a sense of excitement about the project,” which can be produced only
if the letter writer has immersed herself in the work. “All of the oth-
ers, ‘This is the best person in his or her field,’ and of course, ‘this is
crucial and should be funded,’ blah, blah, blah... They are assembly-
line letters,” an anthropologist says dismissively. “You know, every-
body was ‘the best in the field,’ everybody was doing something
that was ‘the most important research.’” Similarly, a philosopher
counterintuitively declares, “The more terms of praise I see in a let-
ter, the less attention I gave to it. The more description I see, the
more attention. If you just say ‘it’s great,’ you’re just passing the buck,
in a way. We can’t tell if it’s great without knowing it, and knowing it
is itself a sign of admiration... I see it myself, people I admire, I
write about their projects. When I need to throw something off, I
write ‘Great! Brilliant!’” For an economist, “It’s the specificity that
matters...aboutwhatastudent has done and how specific skills will
influence a research topic.” But if the applicant is unable to make a
convincing case, no letter will tip the balance. It is the combination
of strong letters and a great proposal that creates the conditions for
building a consensus on quality, or even on “hotness” in fields that
are more subject to bandwagon effects.^8
The letters that count most are of two types. Those that explain a
project’s importance in specific terms and locate it in the literature
can be, as one historian explains, “very, very helpful if they help
someone like me who might not be particularly well read in a field
to understand precisely why we should be interested.” Similarly,
those written by individuals whom panelists know personally or
through their work can be very persuasive (see Chapter 3). An En-
glish scholar’s explanation of why he particularly values a colleague’s
opinion illustrates how such a letter can influence one’s judgment:
Diane Middlebrook is somebody I know, not real well, but we
have a lot of mutual friends. I’ve read her work, I’ve read other164 / Recognizing Various Kinds of Excellence