i Magazine

The documents available under the “Resources for Students” tab were developed for both direct student use and for faculty-moderated use in the classroom. Each resource entry uses the student writing on i Magazine as models to define and illustrate a specific writing skill, then guides students through the steps of implementing that skill. Faculty can [...]

Analyzing a text by “close reading” requires a three-part process of observing the text’s features, identifying patterns in those observations, and explaining the significance of the patterns you describe. Below is a brief passage of close reading from G. J. Israel’s essay “Are These Actual Dead?”, an analysis of James Joyce’s short story “The Dead”: [...]

A researched essay written for BLS 3011. Nominated by Professor Arthur Lewin: “It is an old truism, and, like all such ‘wisdom,’ it’s just not true: It’s widely believed that scholarly, well researched articles are boring, while timely pieces arousing intense interest are, invariably, poorly documented opinion pieces. As Ms. Sherley Jean-Pierre brilliantly shows, the [...]

John Baran’s Purposeful Direct Quoting There are a few situations when it’s a good idea to quote rather than paraphrase or summarize. They include the following: 1)    When you want to capture the exact words of an expert or institution; OR 2)    When you want to capture the quality of another writer’s language – whether [...]

Darryl Gladstone’s Transitions – shifting between and within topics This paper, which contrasts the communication habits of a previous generation with those of a younger generation, contains several excellent examples of transitions. Gladstone uses transitions to signal a shift: 1)    Between topics, e.g. from the communication habits of a previous generation to the communication habits [...]

Signposts, like traditional transitions, prepare a reader for changes in an essay’s direction. But rather than easing the shift from one paragraph to another, signposting signals a new section or mode of the writer’s argument. A signpost might, for example, indicate that the essay is: ➢ pausing for historical background or context; ➢ about to [...]

A response paper written for HIS 4900: In Search of History. Nominated by Professor Vincent DiGirolamo: “There is probably no more common writing assignment in college than the response paper. James Gurtowski’s ‘Vertical Pressure’ is a model of the form. It succeeds spectacularly on a number of levels. First, it is the work of someone [...]

A lab report written for PHY 3001: General Physics II. Nominated by Professor Ramzi Khuri: “In eleven years of teaching physics at Baruch, I have had the pleasure of reading several superbly written laboratory reports. Even amongst this distinguished group, Elizabeth Fanciullo’s laboratory reports are the finest I have ever read. All of her reports [...]

A literary analysis essay written for ENG 4450. Nominated by Professor Laura Sims: “Geoff writes with an ease and grace that makes paper-writing look effortless; reading his papers for English 4450 (The Modern Short Story) was an absolute joy.  It was immediately clear to me that he had a deep understanding of and appreciation for [...]

A literary analysis essay written for English 2150, taught by Professor John Lux. ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— Love. It is possible that no other emotion has brought more joy to the human race. Its every last facet has been scrutinized, not only by experts, but possibly by every single human who has ever lived long enough to be [...]