Essay topics: The following editorial appeared in the Broomall County Times-Picayune:
"The Gordon Act, which established a wildlife refuge in the Big Dark Swamp, is currently up for reauthorization. The act prohibits the building of roads or cutting of old growth trees in the swamp, though it permits hunting. Many blamed logging activities for the decline of the bird population, especially that of the dappled grackle. The grackle population has continued to decline since the passage of the law, demonstrating that the Gordon Act has not been sufficient to protect the species. Another nearby refuge, the Wayne County Marsh Habitat, bans all mining, logging, and hunting. Wayne County officials have not reported a decline in the grackle population there. This proves that hunting, not logging, was responsible for the population drop in Broomall County. Thus, Broomall County should not reauthorize the Gordon Act unless it is amended to include the same provisions as those in Wayne County."
The editorial draws an analogy between the Big Dark Swamp and the Wayne County Marsh Habitat, stating that if the Gordon act was amended to include all the provisions that were made by Wayne county, the population of birds would not see a decline. This is inherently based on some assumptions on the nature of both camps being compared as well as the reasons for the dip in the population of indigenous birds, especially the dappled grackle.
The editorial assumes that both The Dark Swamp and The Wayne County marsh Habitat have similar ecological conditions and the species of bird population. This is because the article directly mentions that if the laws that are enforced on the latter are enacted or included in the Gordon act to monitor the former, then there would be similar results i.e. stability in the population of dappled grackle.
But the editorial does not give any tangible evidence as to how both the ecological habitats are similar. What if both the swamps have different composition of local bird species ? Are there any facts to state that the population of birds, especially the dappled grackle is comparable in both the swamps ?. If there are evidences that confirm the dissimilarities between the habitats, in terms of their geography, demographic compositions, the political premise for enacting the laws, then the analogy on which the assumption is based falls flat and it is possible to entirely refute the conclusion formed in the argument.
The editorial also claims that hunting and not logging, is the main culprit behind the waning population of the birds in the Big Dark Swamp. This stated assumption is again based on the assumption that both the habitats are similar and that hunting is the only explanation for the decreasing population of bird species. But the argument does not take the prohibition on mining into account. If new evidences emerge stating that mining and other activities do affect the decline in population of dappled grackles, the premise on which the argument claims hunting as the main cause for the decline becomes shaky and unproven. Also, the argument outright ignores that cutting of old trees and construction activities like building of roads may have had a significant impact on the population of dappled grackle as it states that they have been ineffective in curbing the declining trend. But there is no fact given to substantiate the claims.
Beside above assumptions, a few factual information regarding the effectiveness of the laws and the similarity between both habitats might help to prove how warranted the assumptions stated in the argument can be.
Comments
Essay evaluation report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 15 15
No. of Words: 433 350
No. of Characters: 2157 1500
No. of Different Words: 194 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.562 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.982 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.678 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 154 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 128 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 77 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 54 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 28.867 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 12.296 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.8 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.361 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.581 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.065 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 337, Rule ID: BOTH_AS_WELL_AS[1]
Message: Probable usage error. Use 'and' after 'both'.
Suggestion: and
...the nature of both camps being compared as well as the reasons for the dip in the populati...
^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, if, may, regarding, so, then, well, as to, as well as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 21.0 19.6327345309 107% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 5.0 12.9520958084 39% => OK
Conjunction : 14.0 11.1786427146 125% => OK
Relative clauses : 15.0 13.6137724551 110% => OK
Pronoun: 21.0 28.8173652695 73% => OK
Preposition: 50.0 55.5748502994 90% => OK
Nominalization: 23.0 16.3942115768 140% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2202.0 2260.96107784 97% => OK
No of words: 433.0 441.139720559 98% => OK
Chars per words: 5.08545034642 5.12650576532 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.56165014514 4.56307096286 100% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.73450570838 2.78398813304 98% => OK
Unique words: 206.0 204.123752495 101% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.475750577367 0.468620217663 102% => OK
syllable_count: 694.8 705.55239521 98% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 4.96107784431 60% => OK
Article: 8.0 8.76447105788 91% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 2.70958083832 74% => OK
Conjunction: 3.0 1.67365269461 179% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 4.22255489022 47% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 15.0 19.7664670659 76% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 28.0 22.8473053892 123% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 76.3155437786 57.8364921388 132% => OK
Chars per sentence: 146.8 119.503703932 123% => OK
Words per sentence: 28.8666666667 23.324526521 124% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.26666666667 5.70786347227 75% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 5.25449101796 19% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 2.0 8.20758483034 24% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 5.0 6.88822355289 73% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 8.0 4.67664670659 171% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.136228596082 0.218282227539 62% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0477941549068 0.0743258471296 64% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0403009959005 0.0701772020484 57% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.07794426027 0.128457276422 61% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0453135412681 0.0628817314937 72% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 17.0 14.3799401198 118% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 43.06 48.3550499002 89% => OK
smog_index: 11.2 7.1628742515 156% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 14.2 12.197005988 116% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.83 12.5979740519 102% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.78 8.32208582834 106% => OK
difficult_words: 103.0 98.500998004 105% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 20.0 12.3882235529 161% => OK
gunning_fog: 13.2 11.1389221557 119% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.9071856287 109% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 Out of 6
---------------------
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.