TERM PAPER PROPOSAL ASSIGNMENT

LIBRARY RESEARCH PAPER (Option one)

ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION

This assignment would involve significant library research on some topic of interest related to the issues, concerns, questions and ideas discussed in the World Religions class.

The first step is to develop a question you want to answer or a thesis you want to explore. Be sure you get the question or thesis approved by me before you get too far into the literature. The librarians can be very helpful to you in this research. The library has a number of resources (books, periodicals, journals) devoted to the study of world religions.

The purpose of this assignment is to learn 1) to do a valid review-of-the-literature library research, 2) to synthesize findings and draw conclusions, 3) to organize material in a systematic way in order to support a thesis or answer a significant question, and 4) to write a clear and well documented report on one's findings.

Each Proposal must meet the following requirements in order to be approved. Without the Instructor’s Approval, the student CANNOT submit a Research Paper on Week 15.

1. The Proposal should be a document of at least 600-700 words which provides a brief summary of the in-depth analysis of your chosen topic, including the problem or question to be addressed, the method, approach or perspective that you propose to use to discuss or argue a point of view or opinion, and a general conclusion statement summing up what you expect to learn from your exploration of the issue, matter, person or concern.

2. The Proposal should reference from at least 5 of books and approved peer-reviewed articles that are on your Annotated Bibliography assignment. Keep in mind that articles found on websites with a URL that ends in “.edu” (these may come from the Internet – no other internet sources may be used. Points will be deducted for every internet source used that has not been approved).

3. Please consult MLA or APA Guidelines to ensure the proper style for citations and bibliography. Points will be deducted for improper citation form, failure to follow the instructions for completing a proper Proposal, and for errors in grammar, punctuation and syntax (sentence construction). If you have problems with writing papers, please visit the Writing Center or see me after class.

4. The proposal must be submitted as an email attachment to the Instructor ON OR BEFORE SUNDAY of WEEK SEVEN BY 11:59 PM– failure to submit a proposal means you cannot submit a research paper on WEEK 15.

5. Remember to proof your work. Your submitted document should be mechanically and grammatically correct. This means that there must not be any or very few spelling, punctuation, sentence construction, grammar or formatting errors.

Internet Policy on Resources

While there are an increasing number of web pages devoted to theology and religion, the information is often not reliable or better than what is available in the library’s book and journal collections. Therefore, you are not to use any source from the Internet unless the information comes from online journals available through the library. Contact the instructor if you are not sure of the validity or legitimacy of your source.

Please Note: Submissions will be sent through SafeAssign to check for plagiarism.