The following is a recommendation from the personnel director to the president of Acme Publishing Company.
"Many other companies have recently stated that having their employees take the Easy Read Speed-Reading Course has greatly improved productivity. One graduate of the course was able to read a 500-page report in only two hours; another graduate rose from an assistant manager to vice president of the company in under a year. Obviously, the faster you can read, the more information you can absorb in a single workday. Moreover, Easy Read would cost Acme only $500 per employee-a small price to pay when you consider the benefits. Included in this fee is a three-week seminar in Spruce City and a lifelong subscription to the Easy Read newsletter. Clearly, Acme would benefit greatly by requiring all of our employees to take the Easy Read course."
Write a response in which you discuss what specific evidence is needed to evaluate the argument and explain how the evidence would weaken or strengthen the argument.
The author of the argument states that acme would benefit greatly by requiring all of employees to take the easy read course. To buttress his/her argument, the author cites the following evidences: first, graduates have better promotion and faster reading speed; second, the cost is relatively low compared to the benefit. 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 fact that one graduate of the courses was able to read a 500-page report in only two hours is not necessarily the gain from easy read course. what if he just went through and skimmed the materials quickly instead of deliberation during the reading? what if that person could read that report within two hours even before the course? The author fails to provide us with the information of the reading speed before and after the course, we are unable to draw any conclusion. Similarly, the passage indicates that one graduate rose from an assistant manager to vice president of the company, therefore advocating the benefit of easy reading course. The claim, however, is ungrounded. The author overlooks other possibilities leading to the promotion. For example, the one is responsible and has strong vocational skills, including writing, communication and leadership skills. it is his skills and quality, instead of fast reading speed, that contributes to his/her higher position in the company.
In addition, the aforementioned cases are not representative. The author only offers two particular graduates. even though both of them benefit from the reading course, we cannot readily suggest that easy read course is suitable for all employees. it is possible that some people already developed their own reading systems over the past several years, then it might be harmful when we enforce them to accept new ones through the course. many employees, reluctant to attend the course, might not pay attention, so that taking such course just a waste time. The author also concludes that the faster you read, the more information you are going to get. While I do concede the fact makes sense, but whether all people in the company would gain from more information? I doubt that sometimes overwhelming information perhaps leads to wrong direction and hence decrease the work efficiency.
Last but not least, the author assumes that the benefit got from the reading course exceeds the cost. The easy read course costs $500 for each person, many employees would be not willing to pay so much. if the company pay for the courses for all staff, the company might be facing financial crisis or sever deficit when there are lots of members in the company. Furthermore, the course takes three weeks in Spruce City. The author fails to consider the negative impact caused by absence of individuals. if employees take this course in turn, then there are always vacancies, which hampers the cooperation between workers and departments. The company would face the risk of declining output and it is unjustified that the benefit can be greater than the cost. The lifelong subscription newsletter does not necessarily provide the useful information, as it can only consist of countless advertisement.
To sum up, as it stands, the conclusion is based on several questionable assumptions that weaken the credibility of the argument. To further strengthen his/her argument, the author is advised to add the detailed information as follows: first, almost all graduates from the reading course acquire sophisticated reading skills and get the better job or higher position in the company; second, faster reading speed is essential to all employees in acme company; third, the cost of reading course can be overshadowed by the benefit obtained under any condition and it has no negative effect on the daily operation of acme.
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Comments
Essay evaluation report
argument 1 -- not OK or don't need to argue.
argument 2 -- OK
argument 3 -- OK
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Need to argue against the conclusion always. For this topic it is:
Clearly, Acme would benefit greatly by requiring all of our employees to take the Easy Read course.
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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: 23 15
No. of Words: 634 350
No. of Characters: 3175 1500
No. of Different Words: 294 200
Fourth Root of Number of Words: 5.018 4.7
Average Word Length: 5.008 4.6
Word Length SD: 2.659 2.4
No. of Words greater than 5 chars: 243 100
No. of Words greater than 6 chars: 173 80
No. of Words greater than 7 chars: 101 40
No. of Words greater than 8 chars: 79 20
Use of Passive Voice (%): 0 0
Avg. Sentence Length: 27.565 21.0
Sentence Length SD: 21.023 7.5
Use of Discourse Markers (%): 0.696 0.12
Sentence-Text Coherence: 0.294 0.35
Sentence-Para Coherence: 0.46 0.50
Sentence-Sentence Coherence: 0.101 0.07
Number of Paragraphs: 5 5
Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 1, column 464, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...nclusion is unsubstantiated and flawed. To begin with, the fact that one graduat...
^^
Line 1, column 627, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: What
...ssarily the gain from easy read course. what if he just went through and skimmed the...
^^^^
Line 1, column 734, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: What
...ead of deliberation during the reading? what if that person could read that report w...
^^^^
Line 1, column 1359, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: It
...g, communication and leadership skills. it is his skills and quality, instead of f...
^^
Line 4, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...r higher position in the company. In addition, the aforementioned cases ar...
^^^
Line 4, column 115, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Even
...r only offers two particular graduates. even though both of them benefit from the re...
^^^^
Line 4, column 252, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: It
...d course is suitable for all employees. it is possible that some people already de...
^^
Line 4, column 442, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: Many
... to accept new ones through the course. many employees, reluctant to attend the cour...
^^^^
Line 7, column 1, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...ence decrease the work efficiency. Last but not least, the author assumes t...
^^
Line 7, column 204, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: If
...es would be not willing to pay so much. if the company pay for the courses for all...
^^
Line 7, column 504, Rule ID: UPPERCASE_SENTENCE_START
Message: This sentence does not start with an uppercase letter
Suggestion: If
...mpact caused by absence of individuals. if employees take this course in turn, the...
^^
Line 7, column 901, Rule ID: WHITESPACE_RULE
Message: Possible typo: you repeated a whitespace
Suggestion:
...nly consist of countless advertisement. To sum up, as it stands, the conclusion ...
^^^^^^^^
Transition Words or Phrases used:
also, but, first, furthermore, hence, however, if, look, second, similarly, so, then, therefore, third, while, for example, in addition, to begin with, to sum up
Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments
Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 23.0 19.6327345309 117% => OK
Auxiliary verbs: 12.0 12.9520958084 93% => OK
Conjunction : 17.0 11.1786427146 152% => OK
Relative clauses : 17.0 13.6137724551 125% => OK
Pronoun: 42.0 28.8173652695 146% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 72.0 55.5748502994 130% => OK
Nominalization: 25.0 16.3942115768 152% => OK
Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 3294.0 2260.96107784 146% => OK
No of words: 632.0 441.139720559 143% => Less content wanted.
Chars per words: 5.21202531646 5.12650576532 102% => OK
Fourth root words length: 5.01394158123 4.56307096286 110% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.77041012271 2.78398813304 100% => OK
Unique words: 322.0 204.123752495 158% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.509493670886 0.468620217663 109% => OK
syllable_count: 999.9 705.55239521 142% => 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: 24.0 8.76447105788 274% => Less articles wanted as sentence beginning.
Subordination: 7.0 2.70958083832 258% => Less adverbial clause wanted.
Conjunction: 1.0 1.67365269461 60% => OK
Preposition: 4.0 4.22255489022 95% => OK
Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 30.0 19.7664670659 152% => OK
Sentence length: 21.0 22.8473053892 92% => OK
Sentence length SD: 77.0262653616 57.8364921388 133% => OK
Chars per sentence: 109.8 119.503703932 92% => OK
Words per sentence: 21.0666666667 23.324526521 90% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.36666666667 5.70786347227 94% => OK
Paragraphs: 4.0 5.15768463074 78% => More paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 12.0 5.25449101796 228% => Less language errors wanted.
Sentences with positive sentiment : 13.0 8.20758483034 158% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 6.0 6.88822355289 87% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 11.0 4.67664670659 235% => Less facts, knowledge or examples wanted.
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?
Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.309885849786 0.218282227539 142% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.0715360317701 0.0743258471296 96% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0656178967544 0.0701772020484 94% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.190693349001 0.128457276422 148% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0480022493592 0.0628817314937 76% => OK
Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 13.6 14.3799401198 95% => Automated_readability_index is low.
flesch_reading_ease: 50.16 48.3550499002 104% => OK
smog_index: 8.8 7.1628742515 123% => OK
flesch_kincaid_grade: 11.5 12.197005988 94% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 12.94 12.5979740519 103% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 8.25 8.32208582834 99% => OK
difficult_words: 143.0 98.500998004 145% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 14.0 12.3882235529 113% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.4 11.1389221557 93% => OK
text_standard: 14.0 11.9071856287 118% => OK
What are above readability scores?
---------------------
Write the essay in 30 minutes.
Rates: 62.5 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 3.75 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.