Both are the topics of papers submitted by professors for the 2008 Presbyterian College Freshman Writing Award, and Mel Martin, the winner, wrote both entries. A faculty panel of four--Julie Meadows, Michael Nelson, Lynne Simpson, and Don Raber--ranked her essays first among the nominated writers. Anita Gustafson submitted the paper Mel wrote in History 122: The Modern World on Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya. Mel's paper, "Transformation Through Modernization," argued that the most significant impact on Indian society in the twentieth century was "the shift from an agricultural to an industrialized way of life."

From his General Biology Lab reports, John Inman selected Mel's "Microbial Diversity." At the faculty lunch on good writing November 21st, Inman said that he was impressed by Mel's flow of ideas, how she presented a clear view of the problem and drew everything together in the conclusion. When grading students' papers, Gustafson looks for "clarity and error-free writing." Both Inman and Gustafson used the word "clarity" to describe Mel's papers.

Martin, a sophomore, plans to major in Business Adminstration and minor in Spanish. A PC soccer player, she finds being a student athlete does not interfere with her study time: "Having 'x' hours of practice each day motivates me to get my school work done right away because I know that I might not have time later in the day after soccer. I don't really struggle with managing my studying time. In fact, I devote almost all of my time-outside of practicing for soccer-to my studies, but I haven't learned to balance soccer and studies with a social life."

Her Writing Process

Mel usually starts writing an essay a week before the due date to fit homework into her busy schedule. She admits to trying the "stay-up-all-night, writing-a-paper-that's-due-the-next-morning technique," but it did not work well for her. When she gets the ideas for an essay, she finds a comfortable environment like the library or her dorm room to begin. She writes better if she just sits down with her laptop and starts typing: "Saying this now, I'm wondering how my papers are cohesive, but I have
never been good at planning beforehand what I want to write down-I just do it!"

She adds, "I very rarely hand-write a first draft of the paper because I am constantly changing things, and it's more convenient to type it out (and be able to backspace after about every third word or so)." Mel's continuous revisions make it easy to see how she achieves clarity in her essays.

by Taylor Newton and Jill Frey