An Undergrad Paper, Posted to Amuse
Below is a paper I wrote for an Advanced Composition course my senior year of college. It won the Phi Kappa Phi Student Scholars Forum Award at my university, and having just read it again after nearly 13 years, I guess it's an OK paper. "Short paragraphs much?" I want to ask my younger self.
I manage to use both "objective correlative" and "negative capability," make a boatload of mentions of "society," use "ironically" when "coincidentally" is the correct word, avoid the first person entirely, and provide plenty of other groaners ("Awareness of a problem in society will hasten its solution. She is simply taking the first step toward a solution: she is 'defining the problem,' as the first step in the scientific method states.").
Comments
"which is not a loving gesture"
I don't have the guts to look up my old essays. I know they're bad. So I guess what always amazes me is how much smarter my students are now than I used to be as an undergrad.
Mike
ya rly
Not the least bit loving. For me, this essay reveals my very New Critical, current-traditional training (oh, the universality!). I'm wondering if others can see it too. I have to say, compared to the papers I've seen in recent years from the undergrads I've taught, this one still strikes me as pretty solid. But I'm sure any USMA ugrad's paper would put this one to shame.