The dissertation
prospectus began by quoting a statistic-a "
grabber" meant to capture the reader's attention. (A dissetta¬tion prospectus is a lengthy proposal for a research project lead¬ing to a Ph.D. degree-the ultimate credential for a would-be scholar.) The Graduate Student who wrote this prospectus' undoubtedly wanted to seem scholarly to the professors who would read it;
they would be supervising the proposed research. And what could be more scholarly than a nice, authoritative sta¬tistic, quoted from a professional journal in the Student's field?