McGillivary 1

Caitlin McGillivary

Emily Kretzer

English 1201

17 March 2019

Works Cited

My essay will aim to answer the question whether or not gap years are beneficial

to students and the world. I want to figure out why gap years are more common in

countries other the the United States of America. Why do some students fear the

thought of taking a gap years while others don’t? I also want to discuss why the U.S

doesn’t educate students about their choice of taking a gap year. What kind of obstacles

to student go through to plan a gap year and is it always beneficial to take a full year off

or more?

Boyd, Sophie, and Sunanda Creagh. “Study Links a Gap Year to Better University

Grades.” The Conversation, 18 September 2013.

http://theconversation.com/study-links-a-gap-year-to-better-university-grades-182

75. Accessed 26 February 2019.

Sophie Boyd, an editor for The Conversation, and Sunanda Creagh, the head of

digital storytelling for The Conversation, discuss the findings of a recently conducted

study. In the study that the authors are summarizing the research was found by Andrew

Martin, a Professorial Research Fellow from the University of Sydney. The research

included a wide spectrum of gap year students from those studying the arts all the way

to those studying sciences. This article says that students who decided to take a gap
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year ended up developing valuable skills that helped them when they returned to

University. Andrew Martin concluded that gap years are not the best for every student

but they do provide a valuable learning stage in a young adults life.

The author’s purpose for writing about Martin’s research was to provide evidence

that gap years can be positive. In the article the authors wrote about the fact that many

parents of students are fearful of their children taking gap years and they bring to light

the fact that gap years can be a very beneficial experience for pre University students.

They also were sure to explain that gap years aren’t for everybody because it can be

hard to get back into the swing of attending school.

The website, The Conversation, is a nonprofit and is completely independent.

The Conversation has expanded its outlets over the 2000s. This organization has been

working to provide is users with accurate news about current topics. The Conversation

works with scholars to obtain the most accurate and reliable information possible. I will

be using this information in my essay when I am using evidence that gap years can help

students develop greatly before entering into University. This will help to answer my

research question since I will be able to use this as a source of comparison with how

U.S. students and those from another country, in this case Australia, are effected by

taking a gap year.

Fan, Jean. “Taking a Year On, Not Off: Jean Fan at TEDxBergen.” YouTube, uploaded

by Tedx Talks, 20 October 2013.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTzViNACCt4. Accessed 25 February 2019.

Jean Fan works for UnCollege, an organization that helps students find direction
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with their education through the use of gap years. Jean was giving a speech at a TED

Talk which covered gap years. Jean gave her own relatable, personal experience of her

going through a gap year. She addressed the fears many students and their parents

have but she also countered those fears and doubts with all the positive influences gap

years have on a person. Jean told her audience how gap years help a student to grow

and become more mature, knowing what exactly they want from life, before entering

into a University. She provides statistics about American college students and how

much debt they are in when they exit college. Jean was spreading the message of how

underappreciated gap years are and how valuable they truly can be.

Jean’s main purpose for giving her speech was to spread the positive word of

gap years. She wanted to assure the many thousands of students who are scared or

just not ready to enter into a University. Jean was trying to spread the message of how

gap years help students gain crucial life skills and learn more about themselves as they

grow and develop since a large portion of students are afraid in someway of the thought

of taking a gap year.

Jean is a very credible author to be giving this speech. Jean Fan had

experienced what is was like first hand to decide to take a gap year. She also works for

a organization that deals specifically with helping students control their own education

and taking gap years. The online YouTube account the speech was posted to, TEDx

Talks, is also a credible source. TEDx Talks is a conference that people pay money to

attend to hear and also share ideas with others. I will be using components from the

speech when I am addressing the positives of taking gap years. I will also use the

organization, UnCollege, as a reference point to show that there is valuable resources

to help students through the process of planning a gap year. I can also use this speech

as a reference of a personal experience with gap years.

Gura, Trisha. “Mind the Gap Year.” American Association for the Advancement of

Science, 13 December 2013.

https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2013/12/mind-gap-year?r3f_986=https://ww

w.google.com/. Accessed 26 February 2019.

Trisha Gura is a writer out of Boston Massachusetts. She wrote the piece “Mind

the Gap Year” which tells about the any different steps one may have to go through

when they enter a gap year. Trisha’s research involves multiple young adults who have

decided to take a gap year either in the middle of their college studies or before the

began their studies. This article tells about the many new skills the young adults had

learned, like business skills, a new language, innovation, and so much more but simply

taking a gap year. Many of the students that Trisha had used to write about ended up

changing what they were originally going to go to college and major in because those

students were able to grow and learn more about themselves and the world and through

their experience during the gap year they know what they want out of life and know

themselves better.

Trisha Gura’s purpose for writing the article was to spread worthwhile information

about gap years. Trisha wanted to inform people, mainly high school and college aged

students that now is the time to take a gap year. At the end of the article Trisha wrote

that the best time to take time to grow and learn about yourself is before you go through

college and get a job and no longer have time to. Trisha wants to inspire those who are
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questionable about taking a gap year to just do it because she believes it will be nothing

but rewarding.

Trisha wrote this article on the American Association for the Advancement of

Science. This online resource is very credible because they have qualified and scholarly

writers produce the articles that are published online. They are also an organization

which is more reliable than a source whose url ends with “.com”. I plan to use this

information from the article to give examples of how some people go about taking a gap

year and how much students develop when they take a year to grow before entering a

University or College. This source also provides me with many examples of students

who ended up greatly benefiting from taking a gap year.

Knight, Ethan. “Educating Students about Gap Year Options.” Journal of College

Admission, no. 238, Winter 2018, p. 59. EBSCOhost,

https://eds-a-ebscohost-com.sinclair.ohionet.org/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&

sid=527195d4-3d5e-47c7-aa3d-eaf1fe1600f4%40pdc-v-sessmgr03. Accessed

28 February 2019.

Ethan Knight, an executive director for the Gap Year Association, wrote about

the different options students have when it comes to gap years. Ethan says how the

Gap Year Association goes to College Fairs to help inform students of their possible

options. He brings up that gap years are a great opportunity for students who are

unsure of what career path they want to pursue because taking a gap year helps

students to develop more and better understand what exactly it is that they want to do

for the rest of their lives. Ethan says how Colleges look at gap year students in a
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positive light because statistically students who take a gap year are more productive

and graduate faster than those who do not take one. He addresses a list of statistics

related to gap years and he provides other sources that readers can use to learn more

about taking a gap year.

The writer’s purpose for writing this piece is to educate students. Ethan provides

useful information for those who have questions about gap years, or don’t understand if

taking a gap year is for them. The author wanted to encourage students to take a gap

year because its pros outweigh the unlikely cons. Ethan Knight has the credibility

needed to write this article because he works for The Gap Year Association. He has

had first hand experience with what many students go through before, during, and after

taking a gap year. The Gap Year Association is also a nonprofit organization which

makes it more credible since they are not just trying to gain money, but rather help

students. I will be using the statistics provided in my essay to prove the positives of

taking a gap year.

O’Shea, Joseph. Gap Year : How Delaying College Changes People in Ways the World

Needs. Baltimore : John Hopkins University Press, 2013, 2013. EBSCOhost,

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=

true&db=cat01128a&AN=scc.b1579038&site=eds-live. Accessed 10 March 2019.

Joseph O’Shea wrote this book about the many factors that follow along with

taking a gap year. Joseph first starts with why he wrote the book and then introduces

gap years and the many debates that people have with them. In the introduction Joseph

covers how some colleges and universities support the idea of taking a gap year while
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others recommend against it. Joseph also tells about the history of gap years and how

they could have potentially became a thing. He also says how many countries have

followed in Britain's foot steps and have seen increasing numbers of students taking

gap years. Joseph talks about why some students take gap years, for example they

might want to experience a new culture or grow more before entering college or even

just to get oneself out of their comfort zone. He goes onto address how students change

throughout the process and the effects on their future. In the last section of his book,

Joseph talks about the different theories behind gap years and how they help students.

Lastly he addresses the different variable to consider when planning a gap year and

how not all gap years are educational.

Joseph O’Shea wrote this book to help people understand how gap years works

and how humans develop. He wanted to portray how gap years can positively influence

a students development not only educationally but mentally and physically. Joseph

spent a long time researching and investigating gap years and the history and its

influence before writing this book. He traveled around to get the best and most real

experiences and results. I will use information from this book to prove how gap years

influence students and can help them develop before entering University. I will also use

this information to provide background information of how gap years possible began

and developed.

Patterson-Brown, Lucy, et al. “The Influence of a ‘Gap Year’ on Medical Students.” Red

Frame: Journal of Education and Training Studies, vol. 3, no. 4, July 2015.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1067252.pdf. Accessed 01 March 2019.

Lucy Patterson-Brown and the six other authors report and evaluate results taken

from an anonymous questionnaire given to second year medical students. The students

were from six different UK Universities and they were all second year students because

the surveyor believed that the information collected would be more accurate since the

non gap year and gap year students had more experience with full time attendance in

medical school. This Journal compares the results from the questionnaire and goes

over the significance of the numbers. Overall a large majority of the medical students

who took a gap year found many positive benefits including but not limited to; better

understanding of what career path one wants to pursue, becoming more mature, able to

save money, and great travel opportunities. Those who did not take a gap year were

majority fine with the fact that they did not and would not recommend it for every

student. Even though the results were pretty opposite, one surprising factor was that

both non gap year and gap year students found it almost equally difficult to enter into

University.

The purpose of this Journal is to evaluate the questionnaire results and try to

conclude whether a gap year is beneficial or not. The author’s wanted to show how

much the results support the idea of taking a gap year for medical students. This is a

scholarly journal and it was fairly recently written. The information is still applicable to

my research because it has students own personal experiences for me to evaluate and

use. I will use this information to prove that gap years are more beneficial for students

than not. I will also use this in my essay to show how some students find gap years to

not be a good thing.

Strauss, Valerie. “ Why Harvard ‘encourages’ students to take a gap year. Just like

Malia

Obama is doing.” The Washington Post, 01 May 2016.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/05/01/why-harvar

d-encourages-students-to-take-a-gap-year-just-like-malia-obama-is-doing/?utm_t

erm=.ac7f2029c334. Accessed 27 February 2019.

Valerie Strauss’s article is about gap years in the U.S. She talks about the fact

that colleges in the United States do not have sufficient evidence regarding gap years.

She goes on to talk about how some college like Harvard and Princeton University offer

gap year options for students. Valerie brings up how gap years are a good option to

help keep students from running themselves into the ground since school has been

working and testing them so hard. She also explains how it is best to apply to college

even if one is planning to take a gap year and she provides good resources for planning

a gap year.

Valerie Strauss writes for The Washington Post as their education writer. She

used to work for other companies like Capitol Hill and LA Times. This article is fairly

recent and still applicable to for my research essay. I will be using the information from

this article to prove that the United States needs to increase education and research

pertaining to gap years.