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 examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
In the preceding statement, the author contends that based on his recent interviews the theory proposed by Dr. Field that children in Tertia were reared by the entire village rather than by their own biological parents is untrue. Though his claim may well have merit, the anthropologist presents a poorly reasoned argument, based on several questionable premises and assumptions. Regarding solely on the evidences the author offers, we cannot accept his argument as valid. Hence, his conclusion is weak and unconvincing, with several flaws.
The primary issue with the doctor’s reasoning lies in his unsubstantiated premises. The author cites the interviews of Tertia children as the basis of his argument that they were in fact created by their biological parents. However, the scope and validity of the interviews is at issue. The article does not give any indication as to the real reasons for which the questions were conducted. For example, the interview could have focused on talking about children’s relatives, in this way, the expect answer is that they will talk more about their parents rather then about other adults in the village. Also, the sample may not have been representative of the Tertia inhabitants, as stated by the article, these intervews were conducted at multiple islands. Unless the survey is truly representative for Tertia, it cannot be used by the author to effectively back his statements. Therefore, Dr. Karp’s premises lack any legitimate evidentiary support and thereby render his conclusion unacceptable.
In addition, the article makes several assumptions that remain unproven. The author implies that because of his conclusions, the Dr. Field’s research about the Tertian cultures is also invalid. The article wrongly assumes that culture and education methods are intimately related. This assumption may fail if the team of graduate students reach the same conclusion obtained by Dr. Field. Consequently, children being rared by their parents or the entire village have not effect on their culture. The doctor weakens his argument by making assumptions and failing to provide explication of the links between creating and culture he assumes exist.
While the argument has key issues in the premises and assumptions made by the author, it is not to say that the entire argument is without a base. For example, before starting the interviews, the author could have focused his questions asking directly to the children if they were rared by their parents or not. It would a matter of “yes” or “no”, instead the assumption he mad based only on the frequency that the young talked about their people. He could have also surveyed if the style of education affects the general culture of the place. Though there are several issue with the Dr. Karp’s reasoning at present, with research and clarification, he could improve his argument significantly.
In sum, the article’s illogical argument is based on unsupported premises and unsubstantiated assumptions that render his conclusion invalid. The author needs to revisit the research and analisys done for Tertia children and refine the suggestion proposed by him. If the doctor truly hopes to change the reader’s mind on the issue, he would have to largely restructure his arguments, fix the flaws in his logic, clearly explicate his assumptions and provide evidentiary support. Without these, his poorly reasoned argument is unlikely to convince many people.
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: 27 15
No. of Words: 547 350
No. of Characters: 2832 1500
No. of Different Words: 250 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.836 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.177 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.73 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 224 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 168 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 109 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 64 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 20.259 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.471 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.63 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.299 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.462 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.098 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 500, Rule ID: A_INFINITVE[1]
Message: Probably a wrong construction: a/the + infinitive
...children's relatives, in this way, the expect answer is that they will talk more abou...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 573, Rule ID: RATHER_THEN[1]
Message: Did you mean 'than'? 'than' is used for comparisons, 'then' is an expression of time.
Suggestion: than
...ll talk more about their parents rather then about other adults in the village. Also...
^^^^
Line 5, column 477, Rule ID: HAVE_PART_AGREEMENT[2]
Message: Possible agreement error -- use past participle here: 'effected'.
Suggestion: effected
... parents or the entire village have not effect on their culture. The doctor weakens hi...
^^^^^^
Line 5, column 477, Rule ID: AFFECT_EFFECT[6]
Message: Did you mean 'affect'?
Suggestion: affect
... parents or the entire village have not effect on their culture. The doctor weakens hi...
^^^^^^
Line 7, column 582, Rule ID: MANY_NN[1]
Message: Possible agreement error. The noun issue seems to be countable; consider using: 'several issues'.
Suggestion: several issues
... culture of the place. Though there are several issue with the Dr. Karp's reasoning at p...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, consequently, hence, however, if, may, regarding, so, then, therefore, well, while, as to, for example, in addition, in fact, talking about
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 20.0 19.6327345309 102% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 12.0 12.9520958084 93% => OK
Conjunction : 16.0 11.1786427146 143% => OK
Relative clauses : 11.0 13.6137724551 81% => OK
Pronoun: 51.0 28.8173652695 177% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 66.0 55.5748502994 119% => OK
Nominalization: 19.0 16.3942115768 116% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2959.0 2260.96107784 131% => OK
No of words: 547.0 441.139720559 124% => OK
Chars per words: 5.40950639854 5.12650576532 106% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.83611736076 4.56307096286 106% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.97946520672 2.78398813304 107% => OK
Unique words: 260.0 204.123752495 127% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.475319926874 0.468620217663 101% => OK
syllable_count: 918.9 705.55239521 130% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 11.0 4.96107784431 222% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 17.0 8.76447105788 194% => OK
Subordination: 7.0 2.70958083832 258% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 9.0 4.22255489022 213% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 27.0 19.7664670659 137% => OK
Sentence length: 20.0 22.8473053892 88% => OK
Sentence length SD: 43.8999360999 57.8364921388 76% => OK
Chars per sentence: 109.592592593 119.503703932 92% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.2592592593 23.324526521 87% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.37037037037 5.70786347227 94% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 5.0 5.25449101796 95% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 8.20758483034 73% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 11.0 6.88822355289 160% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 10.0 4.67664670659 214% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.16307580584 0.218282227539 75% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0504101068001 0.0743258471296 68% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0417303167473 0.0701772020484 59% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.109248446392 0.128457276422 85% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0378339278838 0.0628817314937 60% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 14.2 14.3799401198 99% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 42.72 48.3550499002 88% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.3 12.197005988 101% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 14.1 12.5979740519 112% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.84 8.32208582834 106% => OK
difficult_words: 146.0 98.500998004 148% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.5 12.3882235529 69% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.0 11.1389221557 90% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.9071856287 76% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
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.