The following is part of a memorandum from the president of Humana University.
"Last year the number of students who enrolled in online degree programs offered by nearby Omni University increased by 50 percent. During the same year, Omni showed a significant decrease from prior years in expenditures for dormitory and classroom space, most likely because instruction in the online programs takes place via the Internet. In contrast, over the past three years, enrollment at Humana University has failed to grow, and the cost of maintaining buildings has increased along with our budget deficit. To address these problems, Humana University will begin immediately to create and actively promote online degree programs like those at Omni. We predict that instituting these online degree programs will help Humana both increase its total enrollment and solve its budget problems."
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the prediction and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the prediction.
The author predicts that an increase in online degree programs will improve enrollment and solve budget problems. The author supports the argument by providing evidence in regards to Omni University’s success in online programs and decrease in expenditures. However, the argument is not cogent enough to make a prediction assuming that what works for one university will work for another. The validity of the argument must be questioned in order to determine whether the author’s prediction is reasonable.
One assumption made is that Humana University will succeed in enrollment and budgeting just like Omni University. However, what works for one university may not work for another university. The evidence provided by the author must be questioned in order to determine that the success of online classes and decrease in budget for Omni University will work the same for Humana University. First, the evidence that claims a 50% increase in online degree enrollment must be questioned. The author does not provide whether the increase was substantial or not. If a 50% increase was made by a student population of 10 students, then only only a small amount contributed to the increase. Whereas a 50% increase from a student population of 200 students would make a difference. Therefore, the answer to the question of how many students enrolled would determine the validity of whether the increase was substantial or not.
Another assumption made is that the author assumes that the decrease in expenditures on dorms and classroom space in Omni University is due to online programs. Because correlation does not mean causation, the decrease in budgets may not be due to an increase in online programs. Therefore, one must question the decrease in expenditures. If the decrease in expenditures were due to other reasons, such as an increase in commuter students and the lacking necessity to renovate classrooms, then the argument that online classes are the reason would fail. Therefore, the answer to this question would weaken the author’s prediction assuming that online classrooms are the reason for a decrease in budgets.
Another assumption made is that because more people are interested in online classes, as shown in Omni University, it will increase enrollment. However, one must question whether the lack of increase in Hamuna University may be caused by other factors. For instance, the lack of enrollment may be due to a deficiency of academic programs offered. Or, a lack of enrollment may be due a failure in promoting the college at college fairs or in high schools. Therefore, if the answers to the question turns out to be different from the increasing interest in online classes, then the prediction would fail. The author must address whether a lack of enrollment may be due to other factors. The author may do this by creating a survey on how the college can improve in increasing attraction for enrollment.
In conclusion, it may be reasonable to predict that because online classes are becoming more popular, they may increase enrollment and decrease expenditures in a college. However, the prediction proves invalid when other factors may contribute to an increase in enrollment and decrease in costs. Moreover, the author must create a valid prediction that takes into account other factors that may contribute to a college’s enrollment and budgeting success, such as the validity of statistical information and the differences of the other colleges.
Comments
e-rater score 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: 559 350
No. of Characters: 2861 1500
No. of Different Words: 183 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.862 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.118 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.846 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 235 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 195 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 141 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 77 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 20.704 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 6.721 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.704 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.357 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.357 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.16 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 1 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 2, column 170, Rule ID: IN_REGARD_TO[1]
Message: Use simply 'regarding' or 'with regard to'.
Suggestion: regarding; with regard to
...orts the argument by providing evidence in regards to Omni University’s success in online pro...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 628, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a word
Suggestion: only
...student population of 10 students, then only only a small amount contributed to the incre...
^^^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 682, Rule ID: SENTENCE_FRAGMENT[1]
Message: “Whereas” 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.
...all amount contributed to the increase. Whereas a 50% increase from a student populatio...
^^^^^^^
Line 4, column 704, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...e the reason for a decrease in budgets. Another assumption made is that because ...
^^^
Line 5, column 352, Rule ID: A_LOT_OF_NN[1]
Message: Possible agreement error. The noun enrollment seems to be countable; consider using: 'a lack of enrollments'.
Suggestion: a lack of enrollments
...iency of academic programs offered. Or, a lack of enrollment may be due a failure in promoting the c...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 636, Rule ID: A_LOT_OF_NN[1]
Message: Possible agreement error. The noun enrollment seems to be countable; consider using: 'a lack of enrollments'.
Suggestion: a lack of enrollments
...d fail. The author must address whether a lack of enrollment may be due to other factors. The author...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, first, however, if, may, moreover, so, then, therefore, whereas, for instance, in conclusion, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 24.0 19.6327345309 122% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 29.0 12.9520958084 224% => Less auxiliary verb wanted.
Conjunction : 13.0 11.1786427146 116% => OK
Relative clauses : 14.0 13.6137724551 103% => OK
Pronoun: 18.0 28.8173652695 62% => OK
Preposition: 72.0 55.5748502994 130% => OK
Nominalization: 40.0 16.3942115768 244% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2933.0 2260.96107784 130% => OK
No of words: 559.0 441.139720559 127% => OK
Chars per words: 5.24686940966 5.12650576532 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.86242540663 4.56307096286 107% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.95935473931 2.78398813304 106% => OK
Unique words: 192.0 204.123752495 94% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.343470483005 0.468620217663 73% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 940.5 705.55239521 133% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 4.96107784431 60% => OK
Article: 16.0 8.76447105788 183% => OK
Subordination: 5.0 2.70958083832 185% => OK
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 4.22255489022 24% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 27.0 19.7664670659 137% => OK
Sentence length: 20.0 22.8473053892 88% => OK
Sentence length SD: 43.1099656205 57.8364921388 75% => OK
Chars per sentence: 108.62962963 119.503703932 91% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.7037037037 23.324526521 89% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.92592592593 5.70786347227 69% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 6.0 5.25449101796 114% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 15.0 8.20758483034 183% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 8.0 6.88822355289 116% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 4.0 4.67664670659 86% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.190593229651 0.218282227539 87% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0706082835008 0.0743258471296 95% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0507525301087 0.0701772020484 72% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.125369810401 0.128457276422 98% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0595440730405 0.0628817314937 95% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.6 14.3799401198 95% => Automated_readability_index is low.
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: 13.17 12.5979740519 105% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.54 8.32208582834 91% => OK
difficult_words: 103.0 98.500998004 105% => 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.