Description

HUMA 2002-0BW

Instructions for research assignment (20% of final grade)

These instructions are longer than instructions for the other assignments. Please read them carefully.

This is a multi-part assignment, requiring virtual attendance at a religious event/ritual/observance (or viewing a pre-recorded service), notetaking, research, and reflection. It will challenge you to critically apply information garnered in the learning modules and through reading texts, while explaining and describing an event or experience. Depending on what faith group’s event you observe, you may need to read ahead to the relevant chapter in the textbook.

DUE DATE

Mar. 7th. 

LENGTH

Approximately 5 pages, double-spaced (normal font, spacing, and margins). [NB: this total does not include your notes, the title page, or reference list!]

INSTRUCTIONS

You are to virtually attend any religious/spiritual observance—or if a watch a recorded service or event, if available—by a recognized faith group on any date that is convenient to you before the due date of the assignment (allowing time to reflect, research, and write the paper afterwards, of course!). Examples include, but are not limited to: a service, prayer session, meditation session, virtual presentation, etc. Please do NOT view something from your own, or your family’s, place of religious observance, or something that is from the religious tradition you grew up with and/or are now a part of. The goal is for you to branch out and experience something different than what you’re most familiar with.

You should:

Ensure that the faith group you wish to observe would generally be acknowledged as a ‘legitimate’ one: what I mean by this is that they have some kind of recognized social presence, with a clearly marked place of religious observance, clear and public statement of beliefs, etc. The point here is not to be judgmental or elitist: I just want to you to exercise common sense, and not, say, go to a random person’s blog about his/her personal spiritual journey.

Make sure the event is open to the public. If it requires some kind of signup for login information, use your commons sense, as you would in any online navigation. Do NOT give out sensitive personal information. If you are streaming a live service or event, be prepared to be respectful of their conditions, particularly concerning comments.

Make sure you copy the URL of where you’re visiting (the more specific the better, but at the very least, the organization’s homepage where you found the link).

Virtually attend and/or observe. Take notes both during and immediately after the event, while things are still fresh in your mind. For this part, you may type or write out notes, or you can make an audio or video recording of them. In whatever case, these observation notes will need to be submitted.

During, and after, reflect. Consider how you felt at the event. Did anything surprise you? Did anything you saw confirm or make you rethink what you thought you already knew, or thought you knew, about this faith/tradition? How did the format (online) impact your experience (positively and/or negatively)?

Reflect broadly on the impact of experiencing religion virtually, using your specific experience as a grounding. What are the pros and cons? 

NOTE: Please do not contact/interview anyone associated with the religion you are observing for this assignment. For the purposes of this assignment, you are to observe, research, and reflect only.

You may write your reflection in the first-person, use a narrative style, or write it as a formal essay.

STRUCTURE OF THE PAPER

Begin with an introductory paragraph, which provides a clear statement of the purpose of your paper, and what you intend to discuss. There should be SOME kind of thesis statement here, even if you are not writing in the style of a formal research paper; there should be some indication as to why you’re writing the paper, the overall point of it.

Next, provide a brief overview of and context for the event. Briefly explain what it was about, what happened. Summarize your key observations. This should be fairly neutral at this stage, striving for accuracy (though of course what stood out to you will be unique to you).  about 1-1.5 pages

Then, offer some personal reflection on a few of the things that stood out to you the most. What struck you, and why? What was your immediate reaction, and how did you make sense of it in terms of your knowledge (or lack thereof) of this religion? ‘Flesh out’ your reflection by drawing on points from the textbook and/or learning modules, and any additional source(s) you find. Choose one or two specific things you observed to research further. ‘Fill in’ the context as best you can with your resources, helping to better makes sense of what you observed. Make note of where what you observed seemed to confirm points from the texts, and where the lived experience you observed in some way challenged or broadened those points.  about 1.5-2 pages

How was everything impacted by the medium (virtual/online) in which it was presented? What might this demonstrate about experiencing religion online more generally? Give your opinion on the pros and cons of virtual religion. How might this impact future religious adherence, participation, and experience after the pandemic, if at all? See below for a few articles to get you thinking; feel free to apply any arguments or points within one or more of them to your specific example, as long as you cite it/them fully.  about 1.5 pages

Conclude by bringing together all of the previous reflection and research and briefly explaining how it enhanced your knowledge of that particular religion/spirituality, and the experience of religion online more generally.

EXAMPLE:

I live in Guelph, near downtown. There’s a large, Anglican church nearby—St. George’s. A quick Google search and I find their website: https://www.saintgeorge.ca/. Exploring their website a bit, it doesn’t take long to see that they offer services via Facebook Live on Sundays, and they post services afterwards on their YouTube channel. I can choose to either join live at the scheduled time, or watch the posted service later.

ASSESSMENT

Your observation notes will be given a grade out of 5, and the final paper a grade out of 15, for a total of 20 marks.

How this will be marked: your observation notes will be graded on a scale of 1-4 for completeness and thoughtfulness (if written, spelling and grammar won’t count; feel free to use shorthand or point form, as long as I can understand what you’ve written!), with 1 additional mark for providing a working URL; for the remaining 15 marks allocated to the written paper, 5 will be for quality and thoughtfulness of reflection, 5 for quality and accuracy of additional research, and 5 for form.

SOURCES AND REFERENCING

In addition to making reference to the appropriate chapter of the textbook (if relevant), you must find some kind of additional source(s)—be it a website or online journal article—to help bolster your understanding of what you observed, and the experience of religion online more generally. Ensure your source is a legitimate, substantial, and reliable one. I will be evaluating you on your choice of source(s); this is an exercise in good research habits (or conversely, avoiding lazy research habits). You may also reference primary texts (e.g. sacred texts, mission statements, etc.) where helpful.

It is not enough to just list sources in the bibliography! You must actually cite them, directly and/or indirectly, within the body of your essay to show how they have shaped your argument. You will receive deductions from your grade if you do not do this.

Be sure to proof-read, because you are also being assessed for proper grammar and style. For consistency, students are encouraged to use the APA method for referencing. Check the Humber library website for help with referencing styles: http://library.humber.ca/APA-MLA. 

A FEW SOURCES DISCUSSING RELIGIOUS SERVICES ONLINE:

“Will the coronavirus permanently convert in-person worshippers to online streamers? They don’t thinks so” (Alan Cooperman, Pew Reasearch Center)

“Worship during COVID-19: How Cheez-Its, ZOOM, and blue tape are the new norms in faith” (Chelcey Adami and Jenny Kane, Reno Gazette Journal).

“How the pandemic is pushing religious services online” (Anna Durbanova, Impakter)

[. . . be sure to do your own search too!]

PLAGIARISM AND ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

Plagiarism is a serious offense and will not be tolerated. It constitutes academic dishonesty, and is on par with cheating on a test. It is your responsibility to understand the nature of plagiarism. Again, the Humber library website is a good resource: http://library.humber.ca/copyright-students. I will also be including a guide to avoiding plagiarism on the website as a separate document.

These are the most common forms of plagiarism and academic dishonesty:

Cutting and pasting from the internet without citing your sources.

Taking an entire paper or article from the internet and claiming it is your own work.

Copying directly from a book or article.

Using an essay written by another student for another class, or by you for another class (note this last one – it might be surprising, but you CAN plagiarize from yourself!)

Consequences for academic dishonesty range from a minimum of 0% on the assignment to expulsion from Humber.

SUBMISSION

Your final submission must include the following (you may put them into one file, or upload separate files):

electronic copy of your observation notes (this can be a scan or picture of your handwritten notes, or an electronic copy of your typed notes, or the audio or video file if recorded)

final written paper

URL of the site visited (include this in your notes, in a separate file, or at the end of your written paper)

LATE POLICY

Please see the Critical Path for late policy. The short version: 5% for the first day, 1% per subsequent day.

The purpose of this assignment is to encourage first-hand, though virtual, observation of lived religious/spiritual practice, which is then put into conversation with quality textual research; it is also to encourage personal reflection, and to practice research, analysis, and writing skills.

Instruction Files