Years ago, two professors at the University of Chicago ran an experiment that...
They gathered a handful of graduate essays. Every one had earned an A.
Then they made a second copy of each and changed exactly one sentence: the last sentence of the introduction, the one that tells the reader what the paper will deliver.
The replacement was reasonable and well written.
It just didn’t make a promise that would be paid off by the rest of the essay.
They sent the packets (half originals, half altered) to English professors across the country, with a small honorarium. Grade these, they asked, and explain the grade in two or three sentences.
The originals came back A and A−, with praise for the content and the prose.
The altered essays came back B, C, D.
What gets me is the comments.
