The following editorial appeared in the Broomall County Times-Picayune:"The Gordon Act, which established a wildlife refuge in the Big Dark Swamp, is currently up for reauthorization. The act prohibits the building of roads or cutting of old growth trees

Essay topics:

The following editorial appeared in the Broomall County Times-Picayune:

"The Gordon Act, which established a wildlife refuge in the Big Dark Swamp, is currently up for reauthorization. The act prohibits the building of roads or cutting of old growth trees in the swamp, though it permits hunting. Many blamed logging activities for the decline of the bird population, especially that of the dappled grackle. The grackle population has continued to decline since the passage of the law, demonstrating that the Gordon Act has not been sufficient to protect the species. Another nearby refuge, the Wayne County Marsh Habitat, bans all mining, logging, and hunting. Wayne County officials have not reported a decline in the grackle population there. This proves that hunting, not logging, was responsible for the population drop in Broomall County. Thus, Broomall County should not reauthorize the Gordon Act unless it is amended to include the same provisions as those in Wayne County."

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 author argues that the Gordon Act should not be reauthorized until some amendments are made to include the same provisions as those in the wayne county. The author believes that the decline of bird population especially that of the dappled grackle is mainly due to hunting which is leagal according to the Gordon act. The authors argument rests on assumptions that have implications if the assumptions are proven to be unwarranted.

First, the author assumes that the habitats of the Wayne county marsh and The big dark swamp are the same. The wayne county marsh's habitat might vary hugely from that of the big dark swamp. It may be the case that the the habitat of wayne county is more suitable for certain bird species like the grackle. If that is the case then even after prohibiting hunting there would not be any significant improvements in the population of the bird species like the grackle.

Second the author says that hunting has been the main reason for the decline in the grackle population. He states this based on a comparision between both the countys but does not provide compelling evidence to rule out the possibility of any other causes. But he doesn't provide compelling evidence to show that hunting was in fact the sole reason for the decline in the population of the grackle.

Another assumption that the author makes is that the population of grackles in both the county is comparable.The Wayne countys population may be way less than that of the big dark swamp.If the case was that the as many as 1000 grackles inhabited the big dark swamp wheraas only 20 inhabited the wayne county. In a population of 1000 some birds might perish due to various reasons but when the size of the population is significantly less then there might be no or very few deaths. If this was the case then the authors recomendation would not have any effect on the decline of the grackle population.

The authors recommendation that the Gordan act should not be reauthorized until it includes provisions similar to that of Wayne county is flawed and needs to provide more specific evidence inorder for the recommendation to be considered.

Votes
Average: 7 (2 votes)
This essay topic by users
Post date Users Rates Link to Content
2013-06-11 prifriendz 80 view
2013-03-10 sainathreddy92 70 view
2012-07-22 NP578 88 view
Essay Categories
Essays by user sainathreddy92 :

Comments

Sentence: It may be the case that the the habitat of wayne county is more suitable for certain bird species like the grackle.
Description: The token the is not usually followed by an article
Suggestion: Refer to the and the

Sentence: The author believes that the decline of bird population especially that of the dappled grackle is mainly due to hunting which is leagal according to the Gordon act.
Error: leagal Suggestion: legal

Sentence: If this was the case then the authors recomendation would not have any effect on the decline of the grackle population.
Error: recomendation Suggestion: recommendation

Sentence: The authors recommendation that the Gordan act should not be reauthorized until it includes provisions similar to that of Wayne county is flawed and needs to provide more specific evidence inorder for the recommendation to be considered.
Error: inorder Suggestion: No alternate word

Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 4.0 out of 6
Category: Satisfactory Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 1 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 3 2
No. of Sentences: 14 15
No. of Words: 372 350
No. of Characters: 1754 1500
No. of Different Words: 157 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.392 4.7
Average Word Length: 4.715 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.614 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 116 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 85 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 47 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 36 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 26.571 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 10.005 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.714 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.404 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.652 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.165 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5