was monitored electronically. During the first week, volunteers continued to take their usual sleeping medication. They slept soundly but wakened feeling tired. At the beginning of the second week, the volunteers discontinued their sleeping medication. During that week, they slept less soundly than the previous week and felt even more tired. During the third week, the volunteers slept longer and more soundly than in the previous two weeks. Therefore, the study proves that lavender cures insomnia within a short period of time.
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 concludes here that the scent of lavender flower cures insomnia within a short period of time. stated in this way, the argument fails to mention several key factors, on the basis of which it could be evaluated. In support of this conclusion, the author reasons that the team of thirty volunteers had slept on lavender-scented pillows in the night for three weeks in a row and thus their insomnia had been cured. however, careful scrutiny of the evidence reveals that it provides little credible support for the author's conclusion.
first of all, the argument readily assumes that the insomnia of the volunteers has cured because they slept on the lavender-scented pillows. this is merely an assumption made without much solid ground. For example, what if the medication that they took earlier in those weeks has cured the insomnia or the room was more sleep inducing. Hence the argument would have been much more convincing if it explicitly stated that [].
The argument also readily claims that during the first week the volunteers slept soundly but wakened feeling tired because they are on medication. this again is a weak and unsupportive claim since it does not demonstrate that the scent of the lavender flowers caused this. To illustrate further [].
Finally, the author points out that during the second week they did not sleep well and was very tired because they stopped taking the medication. but it does not provide any information that whether or not the lavender flower caused this issue. however, careful scrutiny of the evidence reveals that it provides little credible support for the author's conclusion in several critical aspects and raises skeptical questions. For example, why they been so tired and slept less in the second week despite of sleeping on the lavender flower pillow? why they slept soundly in the first week even being on the medication? why the author put the volunteers in medication in first place? without convincing answers to these questions the reader is left in the impression that the claim made by the author are more of a wishful thinking rather than substantive evidence.
In conclusion, the author's argument is unpersuasive as it stands. To bolster it the author must provide much more concrete evidence, perhaps by a detailed analysis of the medication and the scent of the lavender flower.
Comments
Essay evaluation report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.0 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 11 15
No. of Words: 388 350
No. of Characters: 1925 1500
No. of Different Words: 172 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.438 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.961 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.549 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 143 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 110 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 66 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 32 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 35.273 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 22.177 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.727 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.41 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.682 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.092 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 91, Rule ID: PERIOD_OF_TIME[1]
Message: Use simply 'period'.
Suggestion: period
...er flower cures insomnia within a short period of time. stated in this way, the argument fails...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 1, column 107, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Stated
...insomnia within a short period of time. stated in this way, the argument fails to ment...
^^^^^^
Line 1, column 424, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: However
...and thus their insomnia had been cured. however, careful scrutiny of the evidence revea...
^^^^^^^
Line 1, column 523, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[2]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...rovides little credible support for the authors conclusion. first of all, the argu...
^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 1, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: First
...upport for the authors conclusion. first of all, the argument readily assumes th...
^^^^^
Line 5, column 142, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: This
... slept on the lavender-scented pillows. this is merely an assumption made without mu...
^^^^
Line 5, column 337, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: Hence,
...ia or the room was more sleep inducing. Hence the argument would have been much more ...
^^^^^
Line 9, column 148, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: This
...g tired because they are on medication. this again is a weak and unsupportive claim ...
^^^^
Line 13, column 147, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: But
...use they stopped taking the medication. but it does not provide any information tha...
^^^
Line 13, column 192, Rule ID: WHETHER[7]
Message: Perhaps you can shorten this phrase to just 'whether'. It is correct though if you mean 'regardless of whether'.
Suggestion: whether
...t does not provide any information that whether or not the lavender flower caused this issue. ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 13, column 246, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: However
... the lavender flower caused this issue. however, careful scrutiny of the evidence revea...
^^^^^^^
Line 13, column 345, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...rovides little credible support for the authors conclusion in several critical aspects ...
^^^^^^^
Line 13, column 446, Rule ID: PRP_PAST_PART[1]
Message: Possible grammatical error. You used a past participle without using any required verb ('be' or 'have'). Did you mean 'was', 'were'?
Suggestion: was; were
...ptical questions. For example, why they been so tired and slept less in the second w...
^^^^
Line 13, column 545, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Why
...sleeping on the lavender flower pillow? why they slept soundly in the first week ev...
^^^
Line 13, column 616, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Why
...irst week even being on the medication? why the author put the volunteers in medica...
^^^
Line 13, column 680, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Without
...olunteers in medication in first place? without convincing answers to these questions t...
^^^^^^^
Line 17, column 20, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'authors'' or 'author's'?
Suggestion: authors'; author's
...ntive evidence. In conclusion, the authors argument is unpersuasive as it stands. ...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, finally, first, hence, however, if, second, so, thus, well, for example, in conclusion, first of all
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 13.0 19.6327345309 66% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 3.0 12.9520958084 23% => OK
Conjunction : 10.0 11.1786427146 89% => OK
Relative clauses : 13.0 13.6137724551 95% => OK
Pronoun: 36.0 28.8173652695 125% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 46.0 55.5748502994 83% => OK
Nominalization: 18.0 16.3942115768 110% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1984.0 2260.96107784 88% => OK
No of words: 388.0 441.139720559 88% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.11340206186 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.43821085614 4.56307096286 97% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.61204034552 2.78398813304 94% => OK
Unique words: 180.0 204.123752495 88% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.463917525773 0.468620217663 99% => OK
syllable_count: 595.8 705.55239521 84% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 2.0 4.96107784431 40% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.76447105788 80% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 2.70958083832 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 6.0 4.22255489022 142% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 20.0 19.7664670659 101% => OK
Sentence length: 19.0 22.8473053892 83% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 44.2992945768 57.8364921388 77% => OK
Chars per sentence: 99.2 119.503703932 83% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.4 23.324526521 83% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.55 5.70786347227 97% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 17.0 5.25449101796 324% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 8.20758483034 37% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 10.0 6.88822355289 145% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 7.0 4.67664670659 150% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.27230112594 0.218282227539 125% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0849007268057 0.0743258471296 114% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0864782495486 0.0701772020484 123% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.164655740613 0.128457276422 128% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0635888768651 0.0628817314937 101% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.3 14.3799401198 86% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 60.65 48.3550499002 125% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.5 12.197005988 78% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.36 12.5979740519 98% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.71 8.32208582834 93% => OK
difficult_words: 77.0 98.500998004 78% => More difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 10.5 12.3882235529 85% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.6 11.1389221557 86% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.9071856287 84% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 Out of 6
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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.