The following report appeared in the newsletter of the West Meria Public Health Council.
"An innovative treatment has come to our attention that promises to significantly reduce absenteeism in our schools and workplaces. A study reports that in nearby East Meria, where fish consumption is very high, people visit the doctor only once or twice per year for the treatment of colds. Clearly, eating a substantial amount of fish can prevent colds. Since colds represent the most frequently given reason for absences from school and work, we recommend the daily use of Ichthaid — a nutritional supplement derived from fish oil — as a good way to prevent colds and lower absenteeism."
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.
A report has appeared in the newsletter of the West Meria Public Health Council which suggests that the citizens of West Meria should increase the consumption of fish and fish based products in their diet. The report states that the main cause of absenteeism at school or work in West Meria is cold. The arguer cites that citizens of East Meria consume a very high amount of fish, and hence visit a doctor only once or twice for cold related health issues. As a result, the arguer suggests that citizens of West Meria should also increase fish consumption. The arguer's suggestion as well as the evidences provided seem legible during the first read, although a closer look might unearth a few alternate possibilities which might undermine the arguer's final conclusion.
Firstly, the arguer states that the primary reason for absenteeism in schools and work places in West Meria is due to people suffering from cold. The arguer fails to provide the source for such an information and is the source credible? What if the study conducted by the arguer has errors in it? What if the the people use cold as an excuse to flunk school or work? If such a case holds true, the credibility of the arguer's information would be certainly undermined. It could be possible that the most prominent illness in West Meria is something else. As a result, it would be ideal, if a thorough study is conducted to ascertain if cold is really the main cause of illness in West Meria.
Secondly, the arguer seems to attribute the low number of doctor's visit by the people of East Meria to lower cases of people suffering from cold. This correlation is baseless and does not appear to be valid. Just because people of East Meria visit the doctor only once or twice for cold related issues does not necessarily mean that they fall sick only twice. It could be possible that the people of East Meria believe in home remedies and visit the doctor in case of severe cold issues only. This could mean that eating fish does not abate the cases of cold encountered by the people of East Meria, owing to which, encouraging the people of West Meria to eat fish might not give the arguer his desired results.
Lastly, the arguer encourages the people of West Meria to consume Ichthaid, a nutritional supplement derived from fish oil. The arguer seems confident that eating such medicines would increase people's resistance against cold. It could be possible that the nutritional supplement suggested by the arguer works, but there seems to be no proof of a study or a report which suggests that the supplement works in the way it is meant to. Moreover, a question might arise among the citizens of West Meria regarding the safety of consuming such a supplement, whether the supplement is authorized by the health department to be used in order to increase resistance to cold. If the medicine fails to work in its desired way, it could cause detrimental effects on a person's health and seriously undermine the arguer's position.
In sum, the arguer's treatment of cold seems to be dubious and erroneous. There are many alternate possibilities that prove the arguer's conclusion to be fallacious. As a result, it cannot be categorically stated if consuming an increased amount of fish will help in preventing cold among the citizens of West Meria.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 25 15
No. of Words: 572 350
No. of Characters: 2697 1500
No. of Different Words: 221 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.89 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.715 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.535 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 181 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 119 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 96 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 58 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 22.88 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.842 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.56 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.362 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.534 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.131 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 562, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'arguers'' or 'arguer's'?
Suggestion: arguers'; arguer's
...uld also increase fish consumption. The arguers suggestion as well as the evidences pro...
^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 306, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a word
Suggestion: the
...by the arguer has errors in it? What if the the people use cold as an excuse to flunk s...
^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 306, Rule ID: DT_DT[1]
Message: Maybe you need to remove one determiner so that only 'the' or 'the' is left.
Suggestion: the; the
...by the arguer has errors in it? What if the the people use cold as an excuse to flunk s...
^^^^^^^
Line 3, column 418, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'arguers'' or 'arguer's'?
Suggestion: arguers'; arguer's
...case holds true, the credibility of the arguers information would be certainly undermin...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 756, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'persons'' or 'person's'?
Suggestion: persons'; person's
...it could cause detrimental effects on a persons health and seriously undermine the argu...
^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 13, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'arguers'' or 'arguer's'?
Suggestion: arguers'; arguer's
...ne the arguers position. In sum, the arguers treatment of cold seems to be dubious a...
^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 128, Rule ID: POSSESIVE_APOSTROPHE[1]
Message: Possible typo: apostrophe is missing. Did you mean 'arguers'' or 'arguer's'?
Suggestion: arguers'; arguer's
... alternate possibilities that prove the arguers conclusion to be fallacious. As a resul...
^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, firstly, hence, if, lastly, look, moreover, really, regarding, second, secondly, so, well, as a result, as well as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 21.0 19.6327345309 107% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 16.0 12.9520958084 124% => OK
Conjunction : 14.0 11.1786427146 125% => OK
Relative clauses : 17.0 13.6137724551 125% => OK
Pronoun: 27.0 28.8173652695 94% => OK
Preposition: 73.0 55.5748502994 131% => OK
Nominalization: 17.0 16.3942115768 104% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2747.0 2260.96107784 121% => OK
No of words: 572.0 441.139720559 130% => OK
Chars per words: 4.80244755245 5.12650576532 94% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.89045207381 4.56307096286 107% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.56042614961 2.78398813304 92% => OK
Unique words: 229.0 204.123752495 112% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.40034965035 0.468620217663 85% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 841.5 705.55239521 119% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.59920159681 94% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 8.0 4.96107784431 161% => OK
Article: 14.0 8.76447105788 160% => OK
Subordination: 7.0 2.70958083832 258% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 2.0 1.67365269461 119% => OK
Preposition: 2.0 4.22255489022 47% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 25.0 19.7664670659 126% => OK
Sentence length: 22.0 22.8473053892 96% => OK
Sentence length SD: 50.8199330972 57.8364921388 88% => OK
Chars per sentence: 109.88 119.503703932 92% => OK
Words per sentence: 22.88 23.324526521 98% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.28 5.70786347227 93% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 7.0 5.25449101796 133% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 8.0 8.20758483034 97% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 15.0 6.88822355289 218% => Less negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 2.0 4.67664670659 43% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.162072529826 0.218282227539 74% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0590593018026 0.0743258471296 79% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0551272416928 0.0701772020484 79% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.103107646111 0.128457276422 80% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.048612263673 0.0628817314937 77% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.6 14.3799401198 88% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 57.61 48.3550499002 119% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.7 12.197005988 88% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 10.86 12.5979740519 86% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.54 8.32208582834 91% => OK
difficult_words: 102.0 98.500998004 104% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 12.5 12.3882235529 101% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.8 11.1389221557 97% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 11.9071856287 92% => 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.