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.
There is a certain ambiguity that persists within the given writeup. I could spot quite a few logical fallacies in this writeup and I would like to enumerate my viewpoints about the same by posing valid questions.
Firstly, there are so many conclusions being made without proper evidence to back these up. One such is present in the very starting line of the given argument where Dr. Field concluded 'only' from 'his' observations that children in Tertia were reared by an entire village rather than by their own biological parents. Even though he is a noted anthropologist, he can be wrong at times too; after all, we are only humans and are prone to mistakes every now and then. Anyways, coming back to Dr. Field's case, it is baffling how he made such a bold claim by just observations. It might prove to be true later on also, but to state such a thing without a complete evidence is what feels ambiguous. The children maybe were not close to their parents or their community would have been in a such a way where they were not aware about the concept of nuclear families, instead were only stuck together as one whole group. That could have been a misleading observation when the whole of the village think of themselves as one, and even though the children might have been raised by biological parents, they all essentially practice the exact same activities, exemplifying the extreme unity of the village.
Secondly, like discussed in the previous paragraph, there was not enough evidence to prove Dr. Field's conclusion was valid, it is here soon disproved by the author when he took an interviews in the same village. And now, he makes a statement, which again lacks any clear evidence, paving way to a logical fallacy. An exact counterargument to my previously posed question can be asked here. The given statement claimed that because the children talked most about their biological parents than about other adults in the village, it was highly unlikely that these children were not reared by an entire village. Well, what if these children were just too attached to their biological parents and that is the reason they mention only about them in the interview? What if the interview was placed in such a way that there was no scope for those children to talk about other adults or what if the questions were not directed well enough? Maybe those children, even though were reared by an entire village, they still have immense respect towards their biological parents and hence talk only about them. Only when such questions are answered satisfactorily, we can prove Dr. Field's conclusion to be invalid.
Finally, it is given that an interview-centered approach is better than observation-centered approach any day. It should be given in writing that this will always work in every circumstance. Like for example, in this given example where conclusions were made about the upbringing of children in Tertia, both of these approaches alone were not quite satisfactory as they lacked proper evidence. Maybe a combined approach might have worked better here. Maybe in other instances, one might outweigh the other approach and then it can be based after logical thinking. Therefore, it can't be true that the author's students who are currently in Tertia will establish an accurate understanding with just an interview-centered approach.
I would like to wrap up by saying that both the conclusions made by those two different people can not be taken true as both of their arguments lacked solid viewpoints and evidences to back up their claim. And only when the posed questions are answered in a satisfactory manner, we can fix upon a conclusion about children in Tertia.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 12 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 4 2
No. of Sentences: 25 15
No. of Words: 622 350
No. of Characters: 3001 1500
No. of Different Words: 267 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.994 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.825 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.69 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 187 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 145 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 102 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 59 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 24.88 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 9.925 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.44 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.295 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.481 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.133 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 444, Rule ID: EVERY_NOW_AND_THEN[1]
Message: Use simply 'now and then'.
Suggestion: now and then
...e only humans and are prone to mistakes every now and then. Anyways, coming back to Dr. Fields cas...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 178, Rule ID: A_PLURAL[1]
Message: Don't use indefinite articles with plural words. Did you mean 'an interview' or simply 'interviews'?
Suggestion: an interview; interviews
...on disproved by the author when he took an interviews in the same village. And now, he makes ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 579, Rule ID: CANT[1]
Message: Did you mean 'can't' or 'cannot'?
Suggestion: can't; cannot
...d after logical thinking. Therefore, it cant be true that the authors students who a...
^^^^
Line 7, column 579, Rule ID: IT_VBZ[1]
Message: Did you mean 'cants'?
Suggestion: cants
...d after logical thinking. Therefore, it cant be true that the authors students who a...
^^^^
Line 9, column 254, Rule ID: IN_A_X_MANNER[1]
Message: Consider replacing "in a satisfactory manner" with adverb for "satisfactory"; eg, "in a hasty manner" with "hastily".
...y when the posed questions are answered in a satisfactory manner, we can fix upon a conclusion about chi...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, anyway, but, finally, first, firstly, hence, if, may, second, secondly, so, still, then, therefore, well, after all, for example
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 42.0 19.6327345309 214% => Less to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 18.0 12.9520958084 139% => OK
Conjunction : 13.0 11.1786427146 116% => OK
Relative clauses : 20.0 13.6137724551 147% => OK
Pronoun: 59.0 28.8173652695 205% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 77.0 55.5748502994 139% => OK
Nominalization: 14.0 16.3942115768 85% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3064.0 2260.96107784 136% => OK
No of words: 622.0 441.139720559 141% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 4.92604501608 5.12650576532 96% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.99398916966 4.56307096286 109% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.76339762902 2.78398813304 99% => OK
Unique words: 282.0 204.123752495 138% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.453376205788 0.468620217663 97% => OK
syllable_count: 963.0 705.55239521 136% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 17.0 4.96107784431 343% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 3.0 8.76447105788 34% => OK
Subordination: 3.0 2.70958083832 111% => OK
Conjunction: 4.0 1.67365269461 239% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 25.0 19.7664670659 126% => OK
Sentence length: 24.0 22.8473053892 105% => OK
Sentence length SD: 57.4323950397 57.8364921388 99% => OK
Chars per sentence: 122.56 119.503703932 103% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.88 23.324526521 107% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.36 5.70786347227 94% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 5.0 5.25449101796 95% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 12.0 8.20758483034 146% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 8.0 6.88822355289 116% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.67664670659 107% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.205719346059 0.218282227539 94% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0595995126058 0.0743258471296 80% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0745958389886 0.0701772020484 106% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0987439598245 0.128457276422 77% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0725477297236 0.0628817314937 115% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.2 14.3799401198 99% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 55.58 48.3550499002 115% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 12.197005988 94% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.61 12.5979740519 92% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.0 8.32208582834 96% => OK
difficult_words: 125.0 98.500998004 127% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 12.3882235529 89% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 11.1389221557 104% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Write the essay in 30 minutes.
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.