Read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. A free version of the text can be found on the Project Gutenberg
website but you are welcome to use any standard edition if you prefer. Note that you should not use
an abridged version – it will not provide you with enough detail to complete this assignment. Using
an audiobook is not prohibited (as long as it is the full text) but you will likely find it more difficult
to work with (transcribing quotations can be cumbersome &c). Movie adaptations and summaries of
the story are not acceptable.
Write an essay in which you evaluate whether “the creature” should be defined as having
rights/liabilities in private law. Your essay must explicitly address the issue of personhood (that is,
should “the creature” be seen as a person in law?) and at least one of the three legal categories
covered in this course (that is, should “the creature” be able to own property? Make contracts? Sue
or be sued for tort?). Note that this assignment is not asking you to consider the issue of criminal
liability.
Specific Essay Requirements
Your essay must be 12-15 pages in length (8.5” x 11”/letter size pages; Times New Roman 12
point font; 1”/2.5 cm margins; double-spaced text with single-spaced notes). Footnotes or endnotes
are included in this page count; a title page and a bibliography must be provided but do not count
towards the page requirements. Number your pages (note that a title page is not numbered and the
first page of your essay begins on page 1). These are standard conventions for academic writing.
Your essay must be your own work. Unauthorized use of artificial intelligence will be considered
academic misconduct. Examples of artificial intelligence applications include but are not limited to
ChatGPT, Quillbot, Bard, DeepL, Google Translate. You may not work collaboratively with any
member of the class. You may not submit a paper for this course that you have also submitted for
any other course at any time in your academic career. You may not purchase an essay from any
source. You may not hand in a paper you have found for free on-line. You may not copy passages of
any length from any source (print or electronic) without properly acknowledging your use of that
source; this includes using quotation marks (or block formatting for long quotations) as well as
footnotes/endnotes. You may not use ideas and arguments from any source (print or electronic)
without properly acknowledging your use of that source, even if you are not directly copying the
words in which the idea or argument is presented elsewhere. You may not copy the structure or
organization of any source (print or electronic) even if you rewrite every sentence in your own
words. You may seek assistance from the Learning Centre, the Writing Lab, or the course instructor.
You may ask someone (a friend, a parent, etc.) to proof-read your paper – that means they can read
it over and tell you whether it makes sense, or identify typos and spelling mistakes; having someone
make significant changes to your paper for you is not “proofreading”.
© 2024 Kelly De Luca. All rights reserved.
You must use at least three peer-reviewed secondary sources by different authors about the
issue of personhood and at least three peer-reviewed secondary sources by different authors
about each substantive legal issue you discuss in your essay. You may use materials assigned
for this course in your essay, but they do not count towards these minimum research requirements.
You may use academic writings about the novel in your essay, but they do not count towards these
minimum research requirements.
You must acknowledge all uses of all your sources, even when you do not quote directly
from them. You must provide an appropriate reference every time you refer to a fact, idea,
argument, etc. that you have taken from any source. This includes providing a reference when you
mention things that happen in the novel. This must include the specific page or range of pages
(or chapter number, if you are using an e-book that does not have page numbers) where the
information you are using can be found within the source.
All references must be provided in either footnotes or endnotes (you may choose which of these
you prefer, but you must choose one of these and use it consistently – you should not have both
footnotes and endnotes in your paper). The use of imbedded or parenthetical references is not
allowed for this assignment.
All references must be formatted either in Chicago Style (a short version of this is available in A
Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate L. Turabian) or in the
style outlined in The Canadian Guide to Uniform Legal Citation (McGill Guide). Both of the style
guides are available in the University library and can be purchased in the University bookstore or on-
line. These are the two citation styles that are commonly used in legal studies in Canada. No other
citation style may be used for this assignment.
Your essay must be structured as a formal academic essay, with an introduction, body, and
conclusion. Your essay must make a real argument that is expressed in a clear thesis
statement contained in your introduction. The argument must be supported by relevant evidence
drawn from scholarly sources. If you are unsure what any of this means, you are strongly advised to
consult with the course instructor and/or with the Writing Lab as soon as possible. Other good
resources include The Lively Art of Writing by Lucile Vaughan Payne and this on-line resource:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/.
Your essay must be written in formal academic English. Slang, text-messaging abbreviations, and
contractions are not appropriate in this context. Your paper will be evaluated on the basis of how
successfully you address your topic, which includes consideration of how your paper is structured,
argued, evidenced, and written. Your paper is not expected to be perfect, but significant problems
with grammar and spelling will affect how understandable and how persuasive your argument is.