Model Papers from the Disciplines
Professional writers often read works by 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 are past winners of the Writing Center essay contest [1]. We hope you find some of these helpful for expanding your writing repertoire.
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 model paper in that discipline.
Currently, we have winning essays posted from the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years. 21-22 and 22-23 will be posted during Spring 2024. If you are looking for earlier essays, they won’t be available online again until January 2025, but please email Alfred Guy if you are looking for specific essays or genres. (You may see more essays listed near the bottom of this page, but those links are currently not working.)