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bethddology In a study of factOrs that influence evalUators, ratings of student papers, 32 student essays were rewritten toiake them stronger or weaker in content, bigq.nitation, sentence structure, or mechanics; the essays " were then sutmitted to/dvaluitorsin both, their original and rewritten forms to deterisine'the way in which the.changes influenced the ratings. This paper discusses the procedures used ip selecting the essays to be rewritten, rewriting them, and having them-evaluated; it then, reports the results of the study, examines the,relationship between the htlistic ratings and the raters ' perceptions of the papers ' strengths or weaknesses in each of the rewritten categories, and discusses the results and their. pedagogical significance. Among the major findings. were that the most, important influences. on rAerso scores were the content and then the organization of the essays and that sentence structure and medhadice proved to be far less significant influences on holistiC judgments. Seven tables are included. (GK). p ***************i******************************************************* * ReprOductionssupplied by EDRS are the best that cur be _ made * * from the original document. *. ***************************************1*******************************