dotherms are animals such as modern birds and mammals that keep their body temperatures constant. For instance, humans are endotherms and maintain an internal temperature of 37°C, no matter whether the environment is warm or cold. Because dinosaurs were reptiles, and modern reptiles are not endotherms, it was long assumed that dinosaurs were not endotherms. However, dinosaurs differ in many ways from modern reptiles, and there is now considerable evidence that dinosaurs were, in fact, endotherms.
Polar dinosaurs One reason for believing that dinosaurs were endotherms is that dinosaur fossils have been discovered in polar regions. Only animals that can maintain a temperature well above that of the surrounding environment could be active in such cold climates.
Leg position and movement There is a connection between endothermy and the position and movement of the legs. The physiology of endothermy allows sustained physical activity, such as running. But running is efficient only if an animal’s legs are positioned underneath its body, not at the body’s side, as they are for crocodiles and many lizards. The legs of all modern endotherms are underneath the body, and so were the legs of dinosaurs. This strongly suggests that dinosaurs were endotherms.
Haversian canals There is also a connection between endothermy and bone structure. The bones of endotherms usually include structures called Haversian canals. These canals house nerves and blood vessels that allow the living animal to grow quickly, and rapid body growth is in fact a characteristic of endothermy. The presence of Haversian canals in bone is a strong indicator that the animal is an endotherm, and fossilized bones of dinosaurs are usually dense with Haversian canals.
You have 20 minutes to plan and write your response. Your response will be judged on the basis of the quality of your writing and on how well your response presents the points in the lecture and their relationship to the reading passage. Typically, an effective response will be 150 to 225 words.
Summarize the points made in the lecture, being sure to explain how they challenge the specific points made in the reading passage.
The author of the passage strongly believes that the dinosaurs are endotherms since three main evidences seemed to have been in the picture. However, the speaker in the lecture seems to be at odds with him/ her as she goes on to dismisss each of the evidences; discovery of polar dinosaur fossils, position of their legs and presence of haversian canals, and thus goes on establish the point that they were not endothermic animals.
As the essayist attempts to substantiate the argument beginning with the proof of the fossils of polar dinosaurs suggesting that they'd have to be endothermic to be able to regulate the body temperatute to sustain the environment, the speaker dismisses this piece of evidence. She points out that polar region has a temperature warm enough for dinosaur to live in without any need to regulate the body temperature. Furthermore, she explains other alternatives like migration and hibernation for the animal to adjust with the temperature, thus explaining that the dinosuars were not endotherms.
Moving further, the orator goes on to dismiss the second piece of connection to the writer's claim by contending the fact that the position of legs underneath the body of the dinosaur which is similar to that of humans can not alone account for them being endotherms like humans. The legs were actually positioned in such manner to support the heavy weight of dinosaurs.
Now, if these contentions were not enough to disregard the claim of the essayist already, the speaker pulls one final string off the argument by bringing light into the fact that bone structure comprising haversian canals can not truly support the claim of the author. The speakers adds new piece of information about growth rings in bones which show the randomness in the thickening of its bones suggesting the typical characteristics of the animals that are not endotherms.
It is in this manner, by weaking the evidences of the author that the lecturer justifies her point of view that the dinosaurs were not endotherms.
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 5, column 130, Rule ID: EN_CONTRACTION_SPELLING
Message: Possible spelling mistake found
Suggestion: they'd
...sils of polar dinosaurs suggesting that theyd have to be endothermic to be able to re...
^^^^^
Line 9, column 344, Rule ID: HEAVY_WEIGHT[1]
Message: Did you mean 'heavyweight'?
Suggestion: heavyweight
...ositioned in such manner to support the heavy weight of dinosaurs. Now, if these conten...
^^^^^^^^^^^^
Line 13, column 283, Rule ID: AGREEMENT_SENT_START[1]
Message: You should probably use 'add'.
Suggestion: add
...t the claim of the author. The speakers adds new piece of information about growth r...
^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, furthermore, however, if, second, thus
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 14.0 10.4613686534 134% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 3.0 5.04856512141 59% => OK
Conjunction : 3.0 7.30242825607 41% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 13.0 12.0772626932 108% => OK
Pronoun: 25.0 22.412803532 112% => OK
Preposition: 62.0 30.3222958057 204% => Less preposition wanted.
Nominalization: 11.0 5.01324503311 219% => Less nominalizations (nouns with a suffix like: tion ment ence ance) wanted.
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1710.0 1373.03311258 125% => OK
No of words: 335.0 270.72406181 124% => OK
Chars per words: 5.10447761194 5.08290768461 100% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.27820116611 4.04702891845 106% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.79434875078 2.5805825403 108% => OK
Unique words: 173.0 145.348785872 119% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.516417910448 0.540411800872 96% => OK
syllable_count: 522.9 419.366225166 125% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.6 1.55342163355 103% => OK
A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 3.0 3.25607064018 92% => OK
Article: 7.0 8.23620309051 85% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 1.25165562914 160% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 1.51434878587 66% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 2.5761589404 39% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 10.0 13.0662251656 77% => Need more sentences. Double check the format of sentences, make sure there is a space between two sentences, or have enough periods. And also check the lengths of sentences, maybe they are too long.
Sentence length: 33.0 21.2450331126 155% => The Avg. Sentence Length is relatively long.
Sentence length SD: 68.9431649984 49.2860985944 140% => OK
Chars per sentence: 171.0 110.228320801 155% => OK
Words per sentence: 33.5 21.698381199 154% => OK
Discourse Markers: 4.8 7.06452816374 68% => OK
Paragraphs: 5.0 4.09492273731 122% => OK
Language errors: 3.0 4.19205298013 72% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 4.33554083885 138% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 2.0 4.45695364238 45% => More negative sentences wanted.
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 2.0 4.27373068433 47% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.154337486918 0.272083759551 57% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0631070242343 0.0996497079465 63% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0365563739085 0.0662205650399 55% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0808950075333 0.162205337803 50% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0404736087402 0.0443174109184 91% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 19.3 13.3589403974 144% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 37.98 53.8541721854 71% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 5.55761589404 158% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 16.2 11.0289183223 147% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.89 12.2367328918 105% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 9.23 8.42419426049 110% => OK
difficult_words: 84.0 63.6247240618 132% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 18.5 10.7273730684 172% => OK
gunning_fog: 15.2 10.498013245 145% => OK
text_standard: 19.0 11.2008830022 170% => OK
What are above readability scores?
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Write the essay in 20 minutes.
Rates: 80.0 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 24.0 Out of 30
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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.