Essay topics: Task1: Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they cast doubt on the specific theories discussed in the reading passage.
Reading:
As early as the twelfth century A.D., the settlements of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico in the American southwest were notable for their “great houses,” massive stone buildings that contain hundreds of rooms and often stand three or four stories high. Archaeologists have been trying to determine how the buildings were used. While there is still no universally agreed upon explanation, there are three competing theories.
One theory holds that the Chaco structures were purely residential, with each housing hundreds of people. Supporters of this theory have interpreted Chaco great houses as earlier versions of the architecture seen in more recent Southwest societies. In particular, the Chaco houses appears strikingly similar to the large, well-known “apartment buildings” at Taos, New Mexico, in which many people have been living for centuries.
A second theory contends that the Chaco structures were used to store food supplies. One of the main crops of the Chaco people were grain maize, which could be stored for long periods of time without spoiling and could serve as a long-lasting supply of food. The supplies of maize had to be stored somewhere, and the size of the great houses would make them very suitable for the purpose.
A third theory proposes that houses were used as ceremonial centers. Close to one house, called Pueblo Alto, archeologists identified an enormous mound formed by a pile of old material. Excavations of the mound revealed deposits containing a surprisingly large number of broken pots. This finding has been interpreted as evidence that people gathered at Pueblo Alto for special ceremonies. At the ceremonies, they ate festive meals and then discarded the pots in which the meals had been prepared or served. Such ceremonies have been documented for other Native American cultures.
The reading says that Archaeologists have been trying to find out the main purpose of the Chaco houses. The reading proposes three competing theories. However, in the lecture, the professor says that non of the reading’s arguments are convincing. He refutes each of the reading’s claims.
First of all, the reading asserts that one theory states that the Chaco structures were purely residential. As a support it refers that the building structure looks like the large well-known apartment buildings at Taos, where many people have been living for centuries. In the lecture, the professor refutes this by saying that the outside view of the Chaco houses are similar to those apartment buildings, but the inside of the great houses cost doubt on this claim. Inside of those buildings there is enough room for 100 families to live, while there is few fire places in each building, which could only cover the daily need of just 10 families.
Second, the reading pushes forth the idea that the Chaco structures were used as a food storage. The professor refutes this point by saying that this claim is not supported by evidence. He says that in the excavation of those buildings, researchers did not find any evidence to support this claim. If those buildings were used to store maize, it should be some remain of maize or big container inside the buildings, but excavators did not find anything. Therefore this statement is off.
Finally, the reading mentions that the Chaco structures may be used as a ceremonial centers, since excavation of a mound next to a building revealed a large number of broken pots. The professor contradicts this claim by stating that researchers found lots of other materials on the mound next to the buildings, such as building materials. Thus, it is possible that the mound was a place for trash and the pots were used bu construction workers.
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were used bu construction workers.
were used by construction workers.
flaws:
No. of Words: 316 250
Write the essay in 20 minutes. //Less contents wanted from the reading passages(25%) but more content wanted from the lecture (75%). So some contents can be removed from the second paragraph.
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Attribute Value Ideal
Score: 24 in 30
Category: Good Excellent
No. of Grammatical Errors: 1 2
No. of Spelling Errors: 0 2
No. of Sentences: 16 12
No. of Words: 316 250
No. of Characters: 1521 1200
No. of Different Words: 159 150
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 4.216 4.2
Average Word Length: 4.813 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.504 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 100 80
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 76 60
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 54 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 40 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 19.75 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 8.969 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.625 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.352 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.556 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.126 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 4 4