A new discovery warrants a drastic change in the diets of people living in the United States. Two scientists have recently suggested that omega-3 fatty acids (found in some fish and fish oils) play a key role in mental health. Our ancestors, who ate less saturated fat and more polyunsaturated fat, including omega-3 fatty acids, were much less likely to suffer from depression than we are today. Moreover, modern societies - such as those in Japan and Taiwan - that consume large quantities of fish report depression rates lower than that in the United States. Given this link between omega-3 fatty acids and depression, it is important for all people in the United States to increase their consumption of fish in order to prevent depression.
The given argument draws the conclusion that the residents of the United States should increase their consumption of fish to avoid depression. This assertion has been supported by stating that omega-3 fatty acids are related to depression. The arguer presents some facts to reinforce this statement. The first fact is the suggestion given by 2 scientists that omega-3 fatty acids play a key role in mental health. These acids are found in some fish and fish oils. The second fact is that our ancestors who had a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids were less likely to suffer from depression as compared to the present generation. The third fact is that the depression rates among fish-consuming people like those living in Japan and Taiwan is quite low. According to the arguer, these 3 facts prove beyond doubt that omega-3 fatty acids and depression are related. Therefore, increasing the intake of omega-3 fatty acids is bound to prevent depression. However, there are numerous loopholes in the argument that fail to convince the reader that omega-3 acids and depression are related.
The first loophole in the argument is that just because omega-3 fatty acids play a key role in mental health does not mean that they are related to depression and that they are necessary for good mental health. They may be related to some form of mental health other than depression. Additionally, this suggestion has been made by just two scientists and utilizing this suggestion as a base for drawing the conclusion that a higher intake of omega-3 fatty acids is necessary to fight depression does not sound well-reasoned at all.
The second fact does nothing to support the given conclusion as it is a well known fact that the lifestyle of our ancestors was much different from that of the present generation. There may have been a variety of other reasons that were responsible for low rates of depression among them. The present generation leads a fast paced life which is the root cause for a number of mental stress related disorders like depression. Therefore, it is quite likely that the intake of fish had nothing to do with the likelihood of our ancestors being depressed.
The third fact is the weakest link in the given argument. One cannot draw parallels between the residents of the United States and those of Japan and Taiwan. Depression rates may differ among the citizens of different countries due to varied reasons like different lifestyles, working conditions and climatic conditions. Nowhere in the argument has the arguer referred to the type of fish that these fish-consuming people are including in their diet. It has been mentioned in the argument that omega-3 fatty acids are present in some fish and fish-oils. It is not necessary that all types of fish will be rich in omega-3 fatty acids.
The argument could have been well reasoned if the arguer had provided more evidence that proved beyond doubt that omega-3 fatty acids are related to depression and that the types of fish that are being consumed by the people of Japan and Taiwan are the ones that contain omega-3 fatty acids. Therefore, lack of strong evidence has rendered the given argument weak and made the conclusion sound unconvincing.
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: 25 15
No. of Words: 540 350
No. of Characters: 2637 1500
No. of Different Words: 200 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.821 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.883 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.511 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 173 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 129 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 90 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 67 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 21.6 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 9.679 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.56 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.342 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.498 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.093 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Transition Words or Phrases used:
first, however, if, may, second, so, therefore, third, well
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 36.0 19.6327345309 183% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 7.0 12.9520958084 54% => OK
Conjunction : 13.0 11.1786427146 116% => OK
Relative clauses : 26.0 13.6137724551 191% => OK
Pronoun: 46.0 28.8173652695 160% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 66.0 55.5748502994 119% => OK
Nominalization: 19.0 16.3942115768 116% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2693.0 2260.96107784 119% => OK
No of words: 540.0 441.139720559 122% => OK
Chars per words: 4.98703703704 5.12650576532 97% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.82057051367 4.56307096286 106% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.58958754415 2.78398813304 93% => OK
Unique words: 205.0 204.123752495 100% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.37962962963 0.468620217663 81% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 834.3 705.55239521 118% => 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
Interrogative: 0.0 0.471057884232 0% => OK
Article: 10.0 8.76447105788 114% => OK
Subordination: 0.0 2.70958083832 0% => More adverbial clause wanted.
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: 25.0 19.7664670659 126% => OK
Sentence length: 21.0 22.8473053892 92% => OK
Sentence length SD: 56.4204785517 57.8364921388 98% => OK
Chars per sentence: 107.72 119.503703932 90% => OK
Words per sentence: 21.6 23.324526521 93% => OK
Discourse Markers: 2.36 5.70786347227 41% => More transition words/phrases wanted.
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 5.25449101796 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 3.0 8.20758483034 37% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 21.0 6.88822355289 305% => Less negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 1.0 4.67664670659 21% => More facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.305299228868 0.218282227539 140% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.100061826751 0.0743258471296 135% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0846297744451 0.0701772020484 121% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.177384452511 0.128457276422 138% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.082745562305 0.0628817314937 132% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.9 14.3799401198 90% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 58.62 48.3550499002 121% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 7.1628742515 43% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.3 12.197005988 84% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 11.66 12.5979740519 93% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.22 8.32208582834 87% => OK
difficult_words: 87.0 98.500998004 88% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 7.5 12.3882235529 61% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.4 11.1389221557 93% => OK
text_standard: 10.0 11.9071856287 84% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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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.
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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.