The following appeared in the summary of a study on headaches suffered by the residents of Mentia.
"Salicylates are members of the same chemical family as aspirin, a medicine used to treat headaches. Although many foods are naturally rich in salicylates, for the past several decades, food-processing companies have also been adding salicylates to foods as preservatives. This rise in the commercial use of salicylates has been found to correlate with a steady decline in the average number of headaches reported by participants in our twenty-year study. Recently, food-processing companies have found that salicylates can also be used as flavor additives for foods. With this new use for salicylates, we can expect a continued steady decline in the number of headaches suffered by the average citizen of Mentia."
Write a response in which you examine the stated and/or unstated assumptions of the argument. Be sure to explain how the argument depends on these assumptions and what the implications are for the argument if the assumptions prove unwarranted.
The argument stated above is faulty for numerous reasons. Essentially, the author rests the argument on a foundationless assumption that the increased usage of salicylates is a sufficient amount of evidence to conclude a study. Concluding the decline in headaches in Mentia based on the prior stated assumption is unreasonable.
First, the argument does not offer any specifics of the study conducted. To start, it is not mentioned how the level of headaches was measured in the study. It is possible that the data subsumed in the study, were a result of self-reporting from the people of Mentia. But in self-reporting studies, individuals tend to be either untruthful or not completely fixed on an answer. Including a mixture of answers that are not fully accurate in the study, could render the study unreliable. Moreover, the argument fails to state the population that the study focuses on. Could it be that those encompassed in the experiment were those who are not prone to headaches in the first place? If this is the case, this is a misrepresentation of residents suffering from headaches in Mentia. On the other hand, if the study presented what population was included in the study, the argument would hold more validity. In either case, the study would still lack authenticity due to the unmeasurable method of self-declaration for the decline in headaches by the residents.
Going forward, the argument also fails to address other issues presented. Assume that the study discovers a method that allows for accurate measurements of headaches, the argument would still fail to consider other factors that could lead to the same results as the study. For one, salicylates are members of the same family group as aspirin, but these two chemicals can have differing effects. There is a possibility that salicylates actually have insidious impacts on the human body and it is too soon to display the actual effects of salicylates. It is also possible that salicylates play no factor in pain-relieving at all. If any of these statements were true, the argument is without basis. Additionally, the study does not take into account other factors that could be demonstrating a decline in headaches. For instance, factors such as more exercise or a decrease in everyday screen time could be playing a role in the downward trend in headaches. The failure of considering other factors influencing the study, illustrates a lack of correlation between the decline in headaches and salicylates. However, if researchers shed light on the effects of aspirin and salicylates on the human body, it would allow the argument to be more plausible. But it is still difficult to halt all influences of additional factors disrupting the study.
Lastly, the argument states many undescriptive claims. The author states “This rise in the commercial use of salicylates has been found to correlate with a steady decline in the average number of headaches reported by participants in our twenty-year study.” But the author does not mention who “our” is referring to. It could be scientists that conducted this study, but it could also be high school students. Because the argument fails to address this issue, the argument holds to be less valid.
As a result of the various unwarranted presumptions made by the argument, the author fails to compile a compelling case to believe that the decline in headaches in Mentia is due to an increased usage of salicylates.
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Comments
e-rater score report
Attribute Value Ideal
Final score: 3.0 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 0 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 30 15
No. of Words: 566 350
No. of Characters: 2816 1500
No. of Different Words: 245 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.878 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.975 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.966 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 192 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 157 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 117 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 83 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 18.867 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 7.182 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.667 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.312 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.457 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.073 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 5, column 1033, Rule ID: A_LOT_OF_NN[1]
Message: Possible agreement error. The noun correlation seems to be countable; consider using: 'a lack of correlations'.
Suggestion: a lack of correlations
...tors influencing the study, illustrates a lack of correlation between the decline in headaches and sa...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, first, however, if, lastly, moreover, so, still, then, for instance, such as, as a result, in the first place, on the other hand
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 31.0 19.6327345309 158% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 12.0 12.9520958084 93% => OK
Conjunction : 10.0 11.1786427146 89% => OK
Relative clauses : 15.0 13.6137724551 110% => OK
Pronoun: 33.0 28.8173652695 115% => OK
Preposition: 83.0 55.5748502994 149% => OK
Nominalization: 24.0 16.3942115768 146% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 2901.0 2260.96107784 128% => OK
No of words: 566.0 441.139720559 128% => OK
Chars per words: 5.12544169611 5.12650576532 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.87757670434 4.56307096286 107% => OK
Word Length SD: 3.04153726663 2.78398813304 109% => OK
Unique words: 254.0 204.123752495 124% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.448763250883 0.468620217663 96% => OK
syllable_count: 925.2 705.55239521 131% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.59920159681 100% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 6.0 4.96107784431 121% => OK
Article: 15.0 8.76447105788 171% => OK
Subordination: 6.0 2.70958083832 221% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 4.0 1.67365269461 239% => Less conjunction wanted as sentence beginning.
Preposition: 3.0 4.22255489022 71% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 29.0 19.7664670659 147% => OK
Sentence length: 19.0 22.8473053892 83% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively short.
Sentence length SD: 48.4995065986 57.8364921388 84% => OK
Chars per sentence: 100.034482759 119.503703932 84% => OK
Words per sentence: 19.5172413793 23.324526521 84% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.13793103448 5.70786347227 90% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 5.15768463074 97% => OK
Language errors: 1.0 5.25449101796 19% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 5.0 8.20758483034 61% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 14.0 6.88822355289 203% => Less negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 10.0 4.67664670659 214% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.194387289121 0.218282227539 89% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0533952301637 0.0743258471296 72% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0520241446926 0.0701772020484 74% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.105314015877 0.128457276422 82% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0343359648636 0.0628817314937 55% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.5 14.3799401198 87% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 52.19 48.3550499002 108% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.7 12.197005988 88% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.47 12.5979740519 99% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.32 8.32208582834 100% => OK
difficult_words: 134.0 98.500998004 136% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 8.5 12.3882235529 69% => OK
gunning_fog: 9.6 11.1389221557 86% => OK
text_standard: 9.0 11.9071856287 76% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Rates: 50.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.0 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.