Research Paper

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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

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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.

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Source Cards Notecards(At least 100 cards)
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SOURCE CARDS

• 1
• Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. Penguin Group.
  Penguin Books USA Inc. New York. 1993. (sections
  1-4)

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MORE

• 2
• Economic Aspects of Euthanasia. The Life
  Resources Charitable Trust. 2011.
  www.life.org.nz. (section 4)
• 3
• Davis, Alison. A Disabled Persons Perspective
  on Euthanasia. Disability Studies Quarterly.
  Summer 2004. volume 24. No. 3. www.dsq-sds.org.
  (section ¾)

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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)

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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.

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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. 

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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.

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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.??)

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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.

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Each Section

• Depending on each section, sub-topics will
  determine number of topics on your note- cards.
• 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.

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Assignment 1

• Due Tuesday, November 4th
• Find fifteen (15) examples from the novel that
  exemplify Steinbecks 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.

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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?)
• Candys dog- pale eyes Carlsons opinion of
  its worth. His gun used to kill both.
• Pup killed Curleys wife just a mutt throw
  away

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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.

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Notecard Example

• 1 1
• Topic Characteristics of Lennie
• Quote Look George. Look what I done
  (Steinbeck, 3).
• Commentary
• Lennies 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

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Notecard Example 2

• 2
  
  6
• Topic 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.