0910AW 同主题写作第七期 ARGUMENT167 by danielgao

danielgaoUID: 2604134

Afolk remedy* for insomnia, the scent in lavender flowers, has now beenproved effective. In a recent study, 30 volunteers with chronicinsomnia slept each night for three weeks on lavender-scented pillowsin a controlled room where their sleep was monitored. During the firstweek, volunteers continued to take their usual sleeping medication.They slept soundly but wakened feeling tired. During the second week,the volunteers discontinued their medication. As a result, they sleptless soundly than the previous week and felt even more tired. Duringthe third week, the volunteers slept longer and more soundly than inthe previous two weeks. This shows that over a short period of time lavender cures insomnia.

*A folk remedy is usually a plant-based form of treatment common totraditional forms of medicine, ones that developed before the advent ofmodern medical services and technology.

Argument167

Argument167

In this argument, the author attempts to convince us that the scent in lavener flowers is effective in curing insomnia.To support this recommendation, the author cites a result of study that 30 volunteers with chronic insomnia slept on lavender-scented pillows in a controlled room for three weeks. Although this argument seems well presented at the first glance, a careful examination of it would find it is problematic inseveral critical respects.

First of all, though the volunteer slept longer an more soundly than in the previous two week, the author failed to inform us that the volunteers took how long to fall into sleep and how they fell after slept in the third week. If the volunteer still took long time to fall into sleep, and felt even tired than the first two weeks, the author's conclusion that lavender cures insomnia over a short period of time iscompletely unwarranted.

In addition, the study does not provide the controlling condition of the experiment. The study should include another groupof people who do not sleep on such pillows as counterpart, thus they can rule out other possibility which might also affect volunteer's sleep. Without such comparison, it is hard for me to believe the author's study is logical.

Last but not least, since insomnia is achronic disease, it is hastily to draw the conclusion that the volunteers'insomnia has been thoroughly cured. Before drawing this conclusion, the author should take follow-up study to ensure the insomnia of volunteer has been fully cured, otherwise it is entirely possible that the patients continue their insomnia after this treatment. Because the author provides no evidence to rule out this interpretation, the result of study is worthless as evidence.

To sum up, this argument is not persuasive as it stands. The evidences cited in the analysis do not lend strong support to what the arguer maintains. To strengthen the argument, the author must provide more evidence to prove the lavender-scented’s effect on curing insomnia To better evaluate the argument, the author should add other groups of volunteers into study as counterparts. Otherwise, the arguer is simply begging thequestion throughout the argument.