The following appeared in an article written by Dr Karp an anthropologist Twenty years ago Dr Field a noted anthropologist visited the island of Tertia and concluded from his observations that children in Tertia were reared by an entire village rather tha | TOEFL IELTS GMAT GRE SAT ACT PTE ESL

Essay topics:

The following appeared in an article written by Dr. Karp, an anthropologist.
“Twenty years ago, Dr. Field, a noted anthropologist, visited the island of Tertia and concluded from his observations that children in Tertia were reared by an entire village rather than by their own biological parents. However, my recent interviews with children living in the group of islands that includes Tertia show that these children spend much more time talking about their biological parents than about other adults in
the village. This research of mine proves that Dr. Field’s conclusion about Tertian village culture is invalid and thus that the observation-centered approach to studying cultures is invalid as well. The interview-centered method that my team of graduate students is currently using in Tertia will establish a much more accurate understanding of child-rearing traditions there and in other island cultures.”
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.

While it may be true that Dr. Karp's interview-based research in understanding child-rearing traditions in Tertia is more accurate than Dr. Field's observation-based study, the argument does not make a cogent case to completely refute Dr. Field's conclusion. The argument is rife with holes and assumptions and therefore not strong enough to draw such a conclusion.
Firstly, Dr. Field carried out his research 20 years ago and 20 years is a long time for a change in the culture of kid raising in Tertia. Before completely refuting the observation-based research, it will be necessary to know what the trend of raising a child in Tertia has been before now. Until it is established that there was never a time that children in Tertia were reared by an entire village rather than by their biological parents, Dr. Karp's argument will be valid.
Secondly, it is necessary to know the kind of questions being asked. The interviewer could have asked the respondents leading questions to achieve their aim. As such, evidence of the type of questions being asked is required. if the questions asked are general and not leading questions, then this can help support Dr. Karp's argument, otherwise, the argument is weakened.
Thirdly it was assumed that reports given at interviews are taken at face value. It could be that the children were scared to reveal their true thoughts and chose rather talk about their biological parents. further evidence is needed to show what condition the children are in at the time of the interview to ascertain if their responses to the questions will be taken at face value or not.
Finally, it was stated that interviews were conducted in groups of islands that included Tersia, but it was not stated what percentage of the population interviewed was from Tersia before drawing such a conclusion. It could be that the population interviewed at Tersia is very small compared to the population interviewed on the other islands. Until it is proved otherwise, this conclusion is weakened.
In conclusion, as can be seen in the previous paragraphs, several pieces of evidence is still needed to be proven by Dr. Karp before concluding that his interview-based research is more accurate than that of Dr. Field's observation-based study and this is proven, his argument is weakened.

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GMAT/GRE Argument Task

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Essay evaluations by e-grader

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 226, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: If
...e of questions being asked is required. if the questions asked are general and not...
^^
Line 4, column 207, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Further
...er talk about their biological parents. further evidence is needed to show what conditi...
^^^^^^^
Line 4, column 207, Rule ID: SENT_START_CONJUNCTIVE_LINKING_ADVERB_COMMA[1]
Message: Did you forget a comma after a conjunctive/linking adverb?
Suggestion: further,
...er talk about their biological parents. further evidence is needed to show what conditi...
^^^^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, finally, first, firstly, if, may, second, secondly, still, then, therefore, third, thirdly, while, in conclusion, kind of

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 37.0 19.6327345309 188% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 9.0 12.9520958084 69% => OK
Conjunction : 8.0 11.1786427146 72% => OK
Relative clauses : 10.0 13.6137724551 73% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 31.0 28.8173652695 108% => OK
Preposition: 50.0 55.5748502994 90% => OK
Nominalization: 16.0 16.3942115768 98% => OK

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1923.0 2260.96107784 85% => OK
No of words: 381.0 441.139720559 86% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.04724409449 5.12650576532 98% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.41805628031 4.56307096286 97% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.98633458957 2.78398813304 107% => OK
Unique words: 180.0 204.123752495 88% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.472440944882 0.468620217663 101% => OK
syllable_count: 584.1 705.55239521 83% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 7.0 4.96107784431 141% => OK
Article: 4.0 8.76447105788 46% => OK
Subordination: 7.0 2.70958083832 258% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 16.0 19.7664670659 81% => 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: 23.0 22.8473053892 101% => OK
Sentence length SD: 65.884249825 57.8364921388 114% => OK
Chars per sentence: 120.1875 119.503703932 101% => OK
Words per sentence: 23.8125 23.324526521 102% => OK
Discourse Markers: 7.875 5.70786347227 138% => OK
Paragraphs: 6.0 5.15768463074 116% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 5.25449101796 57% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 8.20758483034 37% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 6.88822355289 87% => 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: 0.205169104955 0.218282227539 94% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0625254411596 0.0743258471296 84% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0844262232475 0.0701772020484 120% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.110695718479 0.128457276422 86% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0934789230778 0.0628817314937 149% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.3 14.3799401198 99% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 56.59 48.3550499002 117% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.1 12.197005988 91% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.31 12.5979740519 98% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.18 8.32208582834 98% => OK
difficult_words: 82.0 98.500998004 83% => More difficult words wanted.
linsear_write_formula: 14.5 12.3882235529 117% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.2 11.1389221557 101% => OK
text_standard: 15.0 11.9071856287 126% => OK
What are above readability scores?

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Rates: 66.67 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 4.0 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.

Essay evaluations by e-grader

Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, finally, first, firstly, if, may, second, secondly, still, then, therefore, third, thirdly, while, in conclusion, kind of

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments