ASSIGNMENT: Encountering the worship, activities, and leaders of "unfamiliar" religious traditions can be rewarding ways to experience at first hand what one has studied in the course. Two reports on such activities will be required. From one report to the next, contrasting traditions will be explored. These reports should be typed, double-spaced in 10-12 point legible font. They are due at the beginning of class on the dates listed in the schedule. LATE ASSIGNMENTS: Any paper turned in more than 15 minutes after the start of class on the day for which it was assigned will be considered late. Late papers turned in before the end of the class for which they are assigned will be docked one letter rank (an A becomes an A-, a B+ becomes a B, a B- becomes a C+, etc.). After that, papers will be docked one letter grade for each day they are late (an A paper that is two days late would be given a C; a B+ paper that is three days late would be given an F). PURPOSE: The main purpose of these assignments is for the student to engage in informative activities (during the current semester) which bring the student into direct contact with some of the religious traditions studied in this course. ACCEPTABLE ACTIVITIES:
The primary requirement for an acceptable activity is
that it bring the student into a direct encounter with one of the world's major religious traditions. The student should seek out those traditions with which he/she is the least familiar.
Acceptable activities will consist of a personal
(= physical, bodily) visit to an appropriate religious institutional site in San Diego County, during which visit the student will accomplish one or more of the following: observation of a worship gathering; an interview of an appropriate (and official!) religious leader; attendance at an appropriately relevant lecture; participation in a guided tour; etc. Students will select the sites for their visits from a list that will be provided by the instructor. Only those sites that are explicitly included on the instructor’s list may be visited for the respective activity reports of this course.
All activities must have taken place during the current semester. Reports on inappropriate or unacceptable activities—or on sites that the instructor has not expressly listed for the respective report—may be refused by the instructor. The general options are listed below, but the instructor will discuss elsewhere some important parameters and restrictions. Do not attend an activity within your own faith tradition. I.e. if you are Christian, do not attend a Christian service; if you are Muslim, do not attend a Muslim service, etc. This defeats the point of the assignment, and you will receive an F on it. FOR REPORT 1, students will visit (as listed by the instructor) a site from one of the following traditions:
FOR REPORT 2, students will visit (as listed by the instructor) a site from one of the following traditions:
THE REPORTS: The reports will consist of some basic information and a few short essays discussing the experience. The report should be typed, double-spaced in a 10-12 point legible font. They are due in class on the date listed in the syllabus. Each report must contain the following elements: Cover Page: This is a sheet that lists the basic information about the subject of your report. This page should contain, exactly as enumerated, all of the following information:
Essays: The bulk of the report will consist of a series of short essays. Each essay should be written separately, but there is no need to put each essay on a separate sheet of paper. The essays vary in length, so read the directions for each essay carefully. Essay 1: Briefly explain why you chose this tradition and religious site for your visit. This essay must be a minimum of 50 words. Essay 2: Using terminology that is correct and appropriate for the tradition you visited, describe in a concise manner the sequence of events that took place from the beginning of your visit through then end. Your description should also acknowledge the relevant sub-tradition (denomination, sect, etc.) through which the institution relates to its primary tradition. This essay must be a minimum of 250 words. Essay 3: In your own words, identify and discuss the insights that you gained about this tradition through your visit to that site. Be sure to pinpoint specific experiences, events, and new information that prompted these insights. This essay must be a minimum of 250 words. Essay 4: In your own words, identify and discuss some specific interconnections between the events/experiences of your visit and the concepts we have been studying in class and in the text. You will need to cite specific pages when referring to the reading. This essay must be a minimum of 250 words. Essay 5: Express any conclusions you have derived from this activity, and include your personal evaluation of this experience. This essay must be a minimum of 50 words. GRADING: Each report will be out of 100 points, assigned as follows:
GRAMMAR, SPELLING, etc. Although the content of your report will furnish the primary basis for evaluation, other grading criteria will include: correctness of grammar, spelling, punctuation, capitalization; appropriate language; adherence to these guidelines; etc. Reports with excessive shortcomings in these areas may be refused, or given a grade of "D" or "F", at the discretion of the instructor. QUOTATIONS and OTHER REFERENCES. These activity reports are intended to be “field- research” reports rather than “library-research” reports. With that in mind, references to published resources should be used sparingly and only to support and clarify the discussion of what you saw, heard, and experienced during your site visits. Nonetheless, when you do quote or summarize any material from the texts, brochures or any other relevant source, you will need to cite the source (author, title, publisher, date of publication, website, etc.) and the page numbers of the specific passages cited, either in an endnote or in parentheses. By doing this, you will fulfill an important requirement of academic honesty, and you will avoid plagiarism (which is a serious offense).
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