A recently issued twenty-year study on headaches suffered by the residents of Mentia investigated the possible therapeutic effect of consuming salicylates. Salicylates are members of the same chemical family as aspirin, a medicine used to treat headaches. Although many foods are naturally rich in salicylates, food-processing companies also add salicylates to foods as preservatives. The twenty-year study found a correlation between the rise in the commercial use of salicylates and a steady decline in the average number of headaches reported by study participants. At the time when the study concluded, food-processing companies had just discovered that salicylates can also be used as flavor additives for foods, and, as a result, many companies plan to do so. Based on these study results, some health experts predict that residents of Mentia will suffer even fewer headaches in the future.
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.
To decide if the assumption is reasonable, the questions that need be considered are ones such as: can it be proven that the salicylates are the reason for the decline in headaches? Will the residents develop a resistance to the salicylates? What are the other side effects of the salicylates? Is the study reliable? Does it look at a variety of prospects?
Salicylates are assumed to be the reason for the reduction of headaches in Mentia. The passage does not mention that other factors have been considered to prove that the salicylates are the cause. It is a possibility that other factors in the food or in the environment have improved over the last twenty years and therefore decreased the average number of headaches. Another factor to be considered is that the people may have developed better dietary habits, leading to fewer headaches. If there were no other factors that could skew the results, then it is a reliable prediction.
If the salicylates are the reason for the decrease in headaches, what is the limit at which they can be consumed? When people constantly consume a certain amount of a substance, they eventually develop an immunity, or resistance, to the substance. If they become resistive to the salicylates, the prediction would be incorrect, and the people may experience the same number of headaches or more in the future. They may consume increased amounts when this happens which could lead them to become addicted to the salicylates.
Other side effects were not discussed in the prompt. Most “good” things tend to have other possible “bad” outcomes. If this pain reliever is going to inhibit the immune system, destroy their stomach lining, hinder the liver or kidney function, or any other side effect that is negative, then it should be considered in the prediction. The decrease in headaches may be beneficial, but are the other side effects harmful enough that the substance is overall bad for the body?
In conclusion, the prediction and reasoning are reliable in a circumstance where no other factors were involved that would decrease the number of headaches, the body cannot develop a resistance, and lastly, no negative side effects can occur.
Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, if, lastly, look, may, so, then, therefore, in conclusion, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 29.0 19.6327345309 148% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 15.0 12.9520958084 116% => OK
Conjunction : 10.0 11.1786427146 89% => OK
Relative clauses : 15.0 13.6137724551 110% => OK
Pronoun: 23.0 28.8173652695 80% => OK
Preposition: 33.0 55.5748502994 59% => More preposition wanted.
Nominalization: 17.0 16.3942115768 104% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1847.0 2260.96107784 82% => OK
No of words: 364.0 441.139720559 83% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.07417582418 5.12650576532 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.36792674256 4.56307096286 96% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.92685840463 2.78398813304 105% => OK
Unique words: 169.0 204.123752495 83% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.464285714286 0.468620217663 99% => OK
syllable_count: 602.1 705.55239521 85% => 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: 6.0 8.76447105788 68% => OK
Subordination: 5.0 2.70958083832 185% => OK
Conjunction: 5.0 1.67365269461 299% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 3.0 4.22255489022 71% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 19.0 19.7664670659 96% => OK
Sentence length: 19.0 22.8473053892 83% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 58.6750759943 57.8364921388 101% => OK
Chars per sentence: 97.2105263158 119.503703932 81% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.1578947368 23.324526521 82% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.73684210526 5.70786347227 65% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 5.25449101796 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 8.20758483034 73% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 6.88822355289 58% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 9.0 4.67664670659 192% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.151700368119 0.218282227539 69% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0561685518712 0.0743258471296 76% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0372807678296 0.0701772020484 53% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0857561192106 0.128457276422 67% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0327213174579 0.0628817314937 52% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.0 14.3799401198 83% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 43.73 48.3550499002 90% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.9 12.197005988 98% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.13 12.5979740519 96% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.57 8.32208582834 103% => OK
difficult_words: 92.0 98.500998004 93% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 6.5 12.3882235529 52% => Linsear_write_formula is low.
gunning_fog: 9.6 11.1389221557 86% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 58.33 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.5 Out of 6
---------------------
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.
Transition Words or Phrases used:
but, if, lastly, look, may, so, then, therefore, in conclusion, such as
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 29.0 19.6327345309 148% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 15.0 12.9520958084 116% => OK
Conjunction : 10.0 11.1786427146 89% => OK
Relative clauses : 15.0 13.6137724551 110% => OK
Pronoun: 23.0 28.8173652695 80% => OK
Preposition: 33.0 55.5748502994 59% => More preposition wanted.
Nominalization: 17.0 16.3942115768 104% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1847.0 2260.96107784 82% => OK
No of words: 364.0 441.139720559 83% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.07417582418 5.12650576532 99% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.36792674256 4.56307096286 96% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.92685840463 2.78398813304 105% => OK
Unique words: 169.0 204.123752495 83% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.464285714286 0.468620217663 99% => OK
syllable_count: 602.1 705.55239521 85% => 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: 6.0 8.76447105788 68% => OK
Subordination: 5.0 2.70958083832 185% => OK
Conjunction: 5.0 1.67365269461 299% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 3.0 4.22255489022 71% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 19.0 19.7664670659 96% => OK
Sentence length: 19.0 22.8473053892 83% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 58.6750759943 57.8364921388 101% => OK
Chars per sentence: 97.2105263158 119.503703932 81% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.1578947368 23.324526521 82% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.73684210526 5.70786347227 65% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 0.0 5.25449101796 0% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 8.20758483034 73% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 6.88822355289 58% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 9.0 4.67664670659 192% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.151700368119 0.218282227539 69% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0561685518712 0.0743258471296 76% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0372807678296 0.0701772020484 53% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0857561192106 0.128457276422 67% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0327213174579 0.0628817314937 52% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.0 14.3799401198 83% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 43.73 48.3550499002 90% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.9 12.197005988 98% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.13 12.5979740519 96% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.57 8.32208582834 103% => OK
difficult_words: 92.0 98.500998004 93% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 6.5 12.3882235529 52% => Linsear_write_formula is low.
gunning_fog: 9.6 11.1389221557 86% => OK
text_standard: 12.0 11.9071856287 101% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 58.33 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.5 Out of 6
---------------------
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.