Religions Research Paper
All students are required to write a traditional research paper on a narrow topic of your own choice. Once you have decided upon a topic I would strongly recommend you begin gathering materials for the assignment at some earlier point in the semester rather than waiting until week 14 to begin. The paper should relate to themes in the course but could literally be about anything you find interesting, regarding the historical practice of faith, theological or philosophical issue of belief (or disbelief), sociologically influenced religious practice, or even a contemporary movement. It could be about an individual, a group, a scripture, a specific devotion, an event, a phenomena, but should not be of a general nature such as “The History of Islam” or “The Story of Buddhism”. Also try to refrain from writing about well-known topics very common to your own faith such as “The Seven Sacraments” for Catholics, “The Five Pillars” for Muslims, “The Life of Christ” for Christians, “The Prophet Muhammad” or “The Ten Commandments”. You could however write a more narrow well-researched paper about one particular commandment, a pillar, a sacrament, or an event from the life of a religion’s founder. If you are unsure about your choice of a topic feel free to run it by me. The paper should be a minimum of 7 pages (it certainly can be much longer), utilizing at least 5 sources. Inclusion of primary sources such as the scriptures, or the first-hand accounts (theories, history, philosophy) of an historical individual to support your position are always encouraged. You may use any academic writing style that you are comfortable with (MLA, Chicago Manual, APA, SCI, etc. are all fine).
