A resource for both students and instructors, ESSAI is an annual publication that features some of the best academic writing done by C.O.D. students across the curriculum and at all levels of learning.

Each volume includes a variety of written assignments that articulate the skill, scholarship and sophistication of students. It also exemplifies the notion that good writing stimulates analytical and creative thinking, records information, demonstrates learning and communicates writerly effort and integrity in a flawless, eloquent and graceful manner.

Among the works included in each volume of multi-disciplinary selections are expository and reflective essays, literary criticism, research projects, science and technology reports, math projects, exam answers, journal entries, in-class writing, business letters and resumes, newsletters, and focused responses to coursework.

The name of the publication, ESSAI, traces back to Michel de Montaigne, who, in the 16th century, created a new literary form called “essays.” To Montaigne, essays were “attempts” or “trials,” a means of testing his response to different subjects and situations. And it is to him that we owe our tradition of college essay writing. Reflecting Montaigne’s seminal design, ESSAI witnesses the “trials” and “attempts” of students’ minds as they engage with various issues.

Below are the first four

volumes of ESSAI. They are available as PDF files.