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Dracula
Historical, Cultural, and Biographical Information
Please scroll down through each page to read the entire document

Important
To increase your opportunity for success, please follow the outline included at the end of this document. This outline attempts to show you exactly what I am looking for in the essay. 
Purpose
 First, discovering how Bram Stoker’s life experiences (his personal biography) informed his portrayals of the characters in his novel;
 Second, also determining how historical and cultural sources informed the novel; and finally, exploring the epistolary style.
Knowledge
 This assignment will utilize your knowledge of character development in the novel
 Your understanding of paragraph unity, balance, coherence, and development
 Your ability to apply Literal, Interpretive and Applied levels as necessary
 Your ability to organize your essay
 Research skills and analysis of sources
 Standard practices in English grammar and sentencing
 MLA Formatting, and Works Cited
 Metacognition: using knowledge you already know or have gained in order to apply it to a new situation – in this case, reading and writing

Topic – this will help you orient yourself with the essay focus
Bram Stoker was the author of Dracula. Stoker utilized several historical sources for his character, including the life and history of Vlad Dracul. Stoker also drew upon his own life experiences (his personal biography) as well as the Victorian culture in which he lived to write his novel. (His biography and the history and culture of the Victorian age are separate areas to be addressed.) Utilize the library sources (see library document as well as our librarian available through Canvas email) to discover biographical information about Stoker, research Victorian beliefs and attitudes, and explore the epistolary style to address the following areas:

Subjects – these are the areas you must address
 Choose 2 characters in Dracula who represent prevailing Victorian social norms, or act against these social norms, and show how each character demonstrates these
 Then show how these characters reflect Stoker’s life experiences (his biography – events in his life)
 Explain the epistolary style (journals and letters) and why Stoker used it to organize his novel
 Determine whether the use of the epistolary style adds or detracts from the story
 See Note at the end about discovering and using sources

Below is an Outline to follow when writing the Essay
Your research must be completed before writing the essay

Thesis
Find a sample thesis below to guide you in addressing the areas under Subjects:
Two characters who demonstrate (or don’t demonstrate if that is your choice) Victorian social norms are ____________ and ___________.
(Character 1) reflects Victorian social norms by ___________, and Stoker’s life experiences by ____________. (Character 2) reflects Victorian social norms by ____________, and Stoker’s life experiences by _________. The epistolary style is _____________, and Stoker chose it to organize his novel because ________________. The epistolary style adds (or detracts – your choice) from the novel because ____________________.
As you can see, the Thesis is a ‘Statement’. It doesn’t need to be one sentence; it can be as many sentences as you need to address the areas.
Organization of paragraphs
• Write a 8 paragraph essay utilizing the following organizational style:
• (P1) Intro & Thesis:
o Remember that your introduction should not contain any information that will be in the thesis. It will come ahead of the thesis. (4-6 sentences)
o Your thesis briefly includes responses (not explanations) to the issues you must address
o Your quotes must come from scholarly sources; you never quote from the novel (see next page)
• (P2) One character – Victorian social norms – acted against these or in concert with them (12 sentence minimum)
• (P3) Same character tied to Stoker’s biography (12 sentence minimum)
• (P4) Second character – Victorian social norms – acted against these or in concert with them (12 sentence minimum)
• (P5) Same character tied to Stoker’s biography (12 sentence minimum)
• (P6) Explanation of epistolary style AND why Stoker chose to use it in his novel (journals and letters) (12 sentence minimum)
• (P7) Whether the use of the epistolary style adds or detracts from the story (12 sentence minimum)
• (P8) Conclusion
o Remember to re-state your thesis; summarize your points, make an appeal to your audience
 Why (or not) you like the text
 Why (or not) the information is important
 Why (or not) the information is still relatable
(4-6 sentences)
This essay will utilize all the Levels of Complexity

Note – this will help you with the research
 Please use at least 4 scholarly, credible sources for this paper.
 Please use the library document to help you discover sources. (See library document as well as our librarian available through Canvas email.)
 Also, go to the SCC Home Page and click on ‘Library’ under ‘Student Tools’. Then click on ‘Start Your Research’. Scroll down on the next window and click on ‘SCC Research Guides’. Scroll down on the next window and click on ‘English’. Scroll down and click on ‘Dracula and Frankenstein’. Here is a wealth of information for you.
 Please do not use the novel for quotes; use your sources instead.
 You can use more than 4 if you choose.
 You may not use: Wikipedia, Shmoop, enotes, BookRags, or other sources of this type as they do not offer credible critiques of texts. Please do not use the text as a source. Use of any of these as sources in your paper will result in a point deduction from the paper.