PLAGIARISM & Student Essays

If you plagiarize your final essay, you receive a zero, which  counts 20% of your final grade, which basically means you failed the course.

Reading other student essays can help you grasp the concept of what you need to do, but that does not mean you copy the work and claim it as your own. That would be plagiarism. One paper used the following; it's a good reference to see how to write about literature but not as a copied essay.

List of student essays 

You have been warned!

POTENTIAL Topics for Final

Remember that you can NOT use the book on your final essay, but you CAN use an index card--either 3x5 OR 4x6, with notes front and back. Write in 3rd person ONLY. (No "you" [2nd person] and no "I / me" [1st person])  Length: 2.5 pages, standard MLA format. Make sure you support your paper with details and examples from the novel. You still must have an interesting introduction, thesis statement, ample development AND a thoughtful conclusion.

I am not allowed to give you the topics of your final essay in advance, but I can promise you they will be drawn from the following:

Storytelling  

• Who are the storytellers and what are their stories; more importantly, why is storytelling important to the teller AND the listener
• In what way is The Things They Carried  not a war story at all, but a "ghost story" and a "love story"?
• Specifically . . . the stories of Rat Kiley and Mitchell Sanders

The Narrator - What decisions and experiences "mark" the narrator, Tim O'Brien for the rest of his life? Why?

Contrasts - In this novel, contrasts are everywhere, from the characters to the country itself; be prepared to discuss any of the following as contrasts:

• Henry Dobbins and Azar
• Courage inspired by cowardice
• the Beauty and Ugliness of the War Itself

Character Interaction - Each of the following characters is involved with the narrator--discuss the importance of each man to Alpha Company and to the narrator:

• Rat Kiley
• Norman Bowker
• Kiowa
• Lt. Jimmy Cross 

I would be sure to have read these stories (note: they are grouped here for your convenience):

"The Things They Carried," "Spin," "Lives of the Dead"- Alpha Co.(& Linda)


"How to Tell a True War Story" - storytelling/Rat Kiley/Mitch Sanders
"Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong" - Kiley/Sanders/storytelling
"The Lives of the Dead" - narrator/storytelling
"Good Form" - storytelling
***** Notice that at least 4 stories are related to storytelling*****

"On the Rainy River" - narrator
" The Man I Killed" - narrator
"Ambush" - narrator
"The Lives of the Dead" - narrator/storytelling
*****Notice that at least 4 stories directly relate to the narrator*****

"Stockings," "Church," "Style" - Dobbins
"Speaking of Courage" & "Notes"- Bowker