Law and Literature
First Assignment
Word Length: 1,000 words.
Weighting: 35% of your total grade.
To be submitted online through Turnitin via the LMS site for this unit.
You may write on the same text as used in your tutorial presentation. You may not write on the same text used in the first assignment in your research essay.
TASK:
EITHER
Choose ONE of the following passages:
(a) Kafka, ‘Before the Law’ – the whole text
(b) Glaspell, ‘A Jury of Her Peers’ – from the beginning to ‘tell just what happened when you came here yesterday morning.’
(c) Gandhi, Statement in his 1922 Trial – the whole of his ‘written statement’
(d) Judgment of Judge Andrews in Palsgraf case – from ‘It may be said this is unjust’ to the end of his judgment.
(e) Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice – Act 3, scene 2, lines 73-185: ‘so may the outward shows … say Bassanio’s dead.’
Analyse the selected passage, focusing on aspects of the form, the theme (or ideas), and any legal issues that are being addressed. Comment directly on the language, and any techniques and conventions, and discuss how they contribute to the meaning(s) of the text. You may draw on secondary, critical research, though the main objective of this assignment is to present your own textual analysis of the selected passage.
OR
Write a review of ONE of the full-length works such as ‘Before the Law,’ ‘A Jury of Her Peers’ or The Merchant of Venice. In preparing your review, you should consult John Dale, ‘Here they are: the rules for book reviewing,’ The Conversation July 9, 2014 https://theconversation.com/here-they-are-the-rules-for-book-reviewing-28732
To get a sense of the reviewer’s voice in a formal setting, it’s also a good idea to familiarise yourself with some leading outlets: for example, in the Sydney Review of Books: https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com or Australian Book Review, which is accessible via OneSearch.
Important Points about this Assignment
In order to satisfy unit requirements, students must submit essays through Turnitin. To apply for assignment extensions a student should submit a Special Consideration application to their Allocated Advising Student Office. Late submissions without special consideration will incur a penalty of 10% per day. If you need an extension you should apply for Special Consideration through your Student Office.
Please ensure that your work is double-spaced.
PLAGIARISM Be aware that the work you submit must be your own with no unacknowledged debt to some other writer or source. To pass off written work as your own, whether you have copied it from someone else or from somewhere else (be it a published writer, another person, a TV program, a library anthology, a lecture, a website or whatever) is to deprive yourself of the real benefits of this unit and to be guilty of plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious offence! University policy is that plagiarism, the unacknowledged quotation of material from other people’s work, is a ground for failure. The range of penalties for plagiarism includes a mark of 0% for the assignment concerned, failure for the unit, suspension and even exclusion from the university. Moreover, your name placed on a central plagiarism register. If you take notes from other sources (critical articles, background works, etc.) you must quote carefully and accurately, and acknowledge the quotation. Even if you paraphrase, you must still acknowledge that you are paraphrasing.
