2002-03 Selected Essays
The Art of the Safe House (1st Place)
Elizabeth Watkins
Belief Creates Reality (2nd Place)
Charles P. Clark
The Science of Science (3rd Place)
Nicholas Astete
The Vulnerable Culture (4th Place)
Saumil Gandhi
English Power: A Movement that Shapes Americans (Honorable Mention)
Aiza Redosendo
Grand Theft Auto III: Satisfying a Thirst for Control, Violence, and Fantasy (Honorable Mention)
Lindsey Peugh
Greetings from the Co-Chairs
We are pleased to present this publication of the first annual 100-level Writing Contest.
The following winning essays were selected by the Writing Contest Committee, which is made up of two co-chairs and several readers, all of whom are instructors experienced in evaluating writing produced in the 100-level courses. The essays, first, were nominated by the instructors of English 105, 111, 121, and 131; secondly, the essays were reviewed by the committee in two eliminating rounds. Then the final four essays were ranked: 1st Place, 2nd Place, 3rd Place and Honorable Mention. The final two essays were selected by us, the co-chairs, as additional honorable mentions.
These essays are not intended in any way to be viewed as templates for the essays you or your students are asked to produce in 100-level writing classes. As we remind our students, writing essays for college courses is a complicated balancing act of close reading, critical analysis, argument, clarity, creativity, and fluency in the stylistic conventions of the various genres found in the academy. You will note that each of these essays has strengths in each of these areas—they would not be included did they not; however, each essay also offers the opportunity for other students to augment, counter argue, and critique the arguments and rhetorical choices of these student authors. We are certain you will find this collection a useful tool in your classes as a starting point for your own discussions of what makes for “good writing” and a catalyst for further critical thinking.
We congratulate the authors included in this year’s publication for their hard work. We would also like to thank all the instructors who nominated student essays for their participation. And, we invite those of you interested in keeping the contest vital and growing to participate in the coming years.
Sincerely,
Michelle LaFrance and Meredith Lee
July 2003
Director’s Note
June 30, 2003
Dear First-Year Writing Students:
For many years now, the instructors in the Expository Writing Program have been pleased and proud of the writing their students have done in their courses. We had, however, no way of making those excellent essays available across sections of first-year writing, more than 180 each year. Last year, under the supervision of the very able instructors Meredith Lee and Michelle LaFrance, we initiated a contest for a set of first-year writing prizes and contained in this packet are the results. Everyone taking a first-year course in 2003-04 will purchase the packet and having the packet will allow you, as a first-year student, to see what kinds of essays your instructors consider the best in the program.
We hope that you will find reading these essays valuable and that one of your own essays may appear here next year.
Sincerely,
Gail Stygall, Director
Expository Writing Program
Associate Professor
English Language and Literature
