I am Shivraj and I have written an assay to practice for AWA section.
Please rate the below given essay and provide some suggestions to improve my AWA skills.
Thanks!!!
Discuss how well reasoned.
The following appeared as part of an article in the travel section of a newspaper:
"Over the past decade, the restaurant industry in the country of Spiessa has experienced unprecedented growth. This surge can be expected to continue in the coming years, fueled by recent social changes: personal incomes are rising, more leisure time is available, single-households are more common, and people have a greater interest in gourmet food, as evidenced by a proliferation of publications on the subject."
In the argument above, the author concludes that the growth in the country of Spiessa's restaurant industry will continue in the coming years. The premise of the argument is that this industry has experienced an unprecedented growth over the past decade. Additional evidences for the cause of this growth are the social changes such as increasing incomes, more leisure time, single-person households, and interest of the people in gourmet food. However, the argument is flawed because it falsely assumes that the earlier growth and the social changes will cause the people to go out to have food at the restaurants and to spend money eating outside, eventually leading to the growth of the restaurant industry.
First, the argument wrongly assumes that the previous growth will have its effect in the future. However, the author fails to provide evidence regarding the growth of restaurant industry in the previous years. It is entirely possible that this industry grew due to some government decisions for restaurant businesses that took effect during the last decade.
Government decisions regarding the food quality improvement and price reduction can surely cause the people to go out and eat at the restaurants.
Second, the reasoning in the article is flawed because it erroneously assumes that the social changes such as increasing incomes and more leisure time will lead to continuous growth in the restaurant industry. Yet, there is no information provided that why the people with increased incomes with more leisure time will go and spend their money only at restaurants. There is a possibility that this group of people will spend the money on a foreign trip, camping out, or watching a movie at cinema. If the people opt for these alternative options, the restaurant business can not grow according to the expectations.
Third, the evidence supporting the argument makes a weak claim that the single-person households and interest in gourmet food cause the people to have food at restaurants. But, there is not enough information to support this claim. It is possible that the single-household persons are unlikely to eat at restaurants as they don't have any close partner to go along with them. It is also possible that the people of this country have a habit of eating and preparing gourmet food at home. Considering these examples, the restaurant business growth is unexpected.
Moreover, the argument can be improved by appealing to the country's history with the growth of restaurant industry. In particular, the growth experienced due to the interest of the people to eat at the special kind of fast-food restaurants. The food offered at these restaurants has been in high demand and the existing fast-food restaurants are still not able to fulfill the complete demand of the people of the country. The association of the restaurant industry has decided to open more restaurants in major cities to fulfill this demand. Adding this example will surely strengthen the argument made by the author.
In conclusion, the argument in the article presented in the travel section of a newspaper is flawed because it assumes that social changes can be the cause of growth. Moreover, the argument wrongly concludes that this growth will continue in the coming years. Hence, the argument is not well reasoned as it is not backed by strong evidences and premises.
