Writing

On this page are some of my essays. To read them, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you can download from here.

And, yes, some people do think it's a bit daft to put old essays online. But nevermind. If you're reading these essays 'cause you've got nothing better to do then give up now. Go surf for porn or something. Or not. I really don't care.


1) Narrative from a Cognitive Science Perspective

This was written during my 3rd year at UCL for a course on "Memory and Motivation". This essay served two purposes: (1) a course assessment essay and (2) a pitch for a PhD.

7300 words, 200 kbytes, Jan 2003


2) The Integrated Circuit

This was written during my 1st year at UCL. We were given a very broad brief: describe, in any field, the single most important technological development for the advancement of science.

1500 words, 40 kbytes, 2000


3) Gene Therapy for Cancer

6000 words, 2.2 Mbytes, 2002


4) The Future of Technology

This was written in 1999 for N-Lighten, a national A-Level science magazine. The article was going to be the feature of a special issue on technology but, unfortunately, that special was never published and so neither was this essay! So now you get to read an essay that was too arse to be published anywhere else. Lucky you.

9 pages, 166 kbytes, 1999


5) Genome Sequencing

Written in my 1st year at UCL, the brief for this essay was to write a "New Scientist" style essay on some area of genetics.

2000 words, 276 kbytes, 2001


6) Caffein

I have been a hopeless caffein addict for years. After concerns about the health hazards of the drug, I did some research and wrote this article for the A-Level science magazine N-Lighten (this wasn't published either - how shit am I?).

3 pages, 22 kbytes, 1998 (aged 18)


7) Proposal for graphics workstations

At school, a friend and I set up and ran a graphics-heavy magazine. When we kicked off with the project, the school didn't have DTP-capable computing facilities so I wrote to the bursar asking for some money to build a network of graphics workstations. This is the proposal which got us enough cash to build 3 hefty computers.

17 pages, 641 kbytes, 1998


8) Sarah's baptism

I didn't really write this. And neither is this the 'real' Sarah's baptism. But it's amusing, never-the-less.


9) Childish attempt at retribution

 


10) Religious Studies essays

I loved RS at GCSE. This first essay contains discussions on "what to Buddhism and Christianity teach about the significance, purpose and value of human life"; "what do Buddhism and Christianity believe about the morality of birth control and abortion?" and "researching on embryos and experimenting with human genes is no longer a constuctive medical science but a destructive and dangerous manipulation of what it is to be human. Do you agree with this statement? Give reasons for your answer."

This second essay discusses "how do the sacred writings of Buddhism and Christianity influence and guide believers in their conduct towards other people"'; "what do Buddhists and Christians believe about obedience to the law and punishment?"

both essays are about 220 kbytes and were written in 1997 when I was 16.