By Sally Portman ’13, Contributor

The sophomore paper is looking a little different this year. The assignment will now be chaired by the History Department instead of the English Department, a move Mrs. Pat Dunn, English Department Chair, sees as “more sensible.”

Now that the paper has been changed to the History Department, the topics have been narrowed to art and architecture for Mr. Black’s classes, and analysis of a primary source document for Dr. McCall’s classes.

Originally the sophomore paper was an “introduction to research papers,” Mrs. Dunn said. Students were allowed to select their subject, with topics ranging broadly from global warming to Jackie Onassis to hairdos.

“Anything to which there was enough primary and secondary source material” was available for the students write about, Mrs. Dunn said, adding that the “open choice aspect” was the key.

History Department Chair Mr. Merle Black “did not think the English department was committed to the sophomore paper,” seeing it as just “an obligation.”

“The English Department was more interested in helping students write shorter papers and the research paper wasn’t as high on the list of priorities,” Mr. Black said. He said he was sure that the History Department could help to better prepare students for the Junior Paper.

Fellow Upper School history teacher Dr. Jeremiah McCall thinks students will befit from the change, learning more about constructing a historical analysis paper from the History Department. “The methods you have to use in writing a historical style article cut across most disciplines,” Dr. McCall said. “You need those skills in many courses in college.”

The new paper is “not intended to be of the size and scope of the junior paper,” said Mr. Black, but rather “a preparatory work.”

In addition to preparing students for their upcoming junior paper, “one thing that’s really important…is just the process of research,” Dr. McCall said. “How do you learn about something you’ve identified as important to you?” He hopes students will learn how to corroborate primary and secondary sources and to also think about cause and effect.

Changes in the sophomore paper seem to be a win-win situation for CCDS teachers, but many students have different opinions. Some question the switch from the English to History Department, seeing it a hindrance to the literary creativity of students, while others see it as an opportunity to excel in a specific topic area.

“I’m glad to have this to help prepare for the highly anticipated junior paper,” sophomore Elliot Cofer ’13 said.

While Holly Dayton ’13 thinks it is very helpful to have “written a paper with only a window of options,” many former students feel that the previous broad range of topics and freedom of selection gave their paper something special.

Victoria Marial-Cruz ’12, thinks that with the new specific focus, the paper could become a more cumbersome and tedious task for those not intrigued by art and architecture. These people “might not be as motivate to write a good, interesting paper.”

Senior Jules Cantor agreed. “I think it will be hard to write a satisfactory paper for Mr. Black, who is so into art and architecture,” Cantor joked. “It could remove some individuality from the paper.” Cantor wrote about the corrupt industry of major league baseball in his sophomore paper and the impact of Woodstock on the morals of the baby boomer generation for his junior paper. Cantor said both topics had a common theme of “cultural aspects of the U.S.A.”

“The junior paper is a lot different than the sophomore paper was because the sophomore paper possibilities were endless,” Amar Mehta ’12 said. “It wasn’t as stressful [with the project] reoccurring [over] the entire year.”

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