Class Presentation
Every week, at least one student (depending on the number of students enrolled) will be responsible for presenting a supplementary text for discussion to the rest of the class, and guiding part of the discussion based on his or her presentation. (For long texts, student groups of two or three may present a single text.) Students will pick their presentation texts at the beginning of the quarter, and are encouraged to come prepared with any supplementary materials they feel are necessary to facilitate understanding and discussion of their text (handouts, summaries, etc.).
Several suggestions for outside readings (including books, articles, and essays) are found on the syllabus, listed under the required readings for each week.
In addition to the suggested readings for each week, students may choose to summarize any of the essays in Wimbush and ValantasisÂ’ Asceticism. Students may also choose to present texts (primary or secondary sources) from other religious traditions more closely related to their own fields of study.
Presentations should be brief but informative, no more than 10 minutes long, and should encourage some brief discussion among the rest of the class. Likewise, students receiving the presentation should be ready to pose questions or otherwise discuss the outside reading after it is presented.
Midterm Assignment
Students will be responsible for a take-home essay involving a close reading of a primary source text. The essay should be 5-7 pages long, double-spaced, in a reasonably sized font (I suggest Times New Roman 12-pt.); margins should be no more than 1.25" all around.
Final Paper
By week six, all students should have chosen a final paper topic and begun work on it. The final paper topic is entirely open, as long as it relates to asceticism and religion. Papers should have a central argument and employ graduate-level research and writing skills.
Subject
Because of the time and space constraints involved in this final paper assignment, students should choose a topic that is focused and narrow: instead of researching "asceticism in [a particular tradition]," spend the first weeks of class trying to find a particular person, text, event, or other specific aspect of ascetic ideas, practices, theories, or controversies two write about.
The more specific you can be in your topic (and eventual argument), the more focused you can be in your research and writing.
Sources
You should try to find the most recent secondary sources to help illuminate your topic. Search the Library immediately for any recent books or reference works (and explore their bibliographies). Then explore the databases (found at http://library.ucr.edu/?view=find/alphalist.html and also linked at this website) for recent articles and essays; even if they are not directly on your specific subject, they may provide good resources for you to pursue.
You should not be citing internet sources unless your topic is somehow related to the internet. Do not cite Wikipedia; you may find sources through Wikipedia, but you should follow up the Wikipedia author's sources on your own. The same goes for any open internet source.
Sources may be cited by whatever system with which you are comfortable, as long as you are consistent in your citation practice. You can find various forms of citation here:
http://library.ucr.edu/?view=help/citing.html&sitesearch=cite
Of the styles discussed on that page, the most common in Religious Studies writing are probably Turabian, Chicago, and MLA (or another form of social scientific parenthetical notation). Please provide a bibliography of all sources consulted for your paper.
Format
The final paper should be 10-20 pages, double-spaced, in a reasonably-sized font (I recommend Times New Roman 12-pt.). Margins should be no more than 1.25" all around; headers should be kept to a minimum; please number your pages. Citations of more than four lines should be indented and single-spaced.