Due: Tuesday, April 24, in class (penalty for lateness: 5% per day)
However, you may hand in your project before your seminar presentation on April 10, 17, or 24. April 24 is the final date to hand in your project.
Many of you will write a traditional research paper. Details of that are on the web page below. However, you may wish to do a different project more directly relevant to your interests. So someone might want to do a series of lesson plans for a school, or a series of talks or workshops for parish ministry.
The project will be graded largely on its content, but 20% of the total grade will depend on the form. Please consult the grading standards outline before you begin your project. In evaluating the form of the traditional research paper, I will take into account such things as spelling, punctuation, grammar, word precision, style, and adequate referencing (notes and bibliography). In evaluating the content of the project, I will take into account such things as precision of topic, organization and clarity of presentation, extent and use of sources, depth and breadth of analysis, and accuracy of analysis. Your grade will not depend on whether or not I agree with your hypothesis, but on how well you argue and support your hypothesis.
Be aware that this is a research project, and so you will need to document the claims that you make. I am interested in your opinions, but you must support your opinions with references to the scholarly literature. You are welcome to use the Internet, but make sure to reference all sites (with the complete URL) that you use. Any paper that is plagiarised will, at minimum, receive a grade of “F”.
You may wish to consult this web guide to writing papers in the study of religion.
For help in writing your paper, please consult the Learning Resource Center at (310) 338-2847.
Possible Areas: