Table of Contents: 2021


Process of Rhetorical Invention

Early in the process, writers engage with other perspectives, “listening to” sources and seeking connections to their own ideas—and thus creating new meaning and knowledge. In this section, writers reveal how they engage in the important work of rhetorical invention by summarizing, synthesizing, and responding to others’ ideas.

A Queer Situation: Drag as both a Colonial and an Emancipatory Force

Arielle Hershkowitz

Anti-Imperialism in Cartoons: How Avatar: The Last Airbender Uses Critical Pedagogy to Teach Children About the Dangers of Imperialism

Lisa Liubovich


Critically Analyzing Texts

Perceptive writers question what they encounter, interrogating a work’s meanings, its claims, and the quality of its evidence. A critical analysis may draw on the writer’s personal experiences or knowledge of other works, yet the foundation of the essay is grounded in the text itself. These essays help the reader understand the merits and limits of their examined texts, and also how individual elements contribute to their power and significance.

Ideantity: Queer Resistance and Community’s Dean Craig Pelton

Rebecca Fekete

Reviving History: Celebrating Female Artists of the Dutch Golden Age

Jenna Mangis


Exploring a Problem

In exploring a problem these essays go beyond established ideas, engaging in inquiry that brings a new understanding of existing evidence. These writers raise meaningful questions about their world, and through the discovery of insight, come to new conclusions.

Forest City: Chinese Expansionism in a Post-Colonial World

Tristan Weng Tun Au

“Oh No She Didn’t!”—No Literally, She Didn’t: Meghan Markle, Kate Middleton, and The Politics of Tears

Sirra Faal

“Clean” Chinese Food’s Dirty Little Secret

Elizabeth Taemin Kim

Trump’s Presidency: The Symptom and the Agitator

Elizabeth Stockbridge
Writer as Witness Essay Competition Winner

Reframing QAnon: Why Media Literacy is the Answer to Political Misinformation, not Censorship

Brady Tavernier


Blending Personal and Research

Our experiences shape how we react to the world around us. However, academic writers vary in the extent to which they allow the personal to manifest in the written products of their research. That said, bringing the personal to research, if done adeptly, is an effective way of not only making one’s work more convincing, but also boosting one’s own motivation for doing research. These essays move beyond initial, gut-level responses to issues to investigate them in new, meaningful ways. 

Exploring the Concept of Source Criticism: From Sweden to the United States

Tyra Areskoug

Conservatives and Conservation in Maine

Caroline Heyburn

For the Love of Basketball: American Imperialism through Basketball in the Philippines

Miles Mariano-Ortilla

Transcending Race: racial self-identification as a practice to freedom

Johneé Rendia Wilson


Composing in Multiple Modes

All composition—all writing—is multimodal, with textual and design elements. But these writers have employed additional modes to communicate their ideas, such as visual and aural. These multimodal compositions demonstrate that bringing different modes together in creative ways can generate intelligent insights and compelling arguments.

How Body Positive Tik Tokers Create a Community of Trust

Lucia Carson

Analyzing the Effectiveness of Grief and Trauma’s Portrayal in Wanda Vision

Estaban Garcia

“Clean” Chinese Food’s Dirty Little Secret – video adaptation

Elizabeth Taemin Kim

Anti-Imperialist Education at Work: Avatar: The Last Airbender as a Tool of Critical Pedagogy – video adaptation

Lisa Liubovich

Special Edition: The Less Mainstream Face of Nonbinary Fashion

Emily Stinneford


Creating New Knowledge

It may sound challenging to craft original ideas so early in your academic career. Yet in this section, writers demonstrate how to engage scholarly research so thoroughly, they effectively engage the ongoing conversation. In doing so, they are able to generate new ways of thinking about their topics.

Looking to Civil Rights to Save the Planet

Rachel Boose
Winner, University Library Prize for Best College Writing Research Paper

Red vs. Blue, Gold vs. Red, Green vs. Blue

TreVaughn Ellis

Anti-Imperialist Education at Work: Avatar: The Last Airbender as a Tool of Critical Pedagogy

Lisa Liubovich

How to be a (Successful) Real Housewife: Advice from Terror Management Theory

Riley Lorgus


Practicing Metacognition

Metacognition – reflection on your own thinking – is essential for any writer. After all, writing and research are about rhetorical choices, and we make the best choices when we are aware of how we think and learn. Whether to look back at what you’ve done and see how to improve, or to look ahead to strategize the best way to approach your work, thinking about writing starts before you begin and ends after you finish any one piece of work. This section shows metacognition in action.

Epistolary Essay

DeMarco, Francesca

Project Description and Reflection on “Analyzing the Effectiveness of Grief and Trauma’s Portrayal in Wanda Vision”

Estaban Garcia