The following appeared in a memo from a vice president of a large, highly diversified company.
"Ten years ago our company had two new office buildings constructed as regional headquarters for two regions. The buildings were erected by different construction companies—Alpha and Zeta. Although the two buildings had identical floor plans, the building constructed by Zeta cost 30 percent more to build. However, that building's expenses for maintenance last year were only half those of Alpha's. Furthermore, the energy consumption of the Zeta building has been lower than that of the Alpha building every year since its construction. Such data indicate that we should use Zeta rather than Alpha for our contemplated new building project, even though Alpha's bid promises lower construction costs."
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 vice president states in the memo that the company intends to hire Zeta for the new building project in spite of lower construction costs bid by Alpha. The supporting evidence for this argument is that even though Zeta's budget was hire for the construction, maintenance costs and energy consumption of the Zeta building was lower than the Alpha building. At the outset, these evidence seem justified, but there are some unanswered questions that first need to be addressed before going through with the proposed plan.
First of all, the author of the memo does not consider natural regional differences that could have affected the costs incurred in these buildings. There is no information on the regional characteristics of the area where the buildings are situated, which could significantly affect costs. For all we know, the simple reason that Zeta's building cost 30 percent more could be because it is located in a mountainous region or the ground was not level. Topological discrepancies could have easily incurred differences in cost. With this logic in mind, the weather conditions of each region could have just have easily affected the difference in maintenance budgets. The fact that Zeta building's maintenance expenses were lower than Alpha's last year could be because there was an unexpected amount of huge rainfalls in Alpha building's region, causing this building's expenses to go up. Furthermore, the Zeta building could be located in a tropical area where the range of the temperature isn't significant, but the yearly weather in the Alpha building's location could differ from extreme colds in the winter to scorching desert-like heat in the summer. This could tremendously affect the huge energy consumption of the Alpha building. Unless topological characteristics and weather conditions are accounted for each building, the memo's evidence is essentially weak.
Regarding regional differences, man-made discrepancies could have also played a part in the result. Once again, since there is no information on where each of these building are located, how the laws are enacted in each area is not provided either. The construction cost for the Zeta building could have been higher because the area had numerous strict regulations causing the company to pay fines and various payments for permits. They could have stronger rules because earthquakes are frequent in the region, requiring the need for more sturdy buildings. As for maintenance costs, the Alpha building could be located in a more metropolitan area which has just raised its bills for water and electricity last year. Unless the vice president traces down the rules and regulations of each region, which are crucial factors for costs, the evidence given is not conclusive.
Also, the difference in energy consumption could simply be because of the different types of work carried out in each building. Even though the floor plan is the same for both buildings, as the company is highly diversified, each branch could be working in a different industry. The reason for high energy consumption for the Zeta building could be because it is an IT division, and they have placed servers which have to be run 24 hours everyday. On the other hand, the offices in the Alpha building could be more reliant on manual labor, which wouldn't consume energy as much as the branch in the Zeta building. Therefore, the information about what each branch in each building does should be considered in order to make sure the vice president has made an informed decision.
In conclusion, even though the given memo seems to make a cogent case, when investigated deeply, there are many flaws and missing evidence that need to be provided firsthand. There is so much information that we don't know about the characteristics of the regions, topological and legal, and what the offices in each building does. More detailed information about the elements that affect the costs in the building should be given first.
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Comments
Essay evaluation report
argument 1 -- OK, but better to compare the cost of A and B. suppose Zeta and Alpha has same weather conditions/salary conditions.
A: the cost which is 30 percent more to build for zeta
B: expenses for maintenance last year were only half those of Alpha's
argument 2 -- duplicated to argument 1 and same issues.
argument 3 -- OK
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Need to argue against the conclusion always. For this topic it is:
Such data indicate that we should use Zeta rather than Alpha for our contemplated new building project, even though Alpha's bid promises lower construction costs.
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Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.5 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 26 15
No. of Words: 650 350
No. of Characters: 3273 1500
No. of Different Words: 270 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 5.049 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.035 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.724 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 223 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 166 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 126 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 75 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 25 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.385 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.462 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.342 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.506 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.115 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 3, column 848, Rule ID: THIS_NNS[1]
Message: Did you mean 'these'?
Suggestion: these
...alls in Alpha buildings region, causing this buildings expenses to go up. Furthermor...
^^^^
Line 3, column 984, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: isn't
...area where the range of the temperature isnt significant, but the yearly weather in ...
^^^^
Line 7, column 364, Rule ID: DT_PRP[1]
Message: Possible typo. Did you mean 'an' or 'IT'?
Suggestion: an; IT
...he Zeta building could be because it is an IT division, and they have placed servers ...
^^^^^
Line 7, column 439, Rule ID: EVERYDAY_EVERY_DAY[3]
Message: 'Everyday' is an adjective. Did you mean 'every day'?
Suggestion: every day
...d servers which have to be run 24 hours everyday. On the other hand, the offices in the ...
^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 547, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: wouldn't
... be more reliant on manual labor, which wouldnt consume energy as much as the branch in...
^^^^^^^
Line 9, column 213, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: don't
...d. There is so much information that we dont know about the characteristics of the r...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, furthermore, if, regarding, so, therefore, as for, in conclusion, first of all, in spite of, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 38.0 19.5258426966 195% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 22.0 12.4196629213 177% => OK
Conjunction : 12.0 14.8657303371 81% => OK
Relative clauses : 18.0 11.3162921348 159% => OK
Pronoun: 24.0 33.0505617978 73% => OK
Preposition: 68.0 58.6224719101 116% => OK
Nominalization: 25.0 12.9106741573 194% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3337.0 2235.4752809 149% => OK
No of words: 647.0 442.535393258 146% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.15765069552 5.05705443957 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.04343084457 4.55969084622 111% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.77117219435 2.79657885939 99% => OK
Unique words: 272.0 215.323595506 126% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.420401854714 0.4932671777 85% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 1021.5 704.065955056 145% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59117977528 101% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 6.24550561798 48% => OK
Article: 15.0 4.99550561798 300% => Less articles wanted as sentence beginning.
Subordination: 8.0 3.10617977528 258% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 4.0 1.77640449438 225% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 6.0 4.38483146067 137% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 26.0 20.2370786517 128% => OK
Sentence length: 24.0 23.0359550562 104% => OK
Sentence length SD: 39.3114554875 60.3974514979 65% => OK
Chars per sentence: 128.346153846 118.986275619 108% => OK
Words per sentence: 24.8846153846 23.4991977007 106% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.92307692308 5.21951772744 94% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.97078651685 101% => OK
Language errors: 6.0 7.80617977528 77% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 12.0 10.2758426966 117% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 9.0 5.13820224719 175% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 5.0 4.83258426966 103% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.203717743587 0.243740707755 84% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0703063083241 0.0831039109588 85% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0461586771501 0.0758088955206 61% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.128892339587 0.150359130593 86% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0251195026058 0.0667264976115 38% => 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: 15.3 14.1392134831 108% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 47.12 48.8420337079 96% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.92365168539 111% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 12.7 12.1743820225 104% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.94 12.1639044944 106% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.15 8.38706741573 97% => OK
difficult_words: 136.0 100.480337079 135% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 13.0 11.8971910112 109% => OK
gunning_fog: 11.6 11.2143820225 103% => OK
text_standard: 13.0 11.7820224719 110% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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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.