<p>“Mastery in writing goes beyond what you reference in your first sentence.”</p>
<p>Hence the term “et cetera.”</p>
<p>I’m not convinced that there’s any set of standards that would separate good writing from great, and I do think students who are capable of excellence should be pushed to achieve it. A great writer should be able to do a standard exercise like the SAT writing test that demonstrates “mastery” of the core elements, but they should be able to do a lot more than that, too, and I don’t think you can quantify that. Insight and creativity matter in a research paper, and no one ever masters insight.</p>