What 200-level writing looks like
Second-year courses add analysis: comparing sources, explaining evidence in your own words, and longer assignments built on more scholarly sources.
Why course levels? Each collegiate level requires a different level of writing skill and ability. We use course levels only for that reason: the level label simply shows the expected collegiate level of writing ability for the reference material.
New to study references? Read How to Study This Reference, and use the free APA format guide, MLA format guide, and college paper structure checklist for your own work.
Philosophy & ethics (11)
Financial Stewardship and Mutual Aid Without Easy Assumptions
Follow a reflective example balancing household obligations, emergency savings, and voluntary giving. A fictional monthly plan shows how specific assumptions can support a thoughtful discussion of responsibility.
See the first-page previewMoral Assumptions and the Problem of Evil
Explore how theistic, secular realist, and consequence-focused perspectives can condemn the same harm for different reasons. The study reference shows how to clarify assumptions before evaluating moral conclusions.
See the first-page previewPersonal Worldview and the Formation of Moral Commitments
Read a fictional first-person reflection connecting experience, public service, education, faith, and responsibility. The reflection demonstrates how personal narrative can develop into a reasoned account of changing commitments.
See the first-page previewPhilosophical Worldviews in the Star Wars Films
Study a media analysis comparing interconnection, monism, pantheism, and selected Daoist images in Star Wars. The example distinguishes interpretive resemblance from claims about definitive authorial intent.
See the first-page previewPragmatism, Free Will, and Moral Responsibility: A Comparative Analysis
Follow a developed study reference comparing pragmatic truth, fatalism, determinism, compatibilism, and responsible agency. The reference uses hypothetical decisions to examine the relationship between practical success, moral reasons, and choice.
See the first-page previewQuestions That Shape a Personal Worldview
Follow a fictional student response organized around purpose, knowledge, reality, and moral responsibility. The example presents a Christian theistic perspective as an explained viewpoint, not a substitute for the reader's own reflection.
See the first-page previewReflection and Next Steps in Worldview, Learning, and Stewardship
Study a concise final reflection connecting changes in reasoning with academic habits and financial planning. The reflection turns a broad claim of growth into specific next steps and evidence of learning.
See the first-page previewReflection on Faith, Learning, and Financial Stewardship
Study a fictional course reflection linking educational confidence, religious commitments, and financial habits. The reflection moves from initial assumptions to learning and practical next steps.
See the first-page previewThe Logical and Evidential Problems of Evil
Explore a response essay distinguishing logical inconsistency from evidential arguments about suffering and theism. The essay weighs selected theistic replies and divine hiddenness while separating philosophical claims from empirical findings.
See the first-page previewTheism, Naturalism, and the Grounds of Moral Judgment
Explore a response-style study reference comparing Christian theism and philosophical naturalism on reality, dignity, and responsibility. The reference preserves an explicit interpretive perspective while making its assumptions open to criticism.
See the first-page previewVocation as a Pattern of Service, Skill, and Discernment
Explore a fictional reflection that treats vocation as a pattern of service and ordinary commitments. The example connects a Christian interpretation of calling with realistic constraints and concrete action.
See the first-page previewSociology (5)
Assessing Drug Policy Through Prevention, Treatment, and Public Accountability
Study a policy-analysis example comparing prevention, treatment, enforcement, and public evaluation. It shows how to separate political frameworks, measurable outcomes, and the limits of a hypothetical agency proposal.
See the first-page previewDivorce, Family Change, and the Meaning of Social Stability
Explore a sociological argument about divorce through family institutions, economic conditions, competing theories, and support needs. Learn how the example handles statistical definitions and avoids one-size-fits-all conclusions.
See the first-page previewHow Competing Claims Become Public Problems: A Sociological Analysis
See how a sociological analysis distinguishes moral claims, empirical evidence, advocacy, and policy proposals. Abortion debates provide the worked case for comparing public frames and institutional responses.
See the first-page previewStudying Generational Attitudes Without Inventing Interview Evidence
Follow an educational research example on generational attitudes toward same-sex relationships. The study reference demonstrates a proposed interview design, fictional coding, and careful separation of qualitative interpretation from population claims.
See the first-page previewThe Social Value of Unpaid Care and Options for Recognizing It
Study an argument about unpaid care, household labor, and the policy choices for recognizing caregiving. Compare direct payments, public services, and retirement credits through questions of eligibility, choice, and equity.
See the first-page previewGovernment & civics (4)
Educational Choice and Public Accountability: A Policy Framework
Follow a policy study reference comparing school choice through access, family discretion, quality, fiscal accountability, and public obligations. The reference shows how to define competing principles and evaluate program design beyond ideological labels.
See the first-page previewFederal Reserve Policy, Credit, and Ethical Perspectives on Lending
Study a reference analysis that separates the Federal Reserve's monetary responsibilities from ethical questions about lending. The study reference demonstrates how to connect institutional authority, economic effects, and moral reasoning without conflating them.
See the first-page previewGeorge Washington's Farewell Address: Union, Faction, and Foreign Policy
Explore a reference analysis of Washington's warnings about political faction, foreign influence, and constitutional stability. The study reference demonstrates reading a historical argument in context rather than treating it as a prediction of later events.
See the first-page previewReligious Liberty, Constitutional Design, and Historical Interpretation
Explore an APA-style comparison of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and competing interpretations of religious liberty. The comparison distinguishes political ideals, historical context, and legally enforceable provisions.
See the first-page previewNutrition & Health (4)
A Food Diary Records a Day, Not a Perfect Diet
Examine what a food record can reveal and what it can miss. A fictional research diary illustrates omitted detail, changing behavior, day-to-day variation and participant burden, distinguishing imperfect measurement from careless or dishonest reporting.
See the first-page previewA Handoff Is Not Complete Until Its Meaning Is Shared
Compare structured handoff tools with the evidence from a multicenter handoff program. An invented transfer of an unresolved administrative request illustrates the difference between sending information, assigning responsibility and confirming understanding.
See the first-page previewFood Choice Happens Within a Set of Available Options
Compare geographic food access with household food security through a fictional shopping decision. This study reference examines money, transport, time, storage and reliability without treating individual preferences as either irrelevant or sufficient to explain access.
See the first-page previewParticipation Requires More Than Asking Whether a Patient Agrees
Examine how invitation, explanation and practical constraints shape participation in health-service conversations. This original comparison uses a fictional discussion of appointment formats to distinguish meaningful choice from apparent agreement.
See the first-page previewCommunication (3)
An Intervention for a Repeated Family Communication Conflict
Study a developed final-project example that analyzes a recurring sibling disagreement and proposes a communication-improvement plan. Fictional dialogue and follow-up illustrate how theory can support an intervention without presenting invented events as research findings.
See the first-page previewCommunication Breakdown in a Workplace Disagreement
Examine a fictional disagreement about a promise to help with a community event. The study reference connects competing interpretations, escalation, and missed clarification to a more constructive conversation.
See the first-page previewNonverbal Cues and Assumptions in Team-Based Training
Follow a fictional workplace-training incident to examine how posture, tone, gender assumptions, and perceived competence affect conflict. The analysis draws a fair distinction between observable behavior and inferred motives.
See the first-page previewAcademic skills (2)
Reading Disagreement Without Flattening the Argument
Follow an original analytical essay showing how to compare conflicting academic positions without treating every disagreement as a factual error. An invented campus-space debate demonstrates claims, evidence, definitions, fair paraphrase and a qualified synthesis.
See the first-page previewWhen Familiarity Misleads: Retrieval Practice and Honest Self-Assessment
Examine why recognizing a reading can feel easier than explaining it independently. This study reference connects two learning experiments with an explicitly hypothetical study routine, evaluates its limits, and distinguishes retention from broader academic understanding.
See the first-page previewBusiness & management (2)
Finding the Bottleneck in a Small Order-Fulfillment Process
An applied operations study reference using a fictional packing process to distinguish station capacity, system throughput, waiting time, and customer demand. Includes transparent calculations and a reasoned improvement recommendation.
See the first-page previewWhat a Customer Survey Can and Cannot Tell a Small Business
An introductory business-research study reference evaluating a fictional customer survey. Demonstrates population definition, questionnaire improvement, transparent percentages, selection-bias analysis, and a proportionate decision.
See the first-page previewAll 200-level business & management references in the library
Criminal justice (2)
Applying Theories of Deviance to a Fictional Family Case
Follow a fictional family case through moral reasoning, strain, social learning, and opportunity perspectives. This study reference shows how to compare explanations while separating observations from unsupported conclusions.
See the first-page previewResidential Facility Crime Prevention Assessment
See how a fictional student residence can be assessed using environmental design, informal guardianship, and ethical risk-review principles. The study reference illustrates preventive recommendations without exposing real building details.
See the first-page previewEducation (2)
A Rubric Should Explain Quality, Not Merely Divide Points
This study reference develops an argument for meaningful assessment criteria through a fictional college design brief. It examines vague descriptors, double counting, grading calibration, and the use of examples without turning the rubric into a formula.
See the first-page previewFlexible Routes, Shared Goals: Designing an Accessible College Learning Activity
A study reference applies Universal Design for Learning to a fictional college exhibition task. It distinguishes purposeful flexibility from lowered expectations and considers digital accessibility, feedback, and the limits of a single redesign.
See the first-page previewPsychology (2)
Waiting for a Reward: Self-Control, Reliability, and the Meaning of Delay
A developmental psychology analysis of delayed gratification that separates situational reliability, individual differences, and later-life associations.
See the first-page previewWhen Behavior Changes an Attitude: Dissonance and Self-Perception
An analytical comparison of cognitive dissonance and self-perception explanations of attitude change, centered on the limits of inferring a mechanism from an outcome.
See the first-page previewResearch methods (2)
From Lost-and-Found Messages to a Transparent Coding Framework
A qualitative-methods example using explicitly fictional service messages to demonstrate segmentation, code definitions, contextual comparison, and limits on thematic claims.
See the first-page previewWhen Two Observers Record Different Waiting Times
An observational-methods example showing how definitions, clocks, paired records, and agreement checks affect waiting-time data at a fictional equipment counter.
See the first-page previewWriting & composition (2)
From Commemoration to Obligation: Time and Repetition in the Gettysburg Address
A close-reading essay examining how Lincoln turns a cemetery dedication into an unfinished civic obligation through tense, repetition, and collective address.
See the first-page previewWhen the Premise Is Already Conceded: Douglass and the Burden of Argument
A rhetorical analysis of Douglass's 1852 address, focusing on imagined objections, direct address, and the distinction between needing evidence and refusing a principle already acknowledged.
See the first-page previewAll 200-level writing & composition references in the library
Social sciences (3)
A Nearby Service Is Not Always an Accessible Service
Social sciences - 200 level · 6 pages · PDF
Examine an invented library-service comparison through geography, time and individual circumstances. The study reference distinguishes physical proximity from usable access, identifies hidden assumptions in simple distance measures and develops a proportionate evidence plan.
See the first-page preview →Belonging and Exclusion in Campus Communities
Social Sciences - 200 level · 5 pages · PDF
A study reference examining the difference between being admitted to a campus group and being recognized as a member. A fictional student-society case connects access, identity, everyday interactions, and institutional responsibility with carefully bounded belonging research.
See the first-page preview →Why People Move: Networks, Households and Opportunity
Social sciences - 200 level · 6 pages · PDF
Analyze migration through a fictional household deciding between two destinations. The example connects information networks, shared obligations and institutional conditions while distinguishing a plausible mechanism from a universal explanation of migration.
See the first-page preview →All 200-level social sciences references in the library