University of Sydney ENGL1007 Language, texts and time Semester II, 2011 Essay topics The essay, the

e length of which is to total 2000 words (including footnotes, but excluding references), is due on Monday, October 24. It is to be placed in the essay-collection boxes in the central noticeboard area of the Woolley Building by 5pm. Please sign and attach to the essay the appropriate cover-sheet, available from the shelves in the central noticeboard area of the Woolley building. You must keep a copy of the essay for your own records, which you may be asked to produce. Please make sure you have written the question number and your tutors name on the appropriate part of the cover-sheet. If you dont know their name, please note down the time and place of the tutorial. Answers must be typed or in legible handwriting. Please use double or 1.5-spacing, and leave enough room for the markers comments. Please number the pages of your essay. Answers must be entirely your own work. Please read the English departments academic honesty guidelines at the following address, and make sure you are clear about what they mean: http://sydney.edu.au/arts/english/undergrad/academic_honesty.shtml Penalties of 2% per day, excluding weekends, apply for late work. The Department of English gives extensions on written work only in cases of illness or misadventure. Illness must always be documented. Misadventure refers to circumstances that could not have been foreseen. It does not include the pressure of other University work. Extensions may be given only by the department. Neither the lecturer nor your tutor can grant extensions. Students applying for extensions should use the on-line form available at http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/current_students/online_application.shtml Some notes on essay-writing can be found at the end of this document. You should also read the Essay presentation instructions, available on the English departments webpage: http://sydney.edu.au/arts/english/undergrad/essay_presentation.shtml. This essay is worth 30% of the marks for the course.

1. Discuss the main problems involved in giving adequate definitions of word meanings. 2. Discuss the principal types of noun in English, illustrating your discussion with examples. 3. Discuss whether, and if so how, a texts grammatical structure can be the vehicle of particular ideological orientations. Is grammatical structure more or less neutral than vocabulary in its reflection of the authors viewpoint? 4. Grammar as institutionalized in European education represents a triumph for an authoritarian view of language (Roy Harris). Is this true of descriptive, as opposed to prescriptive, grammar? Why (not)?

5. Consider the excerpt from Agees Let us now praise famous men, Reader p. 384ff. What makes Agees style so distinctive? Consider vocabulary, clause structure, and any other linguistic details you think are relevant. Your answer must include detailed exemplification. 6. Look up the following words in the Oxford English Dictionary and/or the Middle English Dictionary (both available via http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/databases/ literature.html: the MED is part of the Middle English Compendium listed there), and trace their meanings through time with special reference to the Middle English period: 1. silly 2. presently 3. nice 4. boy 7. Would it be correct to claim that the grammar of English has simplified over the course of its history? 8. Describe some of the effects of two of the following three circumstances on attitudes to and use of the English language: i) the introduction of the printing press to England; ii) the global spread of English in the modern era; iii) the role of Latin in European education. 9. Consider the following quotation: Of the various forms of decadence manifest in the poetical art of the present age, none strikes more harshly on our sensibilities than the alarming decline in that harmonious regularity of metre which adorned the poetry of our immediate ancestors. That metre itself forms an essential part of all true poetry is a principle which not even the assertions of an Aristotle or the pronouncements of a Plato can disestablish. As old a critic as Dionysius of Halicarnassus and as modern an philosopher as Hegel

have each affirmed that versification in poetry is not alone a necessary attribute, but the very foundation as well; Hegel, indeed, placing metre above metaphorical imagination as the essence of all poetic creation. (H. P. Lovecraft) What, if any, expressive possibilities have been lost as a result of the widespread abandonment of traditional metres in contemporary poetry? Is Lovecraft right in claiming that metre is essential to poetry? Illustrate your answer. 10. Discuss the impact of French upon the English language over the five hundred years after 1066. Some notes on writing essays Essay writing neednt be hard. It requires careful planning and detailed attention to expression. Theres no one way to write a good essay, but they all require time, preparation, and, most importantly, thought. Here are some notes that may help. Interpreting the question Make sure you dont misinterpret the question. You need to decide what the essay is asking you to do. This should be clear from the question itself. In some cases you may want to state your interpretation of the question in the first paragraph. Structure of the argument The structure of your essay, the clarity of its arrangement on every level (sentence, paragraph, section), and the logicality of its progression are major aspects of its success. Apart from showing that youve understood the basic issues and that you have an appreciation of the courses general thrust, you need to present your ideas in an orderly and clear way. Writing simply is a good way to bring order and clarity to your argument. Try to put yourself into the readers shoes. Make sure that you would understand what you have written if you were reading it for the first time. Ask yourself whether you have expressed the intended meaning as clearly as you could. Have you chosen the simplest possible words and phrasing? Dont hesitate to divide your essay into different subsections with separate headings: this is often a good way to structure the content. Make it clear to the reader what youre trying to accomplish in each paragraph: dont just make a point, but introduce it, make it, and then summarize it. This sounds as though it will make the essay clunky and inelegant, but thats not the case: adopting this sort of style makes the essay flow. Make sure the reader knows why youre making every point. Dont make them have to guess about what a particular paragraph is doing tell them. Style and expression You are expected to observe the ordinary conventions of scholarly writing, as detailed in the departments Essay presentation guide (see above). We often find that peoples

written expression is better in exam answers than it is in essays submitted during the semester. This is because the time pressure of an exam leads to a simpler and more direct writing style. The process of revision and planning that goes into an essay can often overcomplicate your prose. So you should make sure that you have phrased your sentences in the clearest and simplest way to express the meaning youre intending. The ideas shouldnt be simple, but the writing style should be. The university has developed a special website to help you improve your essay writing: <http://writesite.elearn.usyd.edu.au>. If you have problems with your writing, itd be an excellent idea to look at this site. Referencing When you quote, you must reference the quotation in a footnote. Obviously the extent to which references are needed requires judgement. You dont need to refer to Collins and Hollo every time you mention the term grammar. But if youre attributing a point of view to an author, rather than simply mentioning a term, you do need to refer to the part of their work which you have in mind. So if you happen to claim, for instance, that Saussure thought diachronic study was irrelevant to a fundamental understanding of langue, you need to refer to the part of Saussures writings from which you have drawn this conclusion. References also need to be as specific as possible: include page numbers where its relevant to do so. How the essay is assessed Some important criteria on which the essay will be assessed are these: The essay should show evidence of careful, independent and original thought about the subject. Its not enough to just reproduce others ideas; you need to justify and argue for them yourself. The essay should be informed by a genuine engagement with the secondary literature. You are meant to have been doing reading from the secondary reading listed in the course reader; in the essay you should make it obvious that this has been the case. This means you need to seek out secondary material thats relevant to the question youre answering and engage with it in the body of the essay. Its not enough simply to have a bibliography bristling with references: you need to have used the secondary material in the essay itself. The essay should be clearly written. It should be logical and well structured. You should also consult the departments Guide to the interpretation of grades, available on the departmental webpage (Undergraduate > Academic policies > Interpretation of grades).