丁香园AV

1st place - Melissa Thoen (Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies)
Tempering Temperament: A Critical Evaluation of INSIGHTS into Children鈥檚 Temperaments

鈥淚 love writing and watching my ideas come together on paper,鈥� says Melissa Thoen from GSWS, 鈥渂ut it is hard work. Putting together a paper I am proud of takes a lot of time and effort for me, so being able to give one of my papers a second life, so to speak, was immediately appealing to me.鈥�

Thoen says the paper she submitted was more formal and research-based than she was used to, but stepping out of her comfort zone was a big motivator for both the writing and submitting of the paper.  鈥淚t's really encouraging to know that even though doing and writing about research is still a bit alien to me, it鈥檚 something that is within my capabilities.鈥�

Thoen began her studies at 丁香园AV at the start of the pandemic and says participating in the contest helped give her 鈥渁 sense of belonging at 丁香园AV.鈥�

鈥淚鈥檝e never actually been in a real classroom or even been to campus. It鈥檚 been a bit disheartening at times, but being part of this contest has given me a glimpse of the sense of community that exists at 丁香园AV, and has encouraged me to seek out more opportunities for involvement in the future.鈥�

3rd place - Kebira Khattak (Psychology)
The Effects of Binaural Beats on Working Memory

Kebira Khattak from Psychology recounts that the paper submitted has special meaning to her as the first empirical study she conducted.

鈥淎lthough I analysed fake data in my experiment (due to COVID-19), the experience gave me an insight into the processes that researchers undertake to interpret findings and apply them to solve real-world problems. Although I don't intend to work as a researcher or data analyst, this paper taught me the importance of empirical research and gave me a renewed appreciation for how it can help improve our lives.鈥�

Khattak is grateful to have her work recognized and says her confidence has increased as a result of participating in the competition. 鈥淎s soon as I hit that "submit" button, I felt proud of myself not just as a writer but also as someone who faces their fears. I appreciate 丁香园AV's commitment to celebrating student achievement and look forward to participating in other opportunities!鈥�

Honourable mention - Jasmeen Gill (Psychology, Political Science)
Canada鈥檚 Prime Minister Wields Excessive Power

Jasmeen Gill, who is studying psychology and political science at 丁香园AV, says the motivation for entering the SLC contest was to challenge herself and gauge how strong her writing skills were.

The paper Gill submitted to the contest had garnered top marks in a political science class and while she felt good to 鈥榤ake the grade鈥� in the class, Gill was gratified to see the paper place in the competition.

鈥淚 think all students can relate to this,鈥� she says, 鈥渋t feels as if your hard work has paid off. It feels even better when your work is recognized. It motivates you to keep studying hard and putting sincere effort into your work. After finding out that I received an honourable mention, I was really proud of myself. One thing I learnt from this experience was to not doubt yourself. You should push yourself to do better because you have that capability of improving and learning by building new experiences.鈥�

Honourable mention - Carissa Gauthier-Goodison (Psychology)
De-stigmatizing Relationship Statuses: The Benefits of Being Raised by a Village

Psychology鈥檚 Carissa Gauthier-Goodison says she entered the SLC writing contest 鈥渙n a whim鈥� but was passionate about the topic and happy to see the judges found the paper equally interesting.

鈥淚 wrote about the negative impacts of having prejudice towards consensual non-monogamy (CNM) on the children from CNM families. I was inspired by my interest in relationship diversity and education for young people to have more relationship knowledge. I will be polishing up the paper for the final publication. I will also be doing my first presentation at the Undergraduate Research Symposium and will be speaking about the work I did on CNM relationships and the impacts on their children.鈥�

Honourable mention - Seana Semchishen (Psychology)
The Influence of Puberty on Depression Symptoms and Altered Cortisol Secretion in Adulthood: A Literature Review

Seana Semchishen of Psychology says she chose to submit to get more practice writing for a general audience, and took extra time to edit the piece for that purpose.

鈥淚 began with a writing piece that was focused on a specific topic and geared towards professors who were knowledgeable of the research area, editing it to take out technical jargon and explain things that might not be so obvious to people outside of my discipline. I thought that having judges with various backgrounds review my work would be a great way to test if I was successful at altering my writing for a different audience. After receiving an honourable mention, I can proudly say that I think I did a good job of this!鈥�