REL 2121 GUIDE TO WRITING A RESEARCH PAPER
The textbook should not be used as a reference; however, it may be useful as a guide for becoming familiar with the topic. DO NOT SITE GENERAL ENCYCLOPEDIAS (like World Book, Britannica, Collier's or Wikipedia, etc.) though discipline specific ones such as The Encyclopedia of Religion in America, The Encyclopedia of World Religions, Encyclopedia Judaica, Hastings Encyclopedia and Ethics, New Catholic Encyclopedia will often contain a helpful overview of your topic, including the major teachings of many religious groups. For more detailed references, the student should examine such standard textbooks on religion in America as: Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches; Mead/Hill, Handbook of Denominations; Ahlstrom, A Religious History of the American People; Hudson, Religion in America; Sweet, The Story of Religion in America; and Hudson, American Protestantism. Contemporary essays and articles may be found in newspapers, journals, and magazines. The student may find helpful information in such magazines as: Theology Today, Christian Century, Christianity Today, and the religion section of Time, Newsweek, U.S. News and World Report, National Review, New Republic, Current History, Atlantic,and Nation magazines.
How to go about doing this paper:
1. Select a topic.
2. Research the topic.
3. Narrow it to a specific point to be made that is appropriate for a 5-page
paper (not too narrow or too broad) and write a thesis statement.
4. Create an outline of your paper which demonstrates the development of your
argument or thesis.
5. Write the first draft.
6. Analyze this draft for clarity and logic as well as grammar and
punctuation mistakes.
7. Produce a final draft.
Turn in a hard copy and a copy on disk of your paper in MS Word. Each paper should be stapled in the upper left-hand corner (no folders or other forms of binding are acceptable) and contain the following in the format of the Chicago Manual of Style:
I. TITLE PAGE (one page): The title page should include the title of the paper centered and capitalized, the student's name, the course, the instructor and the date.
II. THESIS STATEMENT/OUTLINE PAGE (one page) : The thesis of your paper is the point you are trying to make about your topic. It is not just a summary of a person's life or of a religion's beliefs or history; it is the specific point that you are arguing about your topic based on your research. The thesis statement should be built on a positive statement rooted in a well-chosen active verb. An additional sentence can be used to provide an explanation of how the student will approach the subject or to outline the contents of the paper. For example, "American Catholics struggle with numerous issues of practical and moral authority, including the Church's stance on the issue of abortion," or, "The Amish tradition seeks to freeze the morality of an earlier agricultural era and promote this morality as the best pattern for life in the modern world. A survey of the origins and moral teachings of the Amish movement could illuminate its impact on the American scene." One of the biggest mistakes students make is not doing enough research on a topic before attempting to create a thesis. A good thesis statement is crucial to the organization and focus of a good paper. A good thesis statement should be clear, worthy (not trivial) and focus on a single idea.
When writing the outline of your paper, be sure to be consistent in your choice of form. If you choose to do a sentence outline, be sure all parts of your outline are complete sentences. If you choose the topical outline form, be sure the phrases are parallel. Remember, too, any subheading implies a division; therefore, an "A" must have a "B," a "1" a "2," etc. For an example of a thesis/outline page, Click Here.
III. BODY OF THE PAPER (five to seven pages/1250-1750 words)[less than 1250 words will get an F (0)]: The text of the paper must be at least five pages in length, typed and double-spaced in standard 10-12 point. The student should identify the internal logic of the subject and use this logic to structure the paper. (Is the logical approach to the subject a chronological development? A comparison or contrast? A list of most to least important? A biographical portrait of life, thought, and significance?) Once the best structure is chosen, the student should proceed to arrange research materials in a clear and persuasive manner. The paper should move beyond simply relating a list of facts or retelling a story. A detailed analysis of the subject matter is required. Superficiality is a crime. So is plagiarism. To avoid getting an automatic F, be sure to document any direct quotation, paraphrase, statistical data, facts that are not common knowledge, or any derived idea. Documentation will follow the Chicago/Turabian style of documentation for the humanities, the preferred style for the Humanities. Place all your notes at the end of the body of the paper. If you are unfamiliar with this style, check out the Chicago Manual of Style in the library or buy one.
For examples of papers done in Chicago style, click on: No.1, No. 2, No. 3.
NOTE: Do not use any more spaces between paragraphs than you do between lines within paragraphs. Avoid contractions. Use spell-check AND have someone else proofread your paper for errors you may have missed. This is important to catch mistakes spell-check does not. For instance, many of you think -ist is a plural ending (using scientist, Baptist, etc., for scientists, Baptists, etc.).
IV. NOTES (one or more pages): This is where you record the footnote documentation for your essay. To see the Notes page on the sample paper for proper form, Click here.
V. WORKS CITED (one or more pages): The works cited page comes at the end of a research paper and should have the title, WORKS CITED, typed in capitals, centered and triple-spaced before the entries. NOTE: I know the example paper shows a Bibliography page; the only difference is that for a Works Cited page only works used and/or cited in researching and writing the paper should be listed in alphabetical order according to the author's last name. You should cite at least 3-4 books! For a quick guide to proper citation, click here.
NOTE 1: Download from the Internet and turn in with your paper any material from which you quote (just the page the quote which you have highlighted appears on, not the whole site)! Do not use the Internet for more than 30-40% of your sources. Rely more heavily on books and journal articles.
NOTE 2: Common mistakes include: 1) failing to start the paper early enough to evaluate and revise a first draft (at least use spell-check and grammar-check); 2) Assuming the reader can read your mind; 3) presenting unsupported assertions; 4) padding the essay with irre3levant or redundant passages; 5) using quotes from authors in place of well-developed ideas.
REVISION SYMBOLS The following symbols will be used in marking errors in the papers:
ap Apostrophe (P5)
appr jargon, archaic or invented words, slang, nonstandard English (W4)
case error in case (G3-c, G3-d)
cap Capitals (S3)
cs Comma Splice (G6)
dm Dangling Modifier (E3-e)
doc Documentation (M)
exact Inexact words (W5)
frag Fragment of a sentence (G5)
ital Italics (underlining) (S6)
awk Awkward
lc Lower Case Letter (S3)
log Logic
mm Misplaced Modifier (E3-b)
pn agr Agreement of pronoun (G3-a)
shifts Shifts in person, number, tense, mood, voice, indirect to direct discourse (E4)
sp Misspelled Word (S1)
s-v subject verb agreement
t Error in Verb Tense (G2-f)
x Obvious Error
: Colon (P4)
, Comma (P1)
-- Dash
... Ellipsis Points
/ Faulty Parallelism (E1)
. Period
; Semicolon (P3)
[Numbers in parentheses correspond to sections in Diana Hacker, A Writer's Reference, Fourth Edition]
The grading standards for the papers will be:
Title, Thesis and Outline: 10 points
Analysis of Topic: 50 points
Punctuation & Grammar: 30 points
Documentation: 10 points
REL2121 RESEARCH PAPER TOPICS
DO NOT WRITE BIBLICAL OR SECTARIAN PAPERS! You must give a fair, balanced, objective presentation. The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the academic study of religion.
NOTE: If a topic has a book listed, that book MUST be read by you and included in your Works Cited page. Order the book early or buy it on Amazon.com. Excuses, such as inability to find resources, will not be accepted. If you are having problems, make full use of the library’s resources, including librarians and computer searches, and Interlibrary Loan program . The Gulf Coast Library has Interlibrary Loan arrangements with other libraries to give you access to books, journals, magazines, etc., that our collection does not include.
Pick one of the following topics for your term paper (not more than three people to each topic, so you might want to pick one early in the course):
1. The concept of millennialism can be understood as a motivating force in human social behavior from the Jews and Christians under Babylonian and Roman oppression, to the Native Americans under the encroaching rule of Europeans settlers or modern Muslims under European domination to modern utopian movements resisting modernity. Read War in Heaven/Heaven on Earth: Theories of the Apocalyptic by Stephen D. O’Leary and Glen S. McGhee (editors).
2. Though many televangelists romanticize early America, especially the Great Awakenings, as a high point in American Protestant Christianity, a close look reveals quite a different picture of Colonial America, one not quite as religious as many would like us to believe. Discuss the Christianity of Colonial America (including popular religion which included the occult!). Pick at least one of these: David D. Hall's Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment: Popular Religious Belief in Early New England, Jon Butler's Awash in a Sea of Faith: Christianizing the American People; Herbert Leventhal's In the Shadow of the Enlightenment: Occultism and Renaissance Science in Eighteenth-Century America.
3. Despite the claims by televangelists about the encroaching dominance of secularism, Americans are more religious than ever. Describe and explain the rise of religiosity in the early 21st century.
4. As far as the overwhelming majority of biologists and scientists in general are concerned, evolution is a fact! What is “intelligent design” and why does the academic world see it as merely creationism in new clothes and reject it as a viable explanation for the world in which we live? Read Edward J. Larson’s Summer for the Gods and chapters 10 and 11 in Michael Shermer’s Why People Believe Weird Things but especially Michael Shermer’s Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design and explain why so many Americans are resistant to the fact of evolution. See also, www.talkdesign.org and http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/id/program.html.
5. The Amish have attempted to freeze time in the 16th century. Why? How successful have they been? What are some of the scandals related to the Amish community and why are they losing the young people? Donald Kraybill's The Riddle of Amish Culture.
6. As organized religion has lost its relevance to many people today, a number are attracted to “New Age” religions and the occult (astrology, witchcraft, etc.) even though these are basically revivals of pre-scientific beliefs. Describe the history of metaphysical religion in America and its growing attractiveness since the 1960s among Americans. What is their appeal? What are the demographics of their adherents? Look at James Lewis' The Encyclopedic Sourcebook of New Age Religions and/or Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today. .
7. Christian fundamentalism seems to be on the rise. Fundamentalists think they are defending the “true” faith, but are they? Why are these movements spreading and what is their nature? Read Malise Ruthven’s Fundamentalism: The Search for Meaning and/or Chris Hedges' American Fascists.
8. The thousands of different religions that we are aware of with the shrinking globe cause many thinking people to wonder just how a new religion begins. Though the rise of Christianity in the Roman world is a hot topic among modern scholars, that period has little documentation to help understand it compared to religions born in America, particularly Mormonism. Describe the rise of new religions movements using Mormonism as a paradigm. Read the classic work on Mormonism for the core of your research: Fawn Brodie’s No Man Knows My History.
9. Atheism and agnosticism are growing in the modern world (in some religious polls in America, they comprise 16% of the population). Freethinkers and atheists have had an impact on American history from its beginning. Robert Ingersoll is one of the most important of these: "He is a critical figure in the struggle for true freedom of conscience in America--meaning the freedom not to worship any god as well as to worship God in one's own way--not only because he fought for intellectual and spiritual liberty but because his principles required the sacrifice of his political ambitions" (Jacoby 158). A good start would be Orvin Ingersoll Larson's An American Infidel: Robert G. Ingersoll and Susan Jacoby's Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism.
10. What is the impact of American black spirituality on the American religion? A start would be Chapter Fifteen of Harold Bloom's The American Religion. See also Peter W. Williams' America's Religions: From Their Origins to the Twenty-first Century.
11. Susan Jacoby, in her book The Age of American Unreason states:
Sidney Mead, one of the most distinguished historians of American Protestantism, argued in 1963 that an "ever-widening chasm between 'religion' and 'intelligence' has been apparent since the rise of evangelical fundamentalism at the end of the revolutionary era." (p. 38)
Was Mead correct? Read Jacoby's book and Sidney Mead's The Lively Experiment: The Shaping of Christianity in America.
[Click HERE to see who has registered for topics]
