Several years ago, Groveton College adopted an honor code, which calls for students to agree not to cheat in their academic endeavors and to notify a faculty member if they suspect that others have cheated. Groveton's honor code replaced a system in which teachers closely monitored students. Under that system, teachers reported an average of thirty cases of cheating per year. The honor code has proven far more successful: in the first year it was in place, students reported twenty-one cases of cheating; five years later, this figure had dropped to fourteen. Moreover, in a recent survey, a majority of Groveton students said that they would be less likely to cheat with an honor code in place than without. Such evidence suggests that all colleges and universities should adopt honor codes similar to Groveton's. This change is sure to result in a dramatic decline in cheating among college students.
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the recommendation is likely to have the predicted result. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the recommendation.
The argument given above recommends that all colleges and universities adopt an honor code system like Groveton College if they wish to see a dramatic decline in cheating among college students. The author states that ever since Groveton College abandoned their old system in favor of an honor code, they have witnessed a gradual decline over the years in cases of cheating among their students. Moreover, a survey indicates that most Groveton students state they would be less likely to cheat with an honor code in place than without one. While this recommendation and the evidence it is based on appear reasonable, three questions must be answered to properly evaluate whether the recommendation will have the predicted result.
First of all, are Groveton students similar to students at all colleges and universities? In other words, can circumstances and characteristics from Groveton be used to make generalizations and predictions about all other colleges and universities? It is highly possible that students who attend Groveton College are not similar at all to students at other colleges and universities. Furthermore, there is a likely possibility that other colleges and universities have a more successful method for deterring cheating. Perhaps, most colleges and universities employ a system in which students are highly penalized if caught cheating; whole letter grades are immediately deducted from the specific assignment or exam. It is also a likely possibility that Groveton students are much different than students from all other colleges and universities. Maybe, many of Groveton College students are on scholarships from the college that pay for a significant portion of their tuition as well as room and board and if they are caught cheating a certain number of times their scholarship can be revoked. If any of these scenarios have merit, then the recommendation proposed and the argument upon which it is based is severely weakened.
Secondly, is the survey a reliable and valid measure of Groveton college students’ views? The survey itself as well as the results are highly suspect because of the lack of information provided. For instance, simply because most of the Groveton students said they would be less likely to cheat does not mean we can take their words at face value. Perhaps, many of the students lied in the survey to conceal that they have developed a better system for cheating one in which students cover for one another to get better grades. Moreover, the survey could have asked students whether they would want to have the honor system or cameras installed in each classroom. The survey could have been designed in a biased towards the honor code, lacking several different alternative systems to choose from. Unless the survey is fully valid, reliable, and objective, then the survey cannot be used to effectively back the author’s argument.
Finally, what if the adoption of the honor code is not responsible for the gradual decline in the cases of cheating at Groveton College? The author states that at least several years have passed since the implementation of the honor code, it is reasonable to assume that the students who attended the college when they had the previous system have either dropped out or graduated. Therefore, it is highly likely that the students are different, more diligent, and earnest in their academic endeavors. Additionally, the buildings at the college may have undergone drastic renovations throughout the years in which classrooms have become bigger allowing for desks to be more spaced out from one another. If the students or the buildings have undergone the changes above, then the honor system cannot be given the credit for the fewer cases of cheating.
In sum, while the author’s recommendation has some merit, it is seriously hampered by its reliance on several unsubstantiated assumptions. If the author is able to answer the three questions above and offer more evidence, then it will be possible to fully evaluate the viability of the proposed recommendation to include the honor code system in all colleges and universities.
Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 6 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 2 2
No. of Sentences: 26 15
No. of Words: 665 350
No. of Characters: 3395 1500
No. of Different Words: 260 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 5.078 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.105 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.767 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 252 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 194 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 147 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 65 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 25.577 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.667 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.846 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.344 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.536 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.128 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 791, Rule ID: RATHER_THEN[2]
Message: Did you mean 'different 'from''? 'Different than' is often considered colloquial style.
Suggestion: from
...at Groveton students are much different than students from all other colleges and un...
^^^^
Line 5, column 744, Rule ID: NUMEROUS_DIFFERENT[1]
Message: Use simply 'several'.
Suggestion: several
... biased towards the honor code, lacking several different alternative systems to choose from. Unl...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, finally, first, furthermore, if, may, moreover, second, secondly, so, then, therefore, well, while, at least, for instance, as well as, first of all, in other words
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 32.0 19.6327345309 163% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 14.0 12.9520958084 108% => OK
Conjunction : 22.0 11.1786427146 197% => OK
Relative clauses : 18.0 13.6137724551 132% => OK
Pronoun: 38.0 28.8173652695 132% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 83.0 55.5748502994 149% => OK
Nominalization: 18.0 16.3942115768 110% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3474.0 2260.96107784 154% => OK
No of words: 665.0 441.139720559 151% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.22406015038 5.12650576532 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.07814867018 4.56307096286 111% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.8625647013 2.78398813304 103% => OK
Unique words: 274.0 204.123752495 134% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.412030075188 0.468620217663 88% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 1112.4 705.55239521 158% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.7 1.59920159681 106% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 6.0 4.96107784431 121% => OK
Article: 8.0 8.76447105788 91% => OK
Subordination: 6.0 2.70958083832 221% => 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: 26.0 19.7664670659 132% => OK
Sentence length: 25.0 22.8473053892 109% => OK
Sentence length SD: 43.1653796462 57.8364921388 75% => OK
Chars per sentence: 133.615384615 119.503703932 112% => OK
Words per sentence: 25.5769230769 23.324526521 110% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.53846153846 5.70786347227 115% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 2.0 5.25449101796 38% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 12.0 8.20758483034 146% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 7.0 6.88822355289 102% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 7.0 4.67664670659 150% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.431777344053 0.218282227539 198% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.135366244719 0.0743258471296 182% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0805657032048 0.0701772020484 115% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.260148242103 0.128457276422 203% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0935247230337 0.0628817314937 149% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 15.9 14.3799401198 111% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 37.64 48.3550499002 78% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 14.2 12.197005988 116% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.29 12.5979740519 105% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.15 8.32208582834 98% => OK
difficult_words: 138.0 98.500998004 140% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.0 12.3882235529 113% => OK
gunning_fog: 12.0 11.1389221557 108% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.9071856287 118% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Write the essay in 30 minutes.
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.