i Magazine

Written for SOC 3131.  Nominated by Professor Carol Garza. What is a family? To answer this question, a person might reminisce about a memory they shared with relatives at a family gathering. If they were the World Factbook, however, they might say a mother, a father and, as of 2009, 2.05 kids. Early structural functionalists [...]

Background sources are one of the most common types of academic citations, and often the first kind students learn to include in researched writing. These sources are used to present information and data (as opposed to ideas or arguments). You might think of them as suppliers of “facts and figures” like statistics, dates and other [...]

Have you ever wondered why the assignment to “compare and contrast” is such a staple of college English classes? Probably because comparing one text – or character – can help us understand both texts better. This paper by Marlon Altoe is an excellent model of how texts can be juxtaposed – or, or placed side [...]

“Does my essay flow?” This, probably, is the most common question students ask consultants at the writing center. But what does “flow” mean? And what, exactly, is “flowing?” Usually, when people refer to “flow,” they’re referring to the writer’s ideas. A paper that “flows” is characterized by the controlled development of and clear connections between [...]

This essay was awarded second prize in the 2009 CUNY Nobel Science Challenge.  This competition asked CUNY undergraduate students to write “an essay of 1000-1500 words explaining the science behind the 2009 Nobel prizes – to describe how these concepts are influencing our world today, and to predict the future significance of this research to [...]