What is that reason, exactly? [1] It is easier to create a rubric for grading... It's not necessarily easier to understand what the author is saying or even as

What is that reason, exactly? [1] It is easier to create a rubric for grading... It's not necessarily easier to understand what the author is saying or even as a better way of organizing and finding truth or arguments or data, or changing your mind halfway through, or any of the other things that happen in the process between when you decide to write about something outside of a classroom and when (and after nowadays) you fixate it somewhere to be read. [1] PG argues it's because that structure mimics a courtroom argument, and such structure has no place in real essays, which are attempts rather than legal documents and need not always be "take a position, defend it" in content: http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html http://www.paulgraham.com/essay.html Edit: Also, the author does have a point. It's in the highlighted section at the very top -- typically called an abstract.