Research Paper
• Title: The Social-Political Ramifications of
Euthanasia of Persons with Special Needs
• Novel: Of Mice and Men
• Sources: At least five have been given to you.
Others that you may find must be approved by
me. These should be sufficient.
• Dates: Varies
• Final product due: Beginning of December
Research vs Opinion
• This is not an opinion paper. You should have
an opinion after your research. Do not pick a
side. Your thesis will eventually be the last
sentence of your last introductory paragraph.
It will connect with your conclusion, which
should show your opinion without you
specifically saying your opinion about the
social and political ramifications of euthanasia
of persons with special needs.
Source Cards & Notecards
(At least 100 cards)
SOURCE CARDS
• #1
Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. Penguin
Group. Penguin Books USA Inc. New York.
1993. (sections 1-4)
MORE
• #2
“Economic Aspects of Euthanasia”. The Life
Resources Charitable Trust. 2011.
www.life.org.nz.
(section 4)
• #3
Davis, Alison. “A Disabled Person’s
Perspective on Euthanasia”. Disability
Studies Quarterly. Summer 2004. volume
24. No. 3. www.dsq-sds.org. (section ¾)
More
• #4
Griffin, P. and McClintock, M., et.al. “Perspectives
on the Historical Treatment of People with
Disabilities”. Teaching for Diversity and Social
Justice, 2nd Edition. Routledge, 2007. (section 2)
• #5
Nordqvist, Christian. “What Is Euthanasia
(Assisted Suicide)?”. Medical News Today.
2010. www.medicalnewstoday.com (intro)
More
• #6
• “Personhood and Euthanasia”. The Life
Resources Charitable Trust. 2011.
(Section 3) (with this article, pay attention
to footnotes – you will need to cite your
quotes with the author of the quote, found
at the end of the article.
Notecards – Organizing your information
• A very important part of writing a good
research paper is organization. This includes
both time and information. Do not
procrastinate!. Begin reading and gathering
important information that you want to use in
your paper as soon as possible. The most
time consuming aspect is reading for
information. It includes a great deal of close
reading, annotating, finding the best
information that will give you a good paper. If
you are not organized, it will take considerably
more time to write the paper.
Help
• To help you keep organized, you will be
responsible for using index cards for both your
sources and information that you have
gleaned from those sources. With this method,
you will categorize the information you find by
topic.
• For each topic, you will have several cards
from several different sources. Later, as you
write your paper, each card topic becomes a
body paragraph (supporting idea) in your
paper.
Researching for Note cards
• In order to keep your ideas in order, and to
remember where you found the ideas,
there are four items that you should
include on each note card.
• Card # 1-? : top left
• Source # 1-? : top right
• Topic : Underline; second line on card
• Quote from source; two-three sentences of
commentary.
• For cards from the novel, INCLUDE PAGE
NUMBER – BOTTOM RIGHT (PG.??)
Organizing your cards
• Once you have written the information down
on the note cards, go back and organize your
cards by topic.
• When you finish, you should have your cards
in piles, one topic per pile. You can have any
number of piles and any number of cards in
each pile.
Each Section
• Depending on each section, sub-topics will
determine number of topics on your notecards.
• Ie. Section 2: history, society; Section 3:
medical, religion, law, personhood, etc.;
Section 4: ethics, family, mercy killing,
assisted suicide, etc.
• These subtopics will also be determined
by the information that you find useful.
Assignment #1
• Due: Tuesday, November 4th
• Find fifteen (15) examples from the novel that
exemplify Steinbeck’s image of Lennie as a
mentally challenged person. Include specific
images both physical and mental given by
Steinbeck, attitudes of the characters toward
Lennie, and animal comparisons, as to their
treatment by the characters in the novel. Each
example goes on a notecard, quoted. Include
page number.
•
•
•
•
•
Things to Think About
George throws away the mouse; Lennie
(childlike) goes in the river to retrieve it.
Mouse – worthless
Steinbeck images of Lennie – animals: bear at
the start (paws, gulps water, huge, sloppy);
horse (snorts); rabbit at the end of the story (on
his haunches), innocent rabbit (like the mice?)
Candy’s dog- “pale eyes”; Carlson’s opinion of
its worth. His gun used to kill both.
Pup killed; Curley’s wife “just a mutt”; “throw
away”
Assignment #2
• Before beginning your research on this topic,
you need to understand what Euthanasia
means.
• Close Read of article on the definition(s) of
Euthanasia.
• Annotate closely. Thorough notations on the
margins for each point that you underline.
• Due: Wednesday – YES--- IT IS THE SAME
DAY THAT YOUR BILDUNGSROMAN IS DUE.
Notecard Example
• #1
• Topic – Characteristics of Lennie
#1
Quote: “Look
George. Look what I done” (Steinbeck, 3).
• Commentary:
•
– Lennie’s childlike personality of innocence is shown here in his
excitement that he has made ripples in the river from his fingers
splashing in the water. Steinbeck also illustrates his hands as
“paws”, illustrating animal qualities that Lennie demonstrates, not
having the human understanding of this simple action.
page 3
Notecard Example #2
• #2
• Topic:
#6
Personhood
• Quote: A “person” is defined “ as an animal (human or
otherwise) who is actively exercising “rational attributes”
(self-consciousness, knowing, choosing, loving, willing,
autonomy, relating to the world around one, etc.) and/or
who is actively exercising “sentience” (feeling pain or
pleasure)” (Singer, Peter).
• Commentary: Scientists are now debating on the definition of what
constitutes a “person”. This is a dangerous pathway for society, in
that, the right to life is being determined by the powerful over the
weak. One may be considered biologically human; however, if
suffering from a disability, that human is not considered to be a
person, and therefore has no rights under the law, and may be
euthanized. This can include the senile, drug addicts, crippled, and
mentally challenged, to name a few.