In a study of the reading habits of Waymarsh citizens conducted by the University of Waymarsh, most respondents said that they preferred literary classics as reading material. However, a second study conducted by the same researchers found that the type of book most frequently checked out of each of the public libraries in Waymarsh was the mystery novel. Therefore, it can be concluded that the respondents in the first study had misrepresented their reading habits.
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.
The author argues that, since the results of the two studies about reading preferences conducted in Waymarsh are contradictory, the respondents of the first study had misrepresented their reading habits. Though his claim may well have merit, the author presents a poorly reasoned argument, based on several questionable premises and assumptions.
Firstly, the author fails to provide details about the study conducted by the University of Waymarsh. The types of questions asked, whether choices were given for replies, or the respondent was required to write his own answer, the number of questions asked, the mode of survey whether oral, written or online and whether Waymarsh’s reading community was adequetely represented are left to the reader’s imagination. The survey could have included specific answer choices, forcing the respondent to select one among them and thereby not effectively gathering data from the respondents. Likewise, a written survey is likely to have attracted only participants from an older age group since youngsters would such tasks unworthy of their time.
Furthermore, the author mentions that the second study indicated that the book most frequently checked out of the public libraries belonged to the mystery genre. It is entirely possible that the public libraries had a very limited collection of literary classics, thereby urging the readers to prefer mstery novels.
Additionally, high borrowing charges for the classics section, would have swayed the readers to the mystery section.The author would have done well to provide evidence to prove that the members of the public libraries preferred the mystery novels to literary classics as the first study indicated.
In conclusion, the author presents an unconvincing argument. Minutiate regarding the two studies conducted and the availability of books in the public libraries would help one to evaluate his argument.
Sentence: Likewise, a written survey is likely to have attracted only participants from an older age group since youngsters would such tasks unworthy of their time.
Description: A modal auxillary is not usually followed by an adjective
Suggestion: Refer to would and such
Sentence: The author argues that, since the results of the two studies about reading preferences conducted in Waymarsh are contradictory, the respondents of the first study had misrepresented their reading habits.
Error: misrepresented Suggestion: No alternate word
Sentence: The types of questions asked, whether choices were given for replies, or the respondent was required to write his own answer, the number of questions asked, the mode of survey whether oral, written or online and whether Waymarsh's reading community was adequetely represented are left to the reader's imagination.
Error: adequetely Suggestion: adequately
Sentence: It is entirely possible that the public libraries had a very limited collection of literary classics, thereby urging the readers to prefer mstery novels.
Error: mstery Suggestion: mystery
flaws:
No. of Words: 292 350
No. of Different Words: 158 200
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.727 0.12
Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 1 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 3 2
No. of Sentences: 11 15
No. of Words: 292 350
No. of Characters: 1582 1500
No. of Different Words: 158 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.134 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.418 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.73 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 131 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 101 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 68 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 42 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 26.545 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 11.5 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.727 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.386 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.677 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.11 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5