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 2007-2011. We hope you find them helpful for expanding your writing repertoire. (You may also want to browse Additional Model Papers, collected in earlier years.)
The latest group of winners has just been announced and is listed here. The papers themselves will be uploaded shortly.
“Effect of Excuses on Making Moral Judgments,” by Angela Choi. PSYC 235: Research Methods in Psychology, Professor: Woo-Kyoung Ahn, Teaching Fellow: Sarah Hailey.
“Positive, Math-Unrelated Priming and Women’s Math Performance,” by Jason Parad. PSYC 235: Research Methods in Psychology, Professor: Woo-kyoung Ahn, Teaching Fellow: Jacqueline Smith.
“Cloning of the Oryza sativa ferric chelate reductase promoter-terminator fusion into a pYU2735 plasmid: generation of a universal construct toward rice biofortification,” by Micah Johnson. MCDB 201L: Molecular Biology Laboratory, Professor: Maria Moreno, Teaching Fellow: Michael Turner.
“Research Proposal: Do Octopuses Think Like Vertebrates? A New Comparative Test,” by Dakota E. McCoy. EEB 122: Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Professor: Stephen Stearns, Teaching Fellow: Amanda Subalusky.
“An Introduction to Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy,” by Andrew Yang. CHEM 251L: Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory, Professor Jonathan Parr.
“Selling Dentifrice from New Delhi: Chester Bowles in India, 1951-53,” by Harrison Monsky. HIST 134: Yale and America, Professor: Jay Gitlin.
“Mr. Madison Meets His Party: The Appointment of a Judge and The Education of a President,” by Ryan Jacobs. HIST 135J: The Age of Hamilton and Jefferson, Professor: Joanne Freeman.
“Hearts of Darkness: Opium Dens and Urban Exploration in Late Victorian London,” by Teo Soares. HIST 225J: London and Modernity, Professor: Becky Conekin.
“Choice,” by Joanna Zheng. ENGL 120: Reading and Writing the Modern Essay, Professor Kim Shirkhani.
“Muahaha!: Defining Evil Laughter,” by Spencer Katz. ENGL 114: Writing Seminars—Laughter, Professor Ryan Wepler.
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.
"The Prisoner Dis-Analogy as a Defense of Stem Cell Research on Spare Embryos," by Ilana Yurkiewicz ‘10. CSES 362: Bioethics and the Law, Professor Dov Fox.
“The Camera as Dictator: Photography and Fascism at Abu Ghraib,” by Stephanie Lynch ‘09. English 114: Writing Seminars 1, Professor Raymond Malewitz.
“Israel's Withdrawal Gaza: Legitimizing Civil Disobedience from Both Sides,” by Aya Shoshan '10. English 114: Writing Seminars 1, Professor Andrew Ehrgood.
“My Secret,” by Lydia Martin ‘12. English 114: Writing Seminars 1, Professor Paula Resch.
"'The Moral Meaning of a Pause': Ethics Committees and the Cloning Debate," by Lindsay Gellman ‘12. English 116: Writing Seminars 2, Professor Raymond Malewitz.
“When Culture Trumps Law,” by Emma Sokoloff-Rubin ‘11. English 454: Non-Fiction Writing, Voice & Structure, Professor Fred Strebeigh.
“Vignettes From a Carpetbagger: Four Parables of the Katrina Era,” by Easha Anand ‘08. Branford College 2008. English 454: Non-Fiction Writing, Voice & Structure.
“Choosing Terms,” by Sarah Nutman ‘11. English 120: Reading/Writing the Modern Essay, Professor Richard Deming.
"Round Up These Characters," by Presca Ahn '10. ENGL 469: Advanced Nonfiction Writing, Professor Anne Fadiman.
"Prove It," by Jeremy Lent '11. ENGL 467: Journalism, Professor Jill Abramson.
"The Flood," by Michael Schulson '12. ENGL 120: Reading and Writing the Modern Essay, Professor Barbara Stuart.
“Meanings in Canada’s Vimy Ridge Memorial,” by Michael Birnbaum '08. History 423: Cultural History of World War I, Professor Bruno Cabanes.
“The Progressives’ Attempts to Link America’s Rural Past and Modern Future,” by Brooks Swett ‘09. History 496: Nationalism in American Politics and Culture, Instructor: Samuel Schaffer.
“Dissidence in China and Eastern Europe and the Search for a New Pragmatism,” by Eli Bildner ‘10. History 231J: Responses to Totalitarianism, Professor Marci Shore.
“Regarding the Body: The Spectacle of Dissection and its Uses in the 18th Century,” by Mihan Lee ‘10. History of Science, History of Medicine 431: Science/Spectacle in Enlightenment, Professor Paola Bertucci.
“Modern Blood Libels and the Masking of Egyptian Insecurities,” by Matthew Bozik ‘10. History 434: Anti-Semitism in Modern Times, Professor Paula Hyman.
“The Impossibility of P. Grad. 4 in the Thebaid and Implications for Ptolemaic Rule,” by Jennifer Barrows ‘12. CLCV 204: Alexander and the Hellenistic World, Professor: Joseph Manning; Teaching Fellow Caroline Stark.
"Silent Protection and the Burden of Silence," by Emma Sokoloff-Rubin '11. HIST 160: Topics in Lesbian and Gay History, Professor George Chauncey.
"Stages of Modernity: The Thaw-Nesbit-White Scandal, the New York Press and the Drama of the Century," by Randall Spock '11. HIST 126J: Murder and Mayhem in Old New York, Professor Mary Lui.
"The Numerous Faces of South Korea's Burgeoning Medical Tourism Industry," by Lisa Wang '12. AMST 192: Work and Daily Life in Global Capitalism, Professor Michael Denning.
"Within You, Without You: Cannibalism and Consciousness in the Transatlantic World,” by Carina del Valle Schorske ‘10. English 420: Literature of the Middle Passage, Professors Shameem Black and Caryl Phillips.
"The Prophet Who Protested Too Much,” by Sam Ayres ‘09. English 395: The Bible as Literature, Professor Leslie Brisman.
“From Ass to Audience: Imagination as an Act of Translation,” by Carina del Valle Schorske '10. English 129: The European Literary Tradition, Professor Laura Frost.
"'Both Soles of Every Sinner Were On Fire': Contrapasso in Canto XI," by Alice Baumgartner '10. Directed Studies: Literature, Professor Shameem Black.
“Want, Need, and Reason: Milton and Cause,” by Annie Atura ‘11. English 125: Major English Poets. Professor Christopher Miller.
“Holiest Love: The Spiritual Valediction in ‘A Hymne to Christ,’” by Alexandra Schwartz '09. English 125: Major English Poets, Professor George Fayen.
"Paradise Lost, Again," by Eliana Dockterman '13. Directed Studies, Literature, Professor Mark Bauer.
"The Limited Potential of True Reform," by Bianca Yuh '12. ENGL 117: Literature Seminars II, Professor Andrew Karas.
“Fly Sex: Adaptive manipulation of offspring sex ratio in Drosophila melanogaster,” by Tse Yang Lim ‘11. E&EB 240: Animal Behavior, Professor: Suzanne Alonzo; Teaching Fellow Andrea Hodgins-Davis.
“Evaluating the influence of evolution on human brain size,” by Sarah Foote ‘10. E&EB 122: Principles of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior. Professor Steven Stearns; Teaching Fellow Katy Richards-Hrdlicka.
“Recombination in Mitochondrial DNA: Nonzero but Rare,” by Christina Hueschen '10. E&EB 122: Principles of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior. Professor Stephen Stearns; Teaching Fellow Jeremy Draghi.
“‘Junk’: Breeding Innovation and Complexity,” by Jared Shenson ‘12. E&EB 122: Principles of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior. Professor Steven Stearns; Teaching Fellow: Andrea Hodgins-Davis.
"Cloning of the Yellow Stripe 1 gene and of the promoter of a Tapetal Development and Function gene in Oryza sativa japonica," by Sabrina Gill '13. MCDB201L: Molecular Biology Laboratory, Professor Maria Moreno.
“Telling a Lie to Save a Life: Kant's Moral Failure and Mill's Mere Suitability,” by Brian Earp '10. Directed Studies: Philosophy, Professor Gregory Ganssle.
"The Lottery of Babylon and the Justice of Random Chance," by Nabeem Hashem ‘12. Political Science 118: Moral Foundations of Politics, Professor Paulina Ochoa Espejo, Teaching Fellow Josh Simon.
"Save Yourself from Yourself," by Ryan Hollander ‘12. Political Science 114: Intro to Political Philosophy. Professor Steven Smith, Teaching Fellow Meredith Edwards.
“Mill’s Failed Critique of Kant, and Further Critiques of Both Philosophers,” by Noah Lawrence '09. Directed Studies: Philosophy, Professor Jonathan Gilmore.
“Suffering and Redemption in the Eyes of Lincoln,” by Katerina Apostolides '06. Political Science 314: Lincoln—Principle and Persuasion. Professors Steven Smith and David Bromwich.
“Fixing Poverty: What Government Can and Cannot Do To Make America Better,” by James Kirchick '06. Political Science 203: Inequality and American Democracy. Professor Jacob S. Hacker, Teaching Fellow Nicole Kazee.
“Pressured Justice: Activating the Courts for the Protection of Female Laborer,” by David Wheelock '09. Political Science 373: Comparative Judicial Politics, Professor Frances Rosenbluth, Teaching Fellow Stephen Engel.
“Imagined Identities: The Tibetan Government-in-exile and the Western Vision of Tibet,” by Emily Kruger '08. Anthropology 455: Religion and Globalization in East Asia, Professor Gareth Fisher.
