The Valpo Core Reader

The Valpo Core Reader (formerly the Freshman Reader: A Magazine of Student Writing) collects and honors excellent writing from Valparaiso University students who have been through the Valpo Core Program the previous year. These essays address a wide variety of texts and topics and include many genres of writing, including argumentative papers, personal narratives, and more. Main themes are drawn from the curriculum of the Core Program, which is arranged according to important aspects of human experience: origins, education, love, leadership and service, work and vocation, and matters of "life and death."

Follow

Argument Essays

PDF

Today's Trash: Tomorrow's Trouble (1990), Eric Bardenhagen

PDF

Liability Insurance: A Liability to Americans (1986), Mark Bayler

PDF

Let's Crack Down on Hackers (1984), Fred Benner

PDF

Physician-Assisted Suicide: Mercy or Murder? (1994), Sara Bobenmoyer

PDF

Adopted Children Have Rights Too (1996), Lisa Dimitroff

PDF

The Military as Editors: Crossing the Lines of Censorship (1991), Patti Disparte

PDF

"Alternative Futures" (1997), Ryan Doering

PDF

Free to Choose (1984), James Donaldson

PDF

The Wonder Drug (1983), Rochelle Erhart

PDF

Open Adoption (1996), Melissa Fann

PDF

Why Apathy is King of My Generation (1996), Jennifer Fett

PDF

Is Euthanasia a Crime? (1988), Heather Greenleaf

PDF

A Plea from the Deep (1991), Tad Hartmann

PDF

Outcome-Based Education: The Problems Behind the Theory (1996), Errin Jeffes

PDF

What Shall We Read in Reading Class? (1987), Kathleen A. Kisner

PDF

The Battle Over Bilingual Education (1988), Erica Langenegger

PDF

Control of the Greenhouse Effect (1989), Matt Lorentson

PDF

Nagging in America (1991), Jack Lyons

PDF

The Existence of Repressed Memory Syndrome (1996), Carri Massau

PDF

Relax, Have Fun, This is Prison (1996), Leslie Medlik

PDF

A Proposition for Victory (1993), Rebecca Menis

PDF

When to Turn the Television Off (1994), April Metz

PDF

We Have Got A Prayer (1996), Victoria Morton

PDF

The Euthanasia Controversy (1989), Scott Mueller

PDF

True Loving Christians? (1997), Kelly Mullin

PDF

Baby Fae: An Experimental Child (1985), Debby Naumann

PDF

Immigration (1997), Francisco Nuno

PDF

The Co-op Experience (1987), Vicki Panoushek

PDF

Record Labeling and the PMRC (1990), Jennifer Parks

PDF

Commercials Are Teaching Our Children The Wrong Things (1993), Rachel Pearson

PDF

Nuclear Energy and the Future Energy Demands of the United States (1993), Timothy Plath

PDF

Their Choice? (1986), Jon Rachiele

PDF

Animal Experimentation is Both Useful and Ethical (1994), Allan Rowe

PDF

Anorexia as a Harmful Effect of Women Succumbing to Societal Pressures (1997), Angela Seitz

PDF

Preschool Academics: Is It Too Much Too Soon? (1990), Katrina Sifferd

PDF

Equal Opportunities (1989), Ann Stien

PDF

The Right to Die: An Option for the Elderly (1986), Anonymous Submission

PDF

Educational Anarchy (1988), Nichole Thursby

PDF

Against the Legalization of Drugs (1991), Joe Troyer

PDF

The Right to Work Without Smoke (1994), Laura Verdun

PDF

A Delicate Balance (1984), Andrea Wagonblast

PDF

Handguns in the Home: An Unnecessary Risk (1983), Kim Walesh

PDF

Rage and Confusion: The Debate Over Capital Punishment (1996), Melissa M. Wilhelm

PDF

The Issue of Gun Control: My Big Bang Theory (1994), Teresa Witte

PDF

Children with AIDS: Lepers in the Classroom (1987), Elizabeth Young

Argument and Information Essays

PDF

Tourette Sydrome (1992), Debbi Beattie

PDF

Refusing an AIDS Patient: The Right Belongs to the Physician (1992), Debra Landbo

PDF

Genetic Engineering: Where Does it Stop? (1992), Nada Mlinarevich

PDF

The Japanese Equal Employment Opportunity Law of 1985 (1992), Ikuko Sugiura

Birth and Creation Essays

PDF

At What Cost? (2007), Evan Akers

PDF

Power of Pressure (2008), Sarah Blystra

PDF

Falling (2003), Joy Bowker

PDF

Learning Through Our Experience (2001), Andrea Bronner

PDF

Africa is Calling (2008), Mary Chilcote

PDF

God Complex (2006), Emily Cullar

PDF

Becoming a Little Woman (2007), Alysse Foster

PDF

Conflict Through the Eyes of Genesis, Old Man Coyote, and Genome (2006), Cory Francis

PDF

Lust for Life (2008), Mia Goulding

PDF

The Desire for Knowledge (2008), Angela Huerta

PDF

Dancing Like No One Was Watching (2006), Jenny Johnson

PDF

"Brother Against Brother" (2002), Erica Kruger

PDF

Nature in Creation Stories (2006), Chris Lentz

PDF

Intrinsic Motivation in the Absence of Satisfaction in Genesis, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, and Frederick Douglass' Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (2005), Ryan J. Perri

PDF

The Truth About Smelly People (2005), Emily Peters

PDF

The Ethics of Rappaccini (2007), Jacob Roshanmanesh

PDF

The Product of a Nightmare (2008), Elizabeth Simons

PDF

Self Portrait (2007), Aaron Stevens

PDF

The Question of Creation (2007), Kirsten Swanson

PDF

Religious Revolution (2008), Theresa Vachon

PDF

Becoming Allison Cassidy (2007), Emily Zitnik

PDF

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (2004), Diane Zuber

Cause and Effect Essays

PDF

The Damage is Done (1987), Anonymous Author

PDF

Max, Marty, Paul, and Me (1994), John Bennett

PDF

How TV Makes People Hate the Sport of Golf (1992), Jim Boehm

PDF

Happily Ever After? (1985), Lora Bulmahn

PDF

Fast Food Restaurants: A Healthier Alternative (1989), Suzanne Crabill

PDF

The Effect of Feminism on Motherhood (1995), Lea Dalphond

PDF

The Consequences of Under-Age Drinking (1994), Craig Fantin

PDF

The Hardening of the Body, the Softening of the Soul (1994), Lisa Finnern

PDF

Can a Dad be a Homemaker? (1992), Jennifer Hard

PDF

It's A Jungle Out There (1991), Mark Hollander

PDF

Wordlove (1991), Anne Iverson

PDF

"Pictures, Anyone?" (1984), Patricia Jaeger

PDF

The Only Child Syndrome (1990), Wade Jones

PDF

Spice Up Your Life (1995), Kerri Ann Kielpinski

PDF

The Effects of Failure (1992), Kate Kitzmann

PDF

Vivid Pictures and Lasting Impressions: Television and Movies in Education (1988), Bonney Leckie

PDF

Winning And Everything That Goes With It (1990), Tina Maaske

PDF

First Born, Second Born (1990), Maureen Maher

PDF

Emancipate the Children! (1989), Sherri McCuddy

PDF

The Family Reunion: What Causes Its Demise (1994), Gary L. McMahan

PDF

Devastating Effects (1991), Stephanie Nelson

PDF

Dollars and Sense (1984), Helene Pappas

PDF

They Work Hard for their Money (1987), Paige Prestia

PDF

The Dying Olympic Dream (1994), Beckie Ramstack

PDF

Honor Code: A Screen Door On A Submarine (1985), Paul Rinehart

PDF

Win a Few, Lose a Few (1993), Allison Ring

PDF

Setting A Rusty Wheel Into Motion (1991), James E. Saqui Jr.

PDF

Dying Love (1993), Tanya Senne

PDF

I Can't Drive 55 (1986), David Soderna