The following appears in a letter to the editor for the West Lansburg News: "The tufted groundhog lives in the coastal wetlands of West Lansburg. Ancient records suggest that the tufted groundhog once numbered in the millions. Since they were declared a w

Essay topics:

The following appears in a letter to the editor for the West Lansburg News:

"The tufted groundhog lives in the coastal wetlands of West Lansburg. Ancient records suggest that the tufted groundhog once numbered in the millions. Since they were declared a wildlife sanctuary in 2004, development along the coastal wetlands has been prohibited. Now local development interests are lobbying for the West Lansburg council to allow an access road to be built along the edge of wetlands. Neighboring Eastern Carpenteria, which had a similar sanctuary, has seen its sea otter population decline since the repeal of its sanctuary status in 1978. In order to preserve the region's biodiversity and ensure a healthy environment, the West Lansburg council should not allow the road to be built."

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 claims that in order to preserve the biodiversity of the coastal wetlands of West Lansburg and to ensure a healthy environment, the West Lansburg council should not allow the road to be built. The argument is rife with holes and assumptions, and thus not make a strong claim.

To begin with, the author assumes that the biodiversity of West Lansburg and the Neighboring Eastern Carpenteria are similar. West Lansburg is a coastal wetland while there is no information given on the Neighboring Eastern Carpenteria. If the Carpenteria is a desert or a forest then no comparison can be made with the West Lansburg. As the region changes, the methods of preservation of its species also changes. The author also brings in similarity between otter and tufted groundhog. They are structurally different species and hence such a comparison is not valid and convincing. Otters and groundhog live in completely different regions and hence require different methods for its preservation.

Additionally, the author compares the effect of repealing a sanctuary in 1978 to today. Over the years, many factors have contributed to the decline of species. It is also unclear, as to how the otter population declined since 1978. The author assumes that the otter population declined only due to the removal of the sanctuary status. There may have been many other factors which could have caused a decline in otter population. Many otters may have been infected with a contagious disease which caused their premature deaths. There may have been significant changes in climate and the region's biodiversity which might have caused the decline.

Moreover, the author claims that the number of tufted groundhog was once numbered in millions. The author derives this information from ancient records. Are the ancient records reliable? The author also does not mention anything about the decline of the population of groundhog. The author does not specify any number to highlight the decline. The decline is significant if the population has dropped from 1 million to 100 thousand but is insignificant if the population has dropped from 1 million to 999 thousand.

The author also claims that the West Lansburg was declared a wildlife sanctuary since 2004. It is, however, unclear as to whether the sanctuary status has helped improve the population of the groundhog. There are no statistics to show the increase in the groundhog's population. Even if there is an increase there might have been many other factors which could have caused the increase. There might have been ideal climatic conditions for breeding of groundhog since 2004 which might have burgeoned the population.

Although the author claims that the preservation of a region's biodiversity is essential for the conservation of tufted groundhog, the argument does not make a cogent case. While the argument highlights a possibility, more information is required to warrant any action.

Votes
Average: 5 (1 vote)
Essay Categories

Comments

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 5, column 588, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'regions'' or 'region's'?
Suggestion: regions'; region's
... significant changes in climate and the regions biodiversity which might have caused th...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 345, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...fy any number to highlight the decline. The decline is significant if the populatio...
^^^
Line 9, column 1, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...pped from 1 million to 999 thousand. The author also claims that the West Lansbu...
^^^
Line 9, column 117, Rule ID: WHETHER[6]
Message: Can you shorten this phrase to just 'whether', or rephrase the sentence to avoid "as to"?
Suggestion: whether
...ary since 2004. It is, however, unclear as to whether the sanctuary status has helped improve...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 256, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[2]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'groundhogs'' or 'groundhog's'?
Suggestion: groundhogs'; groundhog's
... statistics to show the increase in the groundhogs population. Even if there is an increas...
^^^^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 279, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[2]
Message: “Even if” at the beginning of a sentence requires a 2nd clause. Maybe a comma, question or exclamation mark is missing, or the sentence is incomplete and should be joined with the following sentence.
... increase in the groundhogs population. Even if there is an increase there might have b...
^^^^^^^
Line 11, column 55, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'regions'' or 'region's'?
Suggestion: regions'; region's
...uthor claims that the preservation of a regions biodiversity is essential for the conse...
^^^^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, hence, however, if, may, moreover, so, then, thus, while, as to, to begin with

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

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 25.0 19.6327345309 127% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 11.0 12.9520958084 85% => OK
Conjunction : 12.0 11.1786427146 107% => OK
Relative clauses : 11.0 13.6137724551 81% => OK
Pronoun: 13.0 28.8173652695 45% => OK
Preposition: 51.0 55.5748502994 92% => OK
Nominalization: 21.0 16.3942115768 128% => OK

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2481.0 2260.96107784 110% => OK
No of words: 472.0 441.139720559 107% => OK
Chars per words: 5.2563559322 5.12650576532 103% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.6610686524 4.56307096286 102% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.86350323604 2.78398813304 103% => OK
Unique words: 200.0 204.123752495 98% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.423728813559 0.468620217663 90% => OK
syllable_count: 756.9 705.55239521 107% => 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
Interrogative: 0.0 0.471057884232 0% => OK
Article: 15.0 8.76447105788 171% => OK
Subordination: 6.0 2.70958083832 221% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 4.22255489022 47% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 29.0 19.7664670659 147% => OK
Sentence length: 16.0 22.8473053892 70% => OK
Sentence length SD: 34.5352703613 57.8364921388 60% => The essay contains lots of sentences with the similar length. More sentence varieties wanted.
Chars per sentence: 85.5517241379 119.503703932 72% => OK
Words per sentence: 16.275862069 23.324526521 70% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.06896551724 5.70786347227 54% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 6.0 5.15768463074 116% => OK
Language errors: 7.0 5.25449101796 133% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 8.20758483034 97% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 9.0 6.88822355289 131% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 12.0 4.67664670659 257% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.229661694919 0.218282227539 105% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0651344582577 0.0743258471296 88% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0713013395665 0.0701772020484 102% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.124358145352 0.128457276422 97% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.064365104702 0.0628817314937 102% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 11.5 14.3799401198 80% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 55.24 48.3550499002 114% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 9.5 12.197005988 78% => Flesch kincaid grade is low.
coleman_liau_index: 12.93 12.5979740519 103% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.08 8.32208582834 97% => OK
difficult_words: 109.0 98.500998004 111% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.5 12.3882235529 93% => OK
gunning_fog: 8.4 11.1389221557 75% => Gunning_fog is low.
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?

---------------------

Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 Out of 6 -- The score is based on the average performance of 20,000 argument essays. This e-grader is not smart enough to check on arguments.
---------------------
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.