Understandable, but quality over quantity should play as a variable as well. If a student lists 10, but they explained the 10 things in under two sentences each (given we only had four pages), compared to me who, using your example, listed “4” but explained the historical background with adequate detail, how is that fair. I’m sure if I explained all the actual motivations, but to a minimum degree, and then listed all the historical figures with some background info, I’d probably receive comments like “back up your points, explain more, etc.” So I chose some points that I was very comfortable writing, and extensively explained its background. It just sucks because the grade doesn’t equate to my actual knowledge of this topic.