Dr Philip Holden (email: ellhpj@nus.edu.sg)
[ Introduction and Description | Schedule and Readings | Assessment and Policies | Related Resources ]Suggested Length: 1,500-2,000 words
Final Essay Due: Friday 11 April, 5 p.m. Upload to your tutor's workbin.
Write an essay in which you compare the film and novel versions of the English Patient.
Your essay should make reference to two relevant secondary sources, one of which should be from our annotated research bibliography. You can use the source you researched for assignment 2 if you wish.
In devising your essay you will clearly need a thesis. A simple thesis might be that one version of the narrative is better than the other: here you will have to define what "better" means, of course. A more complex thesis might draw on one of the theoretical perspectives we have explored this semester. You might, for example, use postcolonial theory to argue that one of the two vesions most successfully addresses conflicts in a world in which Europe is no longer the centre, or you might use feminist theory to critique the representation of women in both texts.
Having devised your thesis, look at two relevant secondary sources. One should be selected from our bibliography compiled for Assignment 2, although it does not have to be the source which you personally researched. The second should be found using some of the search strategies suggested in the library seminar: it should not be specifically on The English Patient. For instance, if you are using postmodern theory and considering the two versions of the narrative through the lens of postmodernism, you could use a brief introductory article to postmodernism located either through following a reference from Peter Barry, or through doing a library search.
Try to use the sources carefully, in order to build your argument: don't be overwhelmed by them on one hand or just make a very brief passing reference to them on the other.
1. Use of well-chosen and well-integrated secondary material you have found in your own research.
2. Ability to use critical vocabulary pertinent to the critical approach you have adopted.
3. Ability to observe elements of the texts carefully and draw conclusions from them; while your ideas will be informed by secondary reading, you will need to do original critical analysis.
4. A strong thesis, and a clear argumentative structure.
5. Smooth and integrated use of well-chosen quotation.
6. Use of proper scholastic conventions: title, MLA style, with parenthetical citations, presence of a "Works Cited" list listing at least the literary work itself. For a detailed account of MLA style see:
7. Conciseness. Marks may be deducted from essays that are seriously over- or under-length.
Last updated: 6 November, 2007