RLST 179: SAMPLE FINAL PROJECT PROPOSAL

On February 15 you must turn in your final project proposal. The proposal should be one-page long, double-spaced, printed in a reasonably-sized font. Very briefly, it should provide a description of the subject (what/where/who is it); why you have chosen it; the resources necessary for completing this projecting (including significant books or articles, if appropriate; discuss whether these resources are readily available, or, if not, how you will get them); and a general idea of how you hope to approach your analysis of this subject.

A sample final project proposal is given below. It's about 300 words long, or one page. It is (obviously) a completely fictitious idea for a final project.

Jane R. Student

RLST 179: Pilgrimage

February 15, 2005

Final Project Proposal

            For my final project, I'm going to look at contemporary pilgrimages to Mount Doom, the pit of fire in Mordor (modern-day Turkey) where the One Ring was made and destroyed. Since the end of the Third Age, people--both religious and nonreligious--have traveled to Mount Doom to pay respects to the site and affirm something about their identity. I'm interested in finding out what people today get out of this kind of trip: are their interests mainly historical, or cultural, or religious? I'm also interested in some of the technical aspects of the trip: how much does it cost to travel there (from the United States), how long do people stay there, what kinds of activities are available once you're there?

            A lot of scholarly books have been written on pilgrimage to Mount Doom, especially in the Middle Ages (I've checked Meriadoc Jones's Medieval Pilgrimage to Mount Doom out of Rivera, and I've ordered two more books on medieval pilgrimage to Mount Doom, by Christopher Smith and Annabeth Johnson, through interlibrary loan). This will give me a good background in pilgrimage customs. I also ordered a more recent guide for pilgrims, Jack Baggins' 2002 Pilgrims to Mordor, which should have a lot of information about technical aspects of pilgrimage there. Since I’m interested in contemporary practices, I think internet sites will be very useful: I've found two sites in the U.S. (mordor.org and onering.biz) and one in "Mordor" (frodocalls.tk) with lots of information for prospective pilgrims. I think using all of these resources I can explore contemporary pilgrimage to Mount Doom in order to investigate the intersection of religious pilgrimage and secular "tourism."