On the west coast of Taiwan, just north of Taichung City, there is a place called Gaomei where the setting sun takes all but an inch of water with it out to sea. There, you can take off your shoes and socks and walk into the wetland, feeling the wet clay work its...

Even though discrimination is an ugly part of society, you know that professors aren’t going to discriminate when it comes to handing out essay grades. No matter how many hours you work on your discrimination essay, if it isn’t good, your prof will let you...

What is truth? Do people have free will? Can we know we exist? Questions like these are what philosophers think and write about. As a philosophy student, it’s your job to learn from the great philosophers and write about their responses—and yours—to life’s...

Imagine a world where there are no books to read. If you’re a student, sometimes that might feel like a dream come true. Now imagine a world with nothing to read. That includes no internet (and certainly no social media). That dream can quickly turn into a nightmare....

Fahrenheit 451 is a favorite book for teachers to assign—and a favorite for students to read. It’s a classic dystopian novel written in the ‘50s and set in the 24th century. Even though it’s not quite the 24th century yet, Ray Bradbury did get a few things...

Most of us think technology is pretty awesome—that is, until you go on a late-night fast food run and the drive-thru voice tells you that the credit card machine is down (and of course you have no cash to pay for your burger and fries). Or maybe technology is...

There’s an easy way and a hard way to do just about everything in life. However, the things most worth doing are almost always more difficult. For instance, it’s hard to go to school, work a job to pay for it, and then come home and study at the end of it all....

Ask yourself this—how many hours do you spend interacting with technology each week?? Add up the number of hours you spend each week on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and other social media sites. Now add to that the number of hours each week you spend surfing...

“True friendship isn’t about being there when it’s convenient; it’s about being there when it’s not.” “A friend who knows your tears is much more valuable than a lot of friends who only know your smile.” Not a sappy friendship quote kind of person?...

Here’s a quick (and simple) survey: How many social media sites do you use regularly? How many times per week do you log in to a social media site? How many hours per week do you spend on social media? I’m guessing that, for some of you, the numbers are pretty...

Tell me about yourself. Whether you hear these words as you introduce yourself to a new group of people or read them on an essay assignment, they can be intimidating. In general, we’re taught not to brag, but how can you write about yourself without at least...

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “a picture is worth a thousand words,” right? But does it really take 1,000 words to create a vivid picture? Check out this short paragraph from Charlotte’s Web: Fern came slowly down the stairs. Her eyes were red...

What does it really mean to be boring? We can all point to a moment that was boring. And we’re quick to recognize a new one when it presents itself, but what are the criteria for something to fall into that category? When I worked as a cashier at a grocery store...

“Nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.”  —Mary Shelley If you’re a math major enrolled in a required literature course, the painful and sudden change you might be experiencing right now is the fact that you have to write...

One time, in the ninth grade, we were reading The Cask of Amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe. We were discussing what Poe meant by what he wrote, specifically about the symbolism of the short story. A boy in the class asked why Poe just didn’t say what he meant instead...

Are you one of those people who has been told (likely more than once) that you have an opinion on everything? If you are, then you’re in luck. The opinion essay is the perfect way to express your opinions to the world (or at least to your professor). Telling...

If you’re a lieutenant commander on the U.S.S. Enterprise, and your name is Spock, it’s a given that you’re all about logic. If you’re not Spock or a Vulcan (I’m assuming you’re not either of these), you might be guilty of faulty logic and might end...

If I say “animal testing,” which of the following two images comes to mind? Image #1: Professional, ethical scientists carefully monitoring and testing animals and developing life-saving cures. Image #2: People needlessly injecting, probing, and torturing defenseless...

What would you say if I told you that for the next year you could eat nothing but pasta? Even if pasta is your favorite food and you love nothing more than an all-you-can-eat spaghetti dinner, eating only your favorite dish for a year straight would get pretty...

In Greek Orphic tradition, Thesis, the goddess of creation, is worshiped for creating all of the matter we see in the world today. In the academic writing world, it feels as if we are often worshiping her ourselves. I mean, your thesis statement is kind of like...

You’ve been toiling away the entire term, and now it all comes down to this—the term paper. In many classes, term papers take the place of a final exam and can determine a whole letter grade (and sometimes more). No pressure, right? While writing a term paper...