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.
The author of the study wishes to establish a possible connection between the rise of salicylates in food additives and the number of headaches for residents of Mentia. Though the results of the study may prove to be correct, the argument in itself remains in need of several clarifications to be persuasive.
The first question that needs to be addressed is whether salicylates can cure headaches. Though the study points out a possible correlation between the commercial use of salicylates and the number of headaches, that does not mean that consuming salicylates does, in fact, lead to less headaches. Researchers will be able to draw a more reliable conclusion by designing an experiment that directly controls the amount of salicylate intake, rather than through its commercial usage. Like with aspirin, people may take salicylates as a pill for headaches while experimenters observe the effects.
Another question that needs to be answered is whether the rise of the commercial use of salicylates may purely be a coincidence to the decrease of headaches for people in Mentia. Perhaps the companies that manufacture these salicylates-induced products also happen to add other additives to preserve their foods. If the rise of other kinds of additives also coincide with the rise of the usage of salicylates, shouldn't the other kinds additives also have a possible affect?
Another factor to consider is that the study was conducted for only twenty years. Even if salicylates does lessen headaches, we do not know whether it is more affective for a certain age group. For example, if salicylates only works on the younger generation, and that the residents of Mentia gradually consist more elderly due to low birth rates, salicylates will have a lower impact on headaches of the population. Plus, though companies may plan to add more salicylates to their foods, it does not mean that more residents of Mentia will consume foods with such additives. If they become more health-conscious in the future, their consumption of foods with additives may decrease, thus lowering the amount of salicylates they consume.
While it is possible that salicylates can reduce headaches, the study does not guarantee an absolute decrease of headaches in the future for people of Mentia. To better predict the results, further study will be needed on the exact effects of salicylates and whether it's further addition to foods will lead to an increase consumption.
Comments
Essay evaluations by e-grader
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 281, Rule ID: FEWER_LESS[2]
Message: Did you mean 'fewer'? The noun headaches is countable.
Suggestion: fewer
...ming salicylates does, in fact, lead to less headaches. Researchers will be able to ...
^^^^
Line 5, column 411, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: shouldn't
...h the rise of the usage of salicylates, shouldnt the other kinds additives also have a p...
^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 475, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... additives also have a possible affect? Another factor to consider is that the s...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, first, if, may, so, thus, while, for example, in fact
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 13.0 19.5258426966 67% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 13.0 12.4196629213 105% => OK
Conjunction : 4.0 14.8657303371 27% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 10.0 11.3162921348 88% => OK
Pronoun: 23.0 33.0505617978 70% => OK
Preposition: 61.0 58.6224719101 104% => OK
Nominalization: 12.0 12.9106741573 93% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2067.0 2235.4752809 92% => OK
No of words: 396.0 442.535393258 89% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.2196969697 5.05705443957 103% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.46091344257 4.55969084622 98% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.99367062651 2.79657885939 107% => OK
Unique words: 180.0 215.323595506 84% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.454545454545 0.4932671777 92% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 661.5 704.065955056 94% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59117977528 107% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 6.24550561798 64% => OK
Article: 4.0 4.99550561798 80% => OK
Subordination: 8.0 3.10617977528 258% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.77640449438 56% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 4.38483146067 68% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 16.0 20.2370786517 79% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 24.0 23.0359550562 104% => OK
Sentence length SD: 38.2707766285 60.3974514979 63% => OK
Chars per sentence: 129.1875 118.986275619 109% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.75 23.4991977007 105% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.6875 5.21951772744 71% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.97078651685 101% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 7.80617977528 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 5.0 10.2758426966 49% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 5.13820224719 78% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 7.0 4.83258426966 145% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.255172116126 0.243740707755 105% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0985506813617 0.0831039109588 119% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0639439580894 0.0758088955206 84% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.161987694173 0.150359130593 108% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.031354215764 0.0667264976115 47% => Paragraphs are similar to each other. Some content may get duplicated or it is not exactly right on the topic.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.5 14.1392134831 110% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 38.66 48.8420337079 79% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.92365168539 111% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.8 12.1743820225 113% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.29 12.1639044944 109% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.3 8.38706741573 99% => OK
difficult_words: 87.0 100.480337079 87% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.5 11.8971910112 122% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 11.2143820225 103% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.7820224719 119% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 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.
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 4 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 6 2
No. of Sentences: 16 15
No. of Words: 398 350
No. of Characters: 2020 1500
No. of Different Words: 173 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.467 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.075 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.923 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 149 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 115 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 85 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 63 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 24.875 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 6.412 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.75 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.383 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.601 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.114 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 281, Rule ID: FEWER_LESS[2]
Message: Did you mean 'fewer'? The noun headaches is countable.
Suggestion: fewer
...ming salicylates does, in fact, lead to less headaches. Researchers will be able to ...
^^^^
Line 5, column 411, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: shouldn't
...h the rise of the usage of salicylates, shouldnt the other kinds additives also have a p...
^^^^^^^^
Line 5, column 475, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... additives also have a possible affect? Another factor to consider is that the s...
^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, first, if, may, so, thus, while, for example, in fact
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 13.0 19.5258426966 67% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 13.0 12.4196629213 105% => OK
Conjunction : 4.0 14.8657303371 27% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 10.0 11.3162921348 88% => OK
Pronoun: 23.0 33.0505617978 70% => OK
Preposition: 61.0 58.6224719101 104% => OK
Nominalization: 12.0 12.9106741573 93% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2067.0 2235.4752809 92% => OK
No of words: 396.0 442.535393258 89% => More content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.2196969697 5.05705443957 103% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.46091344257 4.55969084622 98% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.99367062651 2.79657885939 107% => OK
Unique words: 180.0 215.323595506 84% => More unique words wanted.
Unique words percentage: 0.454545454545 0.4932671777 92% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 661.5 704.065955056 94% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59117977528 107% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 4.0 6.24550561798 64% => OK
Article: 4.0 4.99550561798 80% => OK
Subordination: 8.0 3.10617977528 258% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.77640449438 56% => OK
Preposition: 3.0 4.38483146067 68% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 16.0 20.2370786517 79% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 24.0 23.0359550562 104% => OK
Sentence length SD: 38.2707766285 60.3974514979 63% => OK
Chars per sentence: 129.1875 118.986275619 109% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.75 23.4991977007 105% => OK
Discourse Markers: 3.6875 5.21951772744 71% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.97078651685 101% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 7.80617977528 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 5.0 10.2758426966 49% => More positive sentences wanted.
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 5.13820224719 78% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 7.0 4.83258426966 145% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.255172116126 0.243740707755 105% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0985506813617 0.0831039109588 119% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0639439580894 0.0758088955206 84% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.161987694173 0.150359130593 108% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.031354215764 0.0667264976115 47% => Paragraphs are similar to each other. Some content may get duplicated or it is not exactly right on the topic.
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.5 14.1392134831 110% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 38.66 48.8420337079 79% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.92365168539 111% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 13.8 12.1743820225 113% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.29 12.1639044944 109% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.3 8.38706741573 99% => OK
difficult_words: 87.0 100.480337079 87% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.5 11.8971910112 122% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 11.2143820225 103% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.7820224719 119% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 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.