According to a recent report, cheating among college and university students is on the rise. However, Groveton College has successfully reduced student cheating by adopting 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. In the first year the honor code 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. Thus, all colleges and universities should adopt honor codes similar to Groveton's in order to decrease cheating among students.
The author of the argument indicates that all colleges and universities should adopt honor codes similar to groveton's in order to decrease cheating among students. To buttress his/her argument, the author cites the following evidences: first, under honor code, teachers can monitor students closely and report the cheating; second, cheating reported has declined from twenty-one to fourteen after five years; third, many groveton students said that they would be less likely to cheat in a recent survey. Tough the issue has its merit, due to lack of relevant evidences and unaddressed assumptions, the conclusion is unsubstantiated and flawed.
To begin with, the author argues that under honor code system, the reported cheating has decreased from 21 to 14 over the recent five years, thus substatiating the strength of honor code. The argument may seem valid at first glance, after further examination, it is fallacious. The cheating reported is not necessarily the correct indication of the exact cheating numbers. What if some cases of cheating are not reported? Since the amount of real cheating is not measured, we are unable to make any comparsion. The author also fails to consider the change over the five years. The students in groveton can be in general more honest due to their previous education or learning from their parents. if this happens, then the declined number of cheating is not related to honor code. In addition, the author simply argues that cheating is rising, without showing the origin and source of reports. we can doubt whether it is true in all universities and colleges. without well-designed experiment of cheating under students with same quality, the conclusion made by the author is not convincing.
Moreover, a recent survey might not be a persuasive evidence to support the goodness of honor code. we are not given detailed information of the survey, including questionaries, students who accepted the survey, sample space and so on. For example, the survey might be only based on 10 students, with 8 students advocating the usage of honor code. even though huge percentage of students have less tendency to cheat, these ten individuals are not representative of all students in groveton. The survey could be 10 page long with only one question related to honor code. students then can be careless when answering the question in front of overwhelming problems. Because the author does not offer the comprensive survey of all groups of students, the argument is invalid.
Last but not least, the author unfairly applies honor code to the all the colleges and universities. The characteristics of different colleges and universities can vary a lot. even if honor code is proven to be useful in groveton, no evidence shows that it will be equally feasible in other colleges. For example, if a university already has its standard judgement and panelty for cheating, then honor code could be useless or even counterproductive.
To sum up, as it stands, the assumptions are based on several questionable evidences that curtail the credibility of the argument. To further strengthen the realiability, the author is suggested to provide the eviedences as follows: first, comparison before and after the application of honor code is warranted; second, the survey regarding with honor code is well designed by experts and is a strong indicator of opinions of all groups of students; finally, honor code can be widely used even under different circumstances.
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Comments
Essay evaluation report
argument 1 -- OK
argument 2 -- not OK. from this:
'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. '
we may argue like:
1. this survey is for Groveton students only, not including incoming students for example.
2. the survey need to compare another survey in which teachers closely monitored students
argument 3 -- OK
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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: 20 15
No. of Words: 564 350
No. of Characters: 2852 1500
No. of Different Words: 258 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.873 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.057 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.801 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 212 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 163 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 129 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 57 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 28.2 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 14.362 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.75 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.342 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.544 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.127 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 4, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...on is unsubstantiated and flawed. To begin with, the author argues that un...
^^
Line 4, column 699, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: If
...ucation or learning from their parents. if this happens, then the declined number ...
^^
Line 4, column 896, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: We
...owing the origin and source of reports. we can doubt whether it is true in all uni...
^^
Line 4, column 962, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Without
... true in all universities and colleges. without well-designed experiment of cheating un...
^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
... by the author is not convincing. Moreover, a recent survey might not be a...
^^^
Line 7, column 104, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: We
... to support the goodness of honor code. we are not given detailed information of t...
^^
Line 7, column 352, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Even
...nts advocating the usage of honor code. even though huge percentage of students have...
^^^^
Line 7, column 518, Rule ID: CD_NN[1]
Message: Possible agreement error. The noun 'page' seems to be countable, so consider using: 'pages'.
Suggestion: pages
...nts in groveton. The survey could be 10 page long with only one question related to ...
^^^^
Line 7, column 574, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Students
...nly one question related to honor code. students then can be careless when answering the...
^^^^^^^^
Line 7, column 776, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...s of students, the argument is invalid. Last but not least, the author unfairl...
^^^^^^^^
Line 10, column 179, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Even
...lleges and universities can vary a lot. even if honor code is proven to be useful in...
^^^^
Line 10, column 454, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...d be useless or even counterproductive. To sum up, as it stands, the assumptio...
^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, finally, first, if, may, moreover, regarding, second, so, then, third, thus, well, for example, in addition, in general, it is true, to begin with, to sum up
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 29.0 19.6327345309 148% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 14.0 12.9520958084 108% => OK
Conjunction : 15.0 11.1786427146 134% => OK
Relative clauses : 8.0 13.6137724551 59% => More relative clauses wanted.
Pronoun: 22.0 28.8173652695 76% => OK
Preposition: 82.0 55.5748502994 148% => OK
Nominalization: 17.0 16.3942115768 104% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2971.0 2260.96107784 131% => OK
No of words: 563.0 441.139720559 128% => OK
Chars per words: 5.27708703375 5.12650576532 103% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.87110059796 4.56307096286 107% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.95467582885 2.78398813304 106% => OK
Unique words: 278.0 204.123752495 136% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.49378330373 0.468620217663 105% => OK
syllable_count: 917.1 705.55239521 130% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 5.0 4.96107784431 101% => OK
Article: 20.0 8.76447105788 228% => Less articles wanted as sentence beginning.
Subordination: 8.0 2.70958083832 295% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 0.0 1.67365269461 0% => OK
Preposition: 9.0 4.22255489022 213% => Less preposition wanted as sentence beginnings.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 27.0 19.7664670659 137% => OK
Sentence length: 20.0 22.8473053892 88% => OK
Sentence length SD: 74.6215141254 57.8364921388 129% => OK
Chars per sentence: 110.037037037 119.503703932 92% => OK
Words per sentence: 20.8518518519 23.324526521 89% => OK
Discourse Markers: 6.22222222222 5.70786347227 109% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 12.0 5.25449101796 228% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 10.0 8.20758483034 122% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 15.0 6.88822355289 218% => Less negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 2.0 4.67664670659 43% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.346127319909 0.218282227539 159% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.10060905645 0.0743258471296 135% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0765206452782 0.0701772020484 109% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.205513152201 0.128457276422 160% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0938830526724 0.0628817314937 149% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.9 14.3799401198 97% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 51.18 48.3550499002 106% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.1 12.197005988 91% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 13.34 12.5979740519 106% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.47 8.32208582834 102% => OK
difficult_words: 137.0 98.500998004 139% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 19.0 12.3882235529 153% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.0 11.1389221557 90% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.9071856287 118% => 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.