the requirement. These include Classical Civilization 101, Comparative Literature 122, Great Books 191, History 195, Lloyd Hall Scholars Program 125, and Slavic 151. Each of these courses takes a slightly different approach with a different selection of readings, but all FYWR courses address these common goals for student writers: to produce well‐ supported academic arguments; to learn rhetorical strategies for multiple contexts and audiences; to develop effective ways of organizing, revising, editing and proofreading writing; and to set goals and devise plans for improving writing. The prize‐winning selections included here demonstrate, in the view of both instructors and contest judges, how first‐year students enact common goals for writing at the University. Thomas Yeh reflects on five of his own essays to consider the ways he developed as a writer in Sweetland 100, contrasting his work in this course with his writing in high school. Alex Liberman’s electronic portfolio displays an array of his work, and he uses metaphor to describe his new understanding of the importance of revising and reshaping his writing. Kathleen Telfer’s essay, written in Great Books 1.1, considers Mark Rothko’s non‐ representational work in light of Aristotle’s theory of art, demonstrating how rhetorical strategies of irony and humor can effectively engage readers. Alexandra Park probes the nature of memory by comparing the story of a man who can’t forget anything with a film about a man who can’t remember anything, using textual evidence to make a convincing argument. The three essays from English 125 demonstrate the range of genres in which students write. Chong Guo writes a highly evocative descriptive essay about his experience as a young painter growing up in China, in which he argues for the importance of memory. Erin Piell’s persuasive essay brings together a range of sources on animal rights and animal experimentation to advance a compelling case for not changing the Animal Welfare Act. Michael Flood turns his attention to the Palestinian/Israeli debate here on campus and provides a rich analysis of how newspaper coverage of the debate compares with the experience of students involved in the debate. This collection owes its existence to the hard work of many people, beginning with the students whose work it includes. In addition to producing writing that impressed a range of instructors looking for excellence, both those who knew them personally and those who did not, the students represented here added further polish in preparing their work for publication. The prize competition itself would not have been possible without the instructors who facilitated students’ development as writers and put time and energy into identifying and nominating promising candidates. The competition relied on two panels of judges: for the Sweetland Center for Writing, Peer Tutors Lauren Dreifus, Nicole Premo, Shoaib Rasheed, and Shauna Russell along with Sweetland Instructors Danielle!/%0%12(3
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First-Year Writing 2010