Essay (40% of the final grade for the unit)
1200 words (includes all quotations and footnotes/references, but not the bibliography/works
cited)
Assignments that are more than 10% over- or under-length will attract a penalty of at least 10%,
depending on the degree of deviation from the stipulated word limit.
• With an essay of this length, it is important that you create an argument and support it with
evidence from your primary texts and references to your secondary (i.e., critical and
theoretical) readings.
• This is a research essay. You are expected to use at least 2-4 sources apart from your primary
texts. (You may use material from the unit, but should also do some research to locate material
of specific relevance to your topic).
• At least 1 secondary source must have been published within the past 2 years.
• Concentrate on your English expression: write lucid, concise, grammatical sentences.
• Check your spelling and proof-read the essay carefully before submission
Instructions:
Write an essay on ONE of the following topics.
1. Compare and contrast the representation of the past’s impact on the present in TWO
TEXTS from the unit.
2. Focusing on TWO TEXTS from the unit, discuss similarities and differences in the way
gender is figured in the development of moral identity.
3. Discuss the similarities and differences in the ways in which TWO TEXTS from the unit use
forms and/or modes to reflect or elicit cultural change.
4. Compare and contrast the ways that TWO TEXTS from different historical periods render
the relationship between individuals and communities (families, states, or class groups for
example).
THESE ARE THE TEXTS YOU CAN USE:
Eliza Haywood, Fantomina
Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey.
Charlotte Smith, “To Fancy”
Percy Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind”
William Wordsworth, “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802”
Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point”
Robert Fitzgerald, The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (extract)
Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House
I USED CHAT GPT TO HELP WITH THIS BUT I RECOMMEND YOU CHOOSE WHATEVER YOU THINK WOULD WORK BEST (1. Compare and contrast the representation of the past’s impact on the present in TWO TEXTS from the unit:
Eliza Haywood, “Fantomina”
Jane Austen, “Northanger Abbey”
This pairing fits well as both texts explore the influence of past actions and perceptions on the present.
Focusing on TWO TEXTS from the unit, discuss similarities and differences in the way gender is figured in the development of moral identity:
Eliza Haywood, “Fantomina”
Jane Austen, “Northanger Abbey”
Gender roles and identity are significant themes in both of these texts, making them suitable for this topic.
Discuss the similarities and differences in the ways in which TWO TEXTS from the unit use forms and/or modes to reflect or elicit cultural change:
Charlotte Smith, “To Fancy”
Percy Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind”
These poems offer differing perspectives and styles, providing a basis for discussing how forms and modes reflect or elicit cultural change.
Compare and contrast the ways that TWO TEXTS from different historical periods render the relationship between individuals and communities (families, states, or class groups for example):
Robert Browning, “My Last Duchess”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point”)
1. ESSAY LAYOUT
• Double-spaced, with 2cm margins. Number the pages.
2. TITLES OF TEXTS
• Use italics for the titles of major works or those with sections
(e.g. A Doll’s House)
• Use double inverted commas for minor works (e.g. “Sonnet 74”)
3. QUOTATIONS
• Verse quotations of three line or less should appear in double quotation
marks in the body of your essay:
o Shakespeare starts Act 2 of Macbeth with the line: “How goes
the night, boy?” (2.1.1). [Note the provision of act, scene, and
line number for this quotation.]
• For secondary (critical) material, if using someone else’s exact words, put
them between quotation marks, as well as providing a reference on the
source of the idea. For example:
o Lloyd Davis claims that, “texts act as a kind of meeting place
between authors’ and readers’ ideas” (1).
If you are using someone else’s idea but substantially or completely
rephrasing it using your own words, give just the reference:
o One might even see the text as a place in which the ideas of both
author and reader come together (Davis 1).
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
• Carefully acknowledge the use of all ideas and words from all sources by
using a parenthetical reference within your essay text: (Gurr 51)
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY/ WORKS CITED
• List all items used in the preparation of your essay, arranged alphabetically
by author’s surname. Note that the punctuation is different from that of
footnotes or endnotes.
6. PROOFREADING
• Check spelling, grammar, and accuracy of quotations.
7. FURTHER READING ON ESSAY WRITING
• See the longer version of this document, with details of how to set out a list of
Works Cited or Bibliography, which is available electronically from unit
iLearn sites.
