TIM WHITMIRE
Associated Press

GREENSBORO - I stared at the computer screen, aghast.

I had just scored five out of a possible six points on Criterion, a computer program designed to evaluate and grade writing from college freshmen.

Criterion is the brainchild of Educational Testing Services, the folks from Princeton, N.J., who brought you that adolescent rite of passage the SAT and smash-hit sequels such as the Graduate Record Examinations, or GRE.

Joining forces with ETS are the folks at N.C. A&T University, a school in Greensboro known for its engineering program and students who started the civil rights-era sit-in movement.

What sets A&T apart from any number of universities and community colleges across the country that are licensing Criterion from ETS is the heavy commitment the school has made to the program: Every incoming student has his writing evaluated using Criterion, with access to the program throughout their A&T career.

Through personal accounts, students can submit drafts of papers to the Web-based program and get feedback on what needs work. Professors can let the program grade a student’s writing, freeing the professor to focus on content.

On this June day, A&T had been kind enough to give me a shot at Criterion — and I failed.

OK, not failed, but come on. I write for a living, earning my salary in large part by stringing together words for The Associated Press.

I’ve written thousands of stories in my 13 years as a journalist. This piece about gender roles probably wasn’t my best work, but it should have been enough to get a 6 from a computer calibrated to grade essays of incoming freshmen.

Hooked on Criterion
I looked around. A couple of those kids were still hanging around the computer lab.Ashley Anderson, 18, had gotten a 3 on her essay. How’d she feel about it? “It was quick. I liked that,” she said. “I think it said something about my concept … that (gender roles) have changed over time.”

Robert Ussery, the A&T administrator who oversees Criterion’s implementation on the campus, seemed amused by my frustration. Either that, or he was proud that his pet program had brought the AP correspondent to his knees.

He said A&T students have embraced computerized evaluation of their writing.

“I think students today are different,” he explained. “They’re wired for computers. They learn this way.”

High marks
When I spoke with Donna Hollenbach, a product manager at ETS, on the telephone, she said ETS developed Criterion as an aid to students and faculty.

She said Criterion uses “natural language processing” — an offshoot of artificial intelligence — to analyze different linguistic features in a piece of writing. ETS has spent the past decade-plus refining the program, which merges analysis and constructive feedback.

James Mayes, head of A&T’s criminal justice program, said he and other professors don’t have time to double as English composition professors while also teaching classes.

Mayes, at Ussery’s urging, was willing to give Criterion a shot. Three years later, he uses Criterion to grade his students’ papers for writing, while he focuses on academic content.

Organization issues
When I went back and looked more closely at Criterion’s comments on my essay, I figured out the problem. The computer took no issue with my grammar or usage.

But the real problem was in organization and development.
My essay started with broad statements about how gender roles have shifted in recent decades, then reversed course to offer counter-examples of how the more things have changed, the more they’ve stayed the same.

The fourth paragraph of my essay was what we in journalism call the “nut graf” — the paragraph that essentially encapsulates the point of the story: “Look beneath the surface, though, and the notion of simple and straightforward change breaks down.”

This format, which might have worked OK for an op-ed piece, violated the academic format for paper writing: Thesis statement in first paragraph, followed by supporting paragraphs that begin with clear topic sentences. I wrote my last paper using that format — my college honors thesis — in 1992.

Criterion highlighted my introductory paragraph and asked, “Is this part of your essay your introduction? In your introduction, you should capture the reader’s interest, provide background information about your topic, and present your thesis sentence. Look in the Writer’s Handbook for ways to improve your introduction.”

So there you have it. Criterion is from academia; Tim is from journalism. We were destined for trouble from the start.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. ( Courtesy: charlotte.com )