Local schoolchildren win 50 word competition
Secondary school students from across Oxfordshire recently entered a University of Oxford writing competition to explain, in 50 words or less, “what they think of when they think about research.”
The competition winners, one taken from each year group from Years 7 to 11, entered poems, mini-essays, micro-stories and news articles, all starting with ‘Research is…’. The winners were presented with a £50 Amazon voucher by Bodley’s Librarian, Richard Ovenden, at a Grand Prize Giving Ceremony at the Weston Library on 13 December.
Some of the winning entries included poems by Ellie Hinnells, Year 7, Headington School, and Elizabeth Bonnett, Year 9, Europa School. Hannah Wallace, Year 10, from The Marlborough School, won for her entry which said ‘Research is knowing that: Napoleon was average height… Common-sense is knowing that global-warming’s real.’
Emily-Rose Denmark, Year 11, from The Oxford Academy won for her powerful entry which ended, ‘Without research, we would have no knowledge at all.’
Read all of the competition winning entries
Research is typing, clicking, pressing. Noises from no human, no animal, no living thing makes that noise. The noise of a typewriter. Research means brain working, counting, thinking. Everything thinks in different ways. Colour, words, numbers. Thinking, counting, ticking down like a bomb going to explode. Typewriter, research, think. Bomb.
Ellie Hinnells, Year 7, Headington School
Research is a process whilst which a person (or a group of people) is looking for facts attached to some topic or a theme for discovering new knowledge (it can be new only for you or for the whole world also).
Yuliia Banaru, Year 8, The Oxford Academy
Research is a rabbit
A rabbit forever running
A rabbit forever being chased
Research is never ending
A current strong enough to run forever
Forever being free
Research is power
Fuel to power the obsessive
Forever being used
Research is never right nor wrong
Research is free
Research is liberating
Elizabeth Bonnett, Year 9, Europa School UK
Research is knowing that: Napoleon was average height; fortune cookies are Japanese; nowhere in the Bible does it say there were exactly three wise men; Coca-Cola didn't originally create our typical image of Santa and that bulls don't get enraged by the colour red. Common-sense is knowing that global-warming's real.
Hannah Wallace, Year 10, The Marlborough School
Research is the progression of knowledge by using resources to further the information on a specific subject. It is used regularly, especially by myself, as someone who is doing their GCSE's. Personally, it is a key aspect for my independent revision and learning. Without research, we would have no knowledge at all.
Emily-Rose Denmark, Year 11, The Oxford Academy