Essay option 1 instructions attached.

Essay option 1 instructions attached.
Fall 2021 RLGN 2110 – Religion & Healing Research Essay Instructions Essay Assignment – due Monday Nov 22, 2021 This is a research essay and students will be expected to use a minimum of five academic sources. Students are permitted to use the course texts as sources but must use four additional sources, which may include scholarly books or journal articles. The essay must be a minimum of 5-6 pages double-spaced(1,500-1,600 words) in length but students may to write up to a maximum of 8 pages. Please use 12-point New Times Roman font and maintain the default margins. In addition, students are expected to include a title page (name, student number, course information & essay title), in-text citations, and a bibliography at the end of the essay. Students may use any of the following citation styles: MLA, APA, or Chicago. **Wikipedia and other websites may NOT be used as academic sources. There are two options for possible essay topics: #1 – Healing & Place: Students may select a specific geographical place (ie. a hospital, a religious site, a spot in nature – of course these example certainly overlap with each other) and apply Gesler’s theoretical framework of place and healing to that specific location. In other words, discuss the physical environment and significance of the location and explain the symbolism present there which can be connected or associated with healing practices. #2 – Comparative Ritual Analysis: Students may do a comparative analysis of two specific healing rituals (preferably from different cultural or religious contexts) and explain how they are both similar and/or different in terms of symbolic nature, social setting, built environment or their natural environment. Student should briefly describe and then analyze both rituals in relation to their healing function and attempt to draw some general conclusions about how this comparison is useful in the study of religion and healing. Additional Information: Students are expected to craft a thesis statement or argument in their essay, which is based on the research materials. The instructor will provide an academic writing tutorial in advance of the due date and sample thesis statements will be provided. Research essays should be uploaded as either a PDF or Word document to the correct dropbox folder on the UM Learn course page by 11:59 pm on the due date given above. Research essays will be graded on the following criteria: clarity, content, thesis statement, organization, structure, quality of sources, accuracy of citation style (in-text and bibliography), writing mechanics, and theoretical framework. Letter Grade Rubric: A+ (95%-100%) A paper in this category will be exceptional. It will be insightful, demonstrate an excellent understanding of the source materials and have outstanding organization, structure, and grammar/style. There should be no errors in citation formatting and the paper will have an appropriate number of paraphrased sections interspersed with direct quotations. Papers in this category will also use excellent academic sources and engage with those sources at a high level. A (86%-94%) A paper in this category will be very well done. It will provide both clear description or the issues and insightful analysis using evidence from the academic source materials. There should be almost no grammatical or stylistic errors and the paper will have good flow, organization and citation style should be consistence and correct. B+ (80%-85%) A paper in this category will be quite well done. The descriptive content should be clear and the analysis should be engaged with the academic sources. The level of sophistication will be slightly lower than an ‘A’ paper but should still demonstrate a clear understanding of the source material. Papers in this category should also use relevant examples from the text in the analytical portions. Grammatical and stylistic errors will be at a minimum.  B (71%-79%) A paper in this category will be well done. The paper may not be as sophisticated as a ‘B+’ or may border on descriptive and lack a sustained analysis. The organization and structure should be good but improvements could be made. There may be a few grammatical and stylistic errors throughout and citation formatting should be relatively accurate. Sources used will be relevant but again, there may be room for improvement in this area.  C+ (65%-70%) A paper in this category will be satisfactory and meet the basic requirements of the assignment. The paper might be more descriptive than analytical and there might also be structural/organizational issues with the essay. The source materials may be good but the engagement with them in the essay could be improved.  C (56%-64%) A paper in this category will be sufficient but there are significant issues with some of the following categories: use of sources, analysis, organization, citation style, grammar/style. D (50%-55%) A paper in this category will not really be the requirements of the assignment but an attempt has been made. The essay does not meet the length requirements, number of sources, or have a clear analytical component. Sufficient use of and engagement with source materials is not evident in the paper.  F (Less than 50%) There is no attempt to meet the requirements of the assignment. Or there is a serious issue with plagiarism.