by The Cowl Editor on November 29, 2018
Uncategorized
Assign Essay Prompts Before Reading the Book
We have all gone through it. Frantically skimming through a Civ book we previously read to try and find quotes that support the thesis statement in our paper. It is complete hell.
It is almost as if we are trying to solve a mystery, and the clues are hidden within 300 pages.
If all professors would include their essay prompts in the syllabus at the beginning of the semester, it would result in better quality essays and less stress for the students.
When we are reading up to two books per week, just for one class—not counting our other courses—it is very easy for the content of each book to get mixed up, making it extremely hard to write a proper paper.
Writing a paper in and of itself is extremely stressful, but trying to write a paper on a book that one has previously read, and does not have any recollection of, adds unnecessary stress to the process.
If a clear prompt would be given before students start reading the books, we would be able to plan accordingly and choose on which prompt we want to write the paper.
We could annotate as we read to find evidence in advance. Not only would the evidence used be much more supportive, but the overall quality of the paper and the student’s understanding of the text would improve.
—Angela Bueso ’22
Going Greener at PC
Reduce, reuse, and recycle—the catchphrase that elementary school teachers ingrain into every student’s head. Although it is constantly repeated, the sentiment behind this saying is still important.
College students should embrace the meaning behind this common phrase, and Providence College needs to make “going green” more feasible on campus.
Some may argue that the campus is green due to the recycling bins that each dorm room has; however, some rooms do not have recycling bins. The ones that do have them are usually unsure what to put in the trash versus what to put in the recycling bin.
PC can improve this by making the information on what to recycle more available; perhaps they could give out magnets on move-in day.
In addition to that information, they can include easy ways to go green around school, such as not ordering Styrofoam cups with Dunkin’ coffees.
The omnipresence of plastic water bottles on campus is inevitable, unless PC offers more affordable resusable water bottles for sale on campus. Reusable water bottles are a great way to promote school pride when the water bottle has the PC logo on it.
By implementing a few easy changes, PC can take a big step towards encouraging students to practice going green and the Three R’s.
—Emily Ball ’22
“Reunited and It Feels So Good”
Thanksgiving break is exciting for a couple of reasons: escaping school and eating delicious (and real) food.
For me and hopefully many others, another great part about returning home is seeing friends that you open up with. The friends made here at Providence College are most likely very different than your high school friends, which is nice since college is a time to branch out and meet new people.
But nothing comes quite as close to the feeling of home and familiarity as your high school friends. Of course, your friends made at PC will last a lifetime, but those friends that you bonded with over bad SAT scores and prom dresses will always mean a lot to you.
It is for these reasons that returning home this Thanksgiving break brought so much excitement and wonder for what it will be like to reunite with the friends that you saw every day for four years.
The group dynamic was very different. Everyone has been off living separate lives for the past three months and because of that, we have all changed.
At first, it took my friends and I time to get used to being around each other again; however, slowly but surely, we regained that comfort level with each other and for a little while it felt just like old times.
Of course, it was nice to return to PC, but it is always comforting to see the people you grew so close to for the past fouryears of high school.
—Katherine Belbusti ’22