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 (sections 1-4)

MORE #2 “Economic Aspects of Euthanasia”. The Life Resources Charitable Trust (section 4) #3 Davis, Alison. “A Disabled Person’s Perspective on Euthanasia”. Disability Studies Quarterly. Summer volume 24. No (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, 2 nd Edition. Routledge, (section 2) #5 Nordqvist, Christian. “What Is Euthanasia (Assisted Suicide)?”. Nordqvist, Christian. “What Is Euthanasia (Assisted Suicide)?”. Medical News Today (intro)

More #6 “Personhood and Euthanasia”. The Life Resources Charitable Trust (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 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.

Assignment #1 Due: Tuesday, November 4 th 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#1 Topic – Characteristics of Lennie 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 #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.