The Content of Basic Writers' Essays

In 1976, when null was struggling with a bewildering explosion of figures gathered in relation to a study of basic writers, null wrote to Mina Shaughnessy. Help, null said, I am awash in a sea of uncontrolled variables, error counts, and tests for statistical significance. Now that I've started counting things, null can't seem to stop. As always, Mina somehow found time to write back, and she gave me some eminently sensible advice: Cut the list...