Model Papers from the Disciplines
Professional writers often read other writers to think about new techniques. Although reading a good paper cannot teach you everything you need to know about writing in a given discipline, it can be enormously helpful. The papers below were winners of the Writing Center essay contest from 2005-2007. We hope you find them helpful for expanding your writing repertoire.
It can be even more valuable to ask your professors for sample essays that they admire. In fact, if your field is not represented below, please encourage your professors to send us a good paper in that discipline.
English 114 Essays Literature History Philosophy
Natural Science Photography/Film Social Science Honorable Mention
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By Michael Rodriguez Davenport ‘10 English 114: Writing Seminars 1 Professor Suzanne Young |
“The Corrective Lens of Satire” by Benjamin Solarz Jonathan Edwards ‘09 English 114: Writing Seminars 1 Professor Alfred E. Guy Jr. |
“The Opposition to Israel's Withdrawal from the Gaza Strip: Legitimizing Civil Disobedience from Both Sides of the by Aya Shoshan Silliman ‘10 English 114: Writing Seminars 1 Professor Andrew Ehrgood |
“The Watts Riots: Proving That Violence Can Cause Social Change and Integration” by David Talbot Timothy Dwight ‘09 English 114: Writing Seminars 1 Professor Andrew Ehrgood |
| Essays | |
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by Allison Battey Calhoun ‘08 English 454: Nonfiction Voice and Structure Professor Fred Strebeigh |
by Isaac Selya Timothy Dwight ‘08 English 450: Daily Themes Professor Bill Deresiewicz |
“Mid-winter Walk on the Beach” by Kathryn Mathis Branford ‘07 English 248: Nature Writing in Britain and the Colonies Professor Linda Peterson |
by Edward Scheinman At Home in America |
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by Paul Gleason Calhoun ‘06 English 469, Advanced Non-Fiction: At Home in America Professor Anne Fadiman |
“Reindeer Bells” the Modern Essay |
| History | |
“Lollard Bible Translation: Severing the Connection Between Language and Intellectual Privilege” Berkeley ‘08
“Meanings in Canada’s Vimy Ridge Memorial” by Michael Birnbaum Branford ‘08 HIST 423: Cultural History of World War I Professor Bruno Cabanes |
“The Samuel and Mary Attempted Piracy Outside the Port of Cephalonia: A Case Study of Piracy Law as a Transitional Factor Away from Lex Mercatoria” by Michael A. Gousgounis Berkeley ‘06 History 416: Venice & The Mediterranean, 1400-1700 Professor Francesca Trivellato |
| Literature | |
“Harmony of the Flesh: The Primitivist by Samuel Ayres Morse ‘09 Engl. 328: Fiction Without Borders Professor Shameem Black |
“’Both Soles of Every Sinner were on Fire’: by Alice Baumgartner Berkeley ‘10 Directed Studies: Literature Professor Shameem Black |
“Narration and Restoration in Austen’s by Anastasia Eccles Morse ‘07 English 305/Literature 322: Austen and Bronte and 20th Century Women Novelists Professor Katie Trumpener |
"The Convergence of American Identity and Experience: Walt Whitman’s Concept of Democracy in ‘Song of Myself’” by Alexandra Schwartz Saybrook '09 English 127: Intro American Literature Professor Elizabeth Dillon |
“A-Foot and Under-Foot: Peripheries by Catherine Reilly Davenport ‘08 Literature 142: World Literature Professor Barry McCrea |
“Holiest Love: The Spiritual Valediction in by Alexandra Schwartz Saybrook ‘09 ENGL 125: Major English Poets Professor George Fayen |
“Sanity’s Dream: Reason and Madness Modernity and and Antiquity in King Lear by Joshua Tan Saybrook ‘09 Directed Studies: Literature Professor Charles Hill |
“Silence and the Collapse of Difference in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz & by Maria Spiegel Morse ‘09 English 129: The European Literary Tradition Professor Andrea Walkden |
“Knocking Down the Puppet Show: Dangerous Readers in Cervantes’ Don Quixote” by Katy Waldman Saybrook ‘10 Directed Studies: Literature Professor Richard Maxwell |
“From Ass to Audience: Imagination by Carina del Valle Schorske Ezra Stiles ‘09 English 129: The European Literary Tradition Professor Laura Frost |
“Love Overheard” Calhoun '08 |
“Heart and Soul” |
“Shelley’s Janus-Visaged Sublime: Creation, Destruction, and Stasis in ‘The Two Spirits—An Allegory,’ ‘Ode to the West Wind,’ and ‘The Triumph of Life’” by Noah Lawrence Saybrook ‘09 English 249: Eng Lit & the French Revolution Professor David Bromwich |
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“Reconstructing Calamites: Building Giants by Alena Gribskov Davenport ‘09 Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 171: Collections of the Peabody Museum Professor Leo Buss |
“Recombination in Mitochondrial DNA: by Christina Hueschen Silliman ‘10 Ecology and Evolutionary Biology 122: Introduction to Ecol and Evolutionary Biology Professor Stephen Stearns TF Jeremy Draghi |
“Infants’ Use of Kind Information in Object Individuation and Implications for by Elizabeth Rawson Berkeley ‘07 Psychology 140: Developmental Psychology Professor Frank Keil TF Deena Skolnick |
“Federal Funding for Embryonic Stem by Jurist Tan Davenport ‘09 Biomedical Engineering 090: Stem Cells: Science & Politics Professor Erin Lavik |
“Telling a Lie to Save a Life: Kant's Moral Failure and Mill's Mere Suitability” by Brian Earp Calhoun ’09 Directed Studies: Philosophy Professor Gregory Ganssle |
“The Cost of Duty-Free and Duty: John Stuart Mill’s Failed Critique of Immanuel Kant, and Further Critiques by Noah Lawrence Saybrook ‘09 Directed Studies: Philosophy |
“Ignoring the Call to Murder: The Evolution by Christopher Adler Morse ‘09 Film 240: World Cinema Professor Dudley Andrew |
“That Make the Strong Heart Weak” by Justin Jannise Saybrook ‘09 Film 099/Literature 099: Film and the Arts Professor Dudley Andrew |
“The Photograph: A Personal Exploration” by Hannah Shearer Calhoun ‘09 Film 099/Literature 099: Film and the Arts Professor Dudley Andrew |
“The Exhumation of Memory: Identifying the Dead in Andrzej Wajda’s Kanal and Miron Bialoszewski’s A Memoir of the Warsaw Uprising” |
“Suffering and Redemption in the by Katerina Apostolides Statesmanship, and Persuasion |
“Feel Like a Natural Human: The Polis by Nature, and Human Nature in Aristotle’s The Politics” by Laura Zax Silliman ‘10 Political Science 114: Intro to Political Philosophy Professor Steven Smith TF Justin Zaremby
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“Fixing Poverty: What Government Can and Cannot Do To Make America Better” by James Kirchick Pierson ‘06 Political Science 203: Inequality and American Democracy Professor Jacob S. Hacker TF Nicole Kazee |
“Imagined Identities: The Tibetan Government- in-exile and the Western Vision of Tibet” by Emily Kruger Morse ‘08 Anthropology 455: Religion and Globalization in East Asia Professor Gareth Fisher |
“Pressured Justice: Activating the Courts for the Protection of Female Laborers” by David Wheelock Sillman ‘09 Political Science 373 / International Studies 375: Comparative Judicial Politics Professor Frances Rosenbluth TF Stephen Engel |
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Honorable Mention |
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“Ballpork or Ballperk?” |
“A Shinjuku Supper” |
“Ex Nihilo: Ruins, the Ruined, and |
“Five Ways My Body Is Not My Mother’s” |
“Milton's Satan and the Reader's Fall” |
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