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Essay #1: Summary & Response:
Mr. Death
Essay #1 Due: Sunday, 3/1 @ 11:00 PM
Formatting & Citation: Make sure the essay adheres to MLA formatting guidelines. Make sure to cite the film and any other sources consulted using MLA citation procedures.
Length: The summary section should be about 2 pages long. The response section should be about 3-4 pages long. Thus, the full essay should be about 5-6 pages long. Do not submit a paper under 5 double-spaced pages in length. In addition, you will include a works cited page, and you will include your answers to my
Mr. Death questions (just your answers, not my questions). All of this will be uploaded to Canvas in a single Word file (.pdf, .doc, or .docx format). Be certain that you are submitting the correct file when you upload your essay to Canvas.
Purpose & Audience: Imagine that you are writing for a student in another section of English 1301 who is not familiar with the film
Mr. Death.
Focus & Scope: The
summary section must be distinct from the response section (label each section “
Summary:” or “
Response:”). The summary should explain what
Mr. Death is about. It should contain important details, but you will not be able to discuss everything that happens in the film. Thus, you should put some thought into the questions:
What is this film really about? and
What information is most essential?
Your summary section must have its own thesis statement, which will sum up the film in one sentence. The summary must not include your opinions about Leuchter or the film. You will discuss your opinions in the response section.
The thesis of your summary should have three parts, corresponding with the beginning, middle, and end of the film. Try to succinctly reflect beginning, middle, and end in your thesis statement (it’s fine for your thesis to consist of three complete sentences). Include one body paragraph for each of these three parts. Thus, you will have an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion in the summary section of your essay.
In the
response section, you will discuss your reactions to the film. Some questions to consider include:
-What do the criticisms included in the film (particularly from Roth and Van Pelt) reveal about Leuchter’s claims about the holocaust?
-How do you explain Leuchter’s participation in Zundel’s trial and his involvement in neo-Nazi conferences after the trial?
-Why is he unwilling to consider whether he might be wrong? -What does all of this tell us about Fred Leuchter?
You must grapple with the moral and/or ethical implications of
Leuchter’s choices. At the rallies and conferences where Leuchter spoke, Hitler was praised, the holocaust was denied, and Jews were vilified. Leuchter knew this and continued to attend and participate. How do you explain this? What is going on with him? Why did he get involved and stay involved? Why won’t he even entertain the possibility that he was wrong?
The response section must have its own thesis statement. Consider the ethical and/or moral implications of Leuchter’s choices. Address the matter of logos relative to his claims about the holocaust. And address (in detail) the comments of Roth and Van Pelt.
Don’t summarize the film in the response section. The reader will have read a 2-page summary, so don’t waste time summarizing the film again.
Your essay will be evaluated with reference to the following criteria:
-How appropriate, accurate, and interesting your thesis statements are
-How focused, accurate, and well-organized your summary is
-How focused, logical, insightful, and well-argued your response is
-How seamlessly and intelligently you incorporate ideas and quotations from the film into your paper
-How well you have considered the issues of audience and purpose
-How clear and correct your writing is
Some important technical considerations: The first time you mention the film, use the full title:
Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. Thereafter, you should refer to the film as
Mr. Death. Put the title of the film in italics (not quotes).
Say, “Fred Leuchter” the first time you mention him. Thereafter, refer to him as “Leuchter.” The only exception is if you are quoting someone in the film who calls him “Fred.” In that case, use the exact words spoken. This same rule applies to everyone in the film: use their full name the first time you mention them and their last name thereafter.
Give your essay a title, which should be centered at the top of page one. The title should announce the subject and genre of the essay. The subject, to be clear, is Errol Morris’s film,
Mr. Death. The genre is a summary and response essay.
At the beginning of each section (summary or response)
please label that section (i.e. “
Summary:”). Make sure the label for each section is flush to the left margin, followed by a colon, and in bold face. Then, hit return, and begin your summary on the next line.
Do the same for the response. It must be clear to the reader where the summary ends, and the response begins.
Make sure to include
a
works cited page at the end of your essay. At Purdue OWL, you will see how to cite a film under “MLA Works Cited: Other Common Sources.” Here is the citation information (but not an actual citation) for
Mr. Death:
Film:
Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.
Director: Errol Morris
Performers: Fred Leuchter (etc.)
Production Company: Lions Gate Entertainment
Year of Release: 1999
When you quote directly from the film, include
in-text citations. This means that you should include a time stamp in parentheses after a direct quotation.
You will present the whole essay using
MLA General Formatting
rules.
This includes margins, font, spacing, etc. Click on the link to Purdue OWL General Formatting Rules (in “Helpful Writing Links”) to read about these requirements.
Make sure to include your answers to my questions about
Mr. Death
after your works cited page in the Word file that contains your essay.
If you do not answer these questions with sustained, detailed responses, or if you fail to include these answers with your essay, you will lose points. My questions can be found in “Readings, Etc.”
Include only your answers (not my questions), numbered in synch with my questions.
Finally, read carefully my “Originality Expectation” statement from the syllabus (included below):
Originality Expectation: All writing submitted over the course of the semester must be an original composition for our class. Students may not submit essays which have been composed for previous courses, nor is plagiarism permitted. Avoid the use of artificial intelligence (AI) programs (e.g., ChatGPT, Grammarly, revision technologies in Word or elsewhere, Google Translate, or any comparable tool that performs the work of revision for the student). Ignorance of this issue is not a sufficient excuse. The instructor will use Turnitin to check the originality of student work submitted to Canvas.
AI use is prohibited for all assignments; failure to observe this rule may result in a failing grade. Likewise, writing that reads as if it were produced by AI (whether Turnitin flags it as such) will be marked down.
In other words: texts in this class must be composed by a human being and must sound as if they were generated by a human being. AI-generated prose, for all its “perfection,” is not good writing. It’s stiff, dead, and mechanical. If you write that way, you will need to enliven your prose style.
Failure to fulfill these expectations may result in a failing grade.
