Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s Paul Clifford and Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist in terms of the role of crime.

Format: 6-8 pages (and be sure to write at least 6 full pages or you will lose pointsincluding no extra spacing between
paragraphs), Times New Roman 12-point font, double-spaced throughout, 1” margins,
numbered pages, information at the top of the first page as it appears on this page, add a title to
your essay that is relevant to your paper (Midterm Essay is not an acceptable title), use spell
check and grammar check to make sure that your writing is as polished as possible, use direct
quotations with parenthetical references in proper MLA format, and attach a Works Cited page
in proper MLA format at the end of your paper.
Assignment: For this Midterm Essay, please discuss Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s Paul Clifford
and Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist in terms of the role of crime in those texts. What is the
role of crime in these two novels, and what sort of similar message in relation to crime
might the authors be trying to get across to the reader?
Don’t just restate the essay topic or simply answer the essay questions as your central argument/
thesis. Your central argument/thesis needs to go beyond the essay topic and questions, and you
must craft a more specific approach and central argument/thesis within the more broad essay
questions. That central argument/thesis should also effectively connect the two texts together
with the same argument. Oliver Twist and Paul Clifford are the only sources that can and must be
used for this paper. You will need to use an effective amount of direct quotations from those 2
texts in order to support the claims that you make in your paper, and they must be cited and
documented in correct MLA format. Be sure to be consistent with your use of direct quotations.
Any claim that you make about a text needs to be supported with a direct quotation from that
text. However, like all papers in this course, this Midterm Essay must be primarily based on your
own opinions, ideas, and arguments. And related to that, I don’t want you just regurgitating the
issues that we discussed in class. I welcome you to build on the issues that we covered, but be
sure that you go far beyond what we discussed in class in terms of this essay and what you
discuss in your paper. Please also keep in mind the context and purpose of this assignment. It is
not a personal essay, and it is not a critical response paper. That implies that the personal
pronouns ‘I,’ ‘me,’ etc., will not be used in this essay, as this is more of an academic assignment.
Also, be sure to avoid the use of contractions, and use language and academic conventions
appropriate for a formal essay. Again, this paper should be based on your own opinions, ideas,
and arguments, but those fundamental aspects should be effectively presented within an
academic essay