ORIENTATIO: GUIDELINES FOR WORLD
RELIGIONS SHORT CRITICAL ANALYSIS
PAPER #1
Senior Associate Professor, Michael J. Landis,
M.Div.
Central to religious studies as such is the examination of a data set
comprised of phenomena—subject matter—classifiable as religious, which
results in understanding and synthesis:
a synthesis that entails both quantification and qualification of sui
generis or idiosyncratic attributes (unique) and patterns of similarity
(isomorphisms or isomorphic patterns) in apparently differemt or divergent
data. This examination should
ideally involve non-reductive examinations and analyses of both the historically
evidenced and contemporarily manifested phenomena that are associated with the
interface between the interior psychological and the correlated exterior
“product” domains of Homo religiosus. The modes of analysis used in the
service of such an investigation should be both diachronic (across
cultures/geographical regions throughout the historical continuum) and
synchronic (across the cultural and geographical range constitutive of the
contemporary world).
In terms of practical application of the abovementioned examination
process, students will generate a short (2-3 pages…not including the “Works
Cited” page) critical analysis paper, choosing an appropriate subject matter or
topic encountered through the textbook reading assignments (i.e., from the
“Introduction Overview”; “Chapter One: Characteristics of Basic Religions”;
“Chapter Two: Native American
Religions”; or “Chapter Three: African Religions”); the class lectures; or the
transpired in-class discussions.
Students will analyze a specific religious phenomenon or a cluster of
phenomena (e.g., the ritual elements that constitute the Siouxian Sun Dance
ceremony; or the persistence hunt in contemporary hunter-gatherer San culture),
evidenced historically or manifested contemporarily; students will rely upon the
written medium (i.e. the short composition itself as the result of the composing
process) as a vehicle for facilitating this analysis and derivative synthesis
(“to synthesize” means to draw hypotheses or make assertions that are functions
of patterns of similarity or “common denominators” evidenced in the subject
matter, and to exploit these hypotheses or assertions as modes of organizing the
content of the composed critical analysis paper). In the service of this analysis,
students will research their subject matter, relying on at least three
scholarly, college level electronic sources and traditional text sources (at
least one traditional text—book or print journal—source, NOT INCLUDING
the Hopfe and Woodward textbook is required), which will be included in a “Works
Cited” page. Students will invoke
background assertions and hypotheses evidenced through the source material as
well as insights correlated with their own critical thinking faculties to
generate the paper. Students may
include direct quotations or paraphrased elements from their primary and/or
secondary source material as means of demonstrating the soundness or cogency of
their own derivative assertions or hypotheses. Any directly quoted or paraphrased
elements in student compositions should be cited properly, following MLA (Modern
Language Association) guidelines/parameters for in-text citation. The paper should be typed and
double-spaced, adhering to MLA parameters on all levels.
In terms of outcomes or objectives constitutive of this critical analysis
writing assignment—outcomes that are correlated with the criteria upon which the
papers will be assessed/evaluated—an effective paper is one that exhibits the
following attributes:
·
A clear focus in terms of a defined
subject matter: an appropriate
subject matter that can be treated through relatively in-depth analysis in the
context of a composition of this length and scope (15 total points possible
for this element)
·
A dominant assertion or hypothesis
that is the result of analysis and synthesis—a thesis that governs the material
included in the essay and provides a kind of logical framework for material
included in the paper (15 total points possible for this
element)
·
Development that is governed by the
dominant hypothesis (the thesis) and that is bound by a clear pattern of
organization or logic; this development should include full explanations of all
hypotheses/assertions, replete with supporting quotations or paraphrased
elements if relevant, as well as logical transitions between the sentences and
paragraphs that constitute the whole composition (15 total points possible
for this element)
·
Precision and accuracy in terms of
assertions and explanations generated in the service of developing the subject
matter (15 total points possible for this element)
·
Use of some of key vocabulary that
constitutes the specialized lexicon of religious studies as such—the terms
evidenced through the textbook readings, the class lectures, or through the
primary and/or secondary source material (15 total points possible for this
element)
·
Attention to the exigencies of
intellectual property parameters in the forms of properly cited directly quoted
or paraphrased material, through in-text citations, as well as properly cited
entries in the “Works Cited” page.
Again, MLA guidelines are the normative guidelines for “proper” citation
in relation to all submitted written compositions in this course. (10 total
points possible for this element)
·
Syntheses that are non-reductive
and that both quantify and qualify the sui generis attributes of the
subject matter as well as the attributes that show similarities with other
phenomena and demonstrate broader isomorphic patterns. For example, if a student
is examining a subject matter from the domain of Traditional Native American
Religion and she/he discovers a particular pattern of similarity between her/his
chosen subject matter and something she/he noticed in relation to another
subject matter, perhaps from another domain, such as African Traditional
religion, the student should strive to draw her/his reader’s attention to this
isomorphic pattern in the context of her/his paper. (15 total points possible for this
element)
Each paper will be worth 100 points towards the final
grade in the course. Ideally,
students will become more proficient in the vocabulary and methods of religious
studies through examining a specific subject matter in isolation and in relation
to the entire range of phenomena attributed to and connected with Homo
religiosus in multi-cultural as well as trans-historical/multi-cultural
contexts.
Postscript:
Each student must clear with the instructor her/his choice of subject
matter for this short paper in order to determine the appropriateness of the
subject matter for a paper of this size and scope..