Harder 1

Ben Harder
Dr. Harder
English 1A
6 November 2014
Explaining an Idea about Immortality
Your research essay must explain some concept of immortality. You could explain
the notion of immortality in a religious or mythological system, such as Christianity,
Greek mythology, or Hinduism; you could explain a concept of immortality in some
metaphoric light, for example the ideal of an immortal writer or artist; you could
explain a technological attempt at immortality, such as cryogenics or the uploading of
consciousness into a computer; or you could find another topic, as long as it is closely
related to a concept of perpetual existence.
Your six-paged (or longer) essay must be researched, meaning that you must
include credible academic sources. You can use as many or as few sources as you like
(obviously you need at least one) but one of those must be a monograph found through
the UCR Library. By monograph, I mean a book, or a book-length e-text from the UCR
Library or a database found on the UCR Library website. Successful essays will use
more than one quality source, in addition to having the four qualities of good
expository essays: a focused explanation, . . . . a clear, logical organization . . . .
appropriate explanatory strategies, . . . . and smooth integration of sources (Axelrod
and Cooper 119-121 and passim).

Harder 2
A complete printed rough draft of this paper, including a list of works cited,
should be brought to class on Tuesday, November 25th, for a draft workshop. The final
draft must be turned in, in paper and on SafeAssign, by Tuesday, December 2nd.

Works Cited
Axelrod, Risa B., and Charles R. Cooper. The St. Martins Guide to Writing. 10th ed.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2013. Print.