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What
makes a "perfect" paper? If you asked a hundred English
professors
to give you a perfect student paper, you might receive a hundred different
papers. However, English instructors do work together at times to
establish national and local standards. Below are some examples that
most professors would consider excellent for their respective levels, from
high school senior and basic/developmental college papers through research writing at all levels
and graduate
theses and dissertations. |
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Basic/Developmental/High
School: two 5-paragraph or "5-star" theme essays with notes or marks for
each paragraph:
Capital Community College and
Kathy Livingston
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High School Advanced Senior:
Penn State University's 2010 "Penn
State Essay Contest" for high school students, three persuasive proposals:
1st Place
2nd Place
3rd Place
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College Freshman:
(1) Roane State College's
"Beulah Davis
Outstanding Freshman Writer" Awards: Argumentative
Research
Literary Analysis
Narrative/Descriptive
Essay
(2) Penn State University's
Best of Freshman Writing
(After seeing current winners, you may scroll to the bottom of the page for back issues.)
(3) Dartmouth University's
examples of freshman writing about literature:
Four Essays about Shakespeare |
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College Freshman through
Senior: Thirteen
excellent college writing-course papers (six types, four levels) from
the University of Minnesota and other Minnesota colleges:
Online Grammar Handbook/"What
Level?"
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Undergraduate MLA, APA, Chicago (CMS), & CSE
(Science)
Research:
eight papers from Diana Hacker,
creator of some of the most successful U.S. college grammar handbooks in
print; from the Purdue OWL, perhaps the most widely used online college
writing resource; and from Diana Hacker and Barbara Fister's Research and
Documentation Online:
Hacker: MLA Research
Paper and
APA Research
Paper
Purdue
(w/discussion):
MLA Research Paper
and APA
Research Paper
Hacker & Fister (w/notes):
MLA Humanities Paper
and
APA Social Sciences Paper
Chicago/CMS History Paper and
CSE Science Paper
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Undergraduate Research:
(1) Six
excellent undergraduate research papers by students in several subject
disciplines and levels, from rough to final draft:
Bedford Researcher by Mike Palmquist
(2)
University of Minnesota 2000-2001 Wilson Library Award for "Best Student
Essay Using Library Research in the University of Minnesota CLA
[1000-3000] Composition Program":
University of Minnesota |
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Senior/Graduate
Research:
Dozens of undergraduate
research journals with hundreds of undergraduate research papers online:
Council on Undergraduate Research--Journals
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Graduate Theses and
Dissertations:
DART Europe,
Networked Digital Library
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