UMass Amherst: Writing Program

Student Anthologies

The Writing Program Anthology celebrates the accomplishments of students enrolled in Basic Writing and College Writing courses at The University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Published annually, it rewards these authors with public recognition and an opportunity to have their voices heard beyond the walls of the classroom. By making this publication available on the World Wide Web, we hope to broaden our readership and inspire both teachers and student writers to reach high goals and explore a variety of approaches to academic discourse.

Anthologized essays take a variety of forms. Some explore and interpret the meaning of personal experience; others reflect on social, cultural, and historical issues. Many of the essays included here prove that careful research and close reading not only provide data and expert opinion in support of a claim. Through reading the works of others, writers may measure their own experience of the world against expert opinion and, in the process, perhaps create a new and revealing perspective.

We invite our readers to enjoy these essays and draw on what they show us about the range of choices in organization, development, and style available to us in expository writing.