Reading Analyses (2 x 25 points)

Weekly analyses of the assigned readings provide a starting point for group conversations clearly focused on specific issues. Each student will be required to submit two of these, each of which will (in the following order) selectively summarize, evaluate, and explain the wider relevance of some portion of a source (i.e., either a reserve reading or a portion of one of the full-length historical books assigned for purchase).

Your Task: select two or three important themes and/or issues on which to focus your writing and then address each of the following steps. For your first paper at least, you should clearly separate these steps by either numbers or section headings. If you have any doubts about how to implement these instructions, you are welcome to mimic the writing samples considered in class and available through these links: #1/#2

1. Selective Summary: articulate what you deem to be the one or two most important claim(s) of your source [more about this #1] with respect to your chosen themes/issues; and then summarize selectively but also accurately the statements and examples put forth by the source in support of the claim(s) you are highlighting. Your summary should draw in a balanced way on a variety of points from different parts of your source, noting (even if only briefly) the variety of statements that are made about your chosen themes/issues; you must make frequent and explicit references to specific page numbers, even when simply paraphrasing. (Be careful to avoid focusing on one or two of a text’s statements—especially its general introductory or concluding remarks—while ignoring others that may significantly change the text’s overall point.) Also, make sure to use a blend of paraphrase and quotation to clarify the way that specific statements fit into the paragraphs and pages that surround them [more about this #2]. Please avoid citing words without giving any sense of the surrounding context in which they occur. Finally, your summary should conclude by restating the claim(s) & briefly relating it/them to the statements or examples you presented.

2. Evaluation: examine critically the soundness & consistency of the claim(s) articulated in your summary, making reference to specific statements of your source (either those already summarized or others not yet mentioned). Make sure to avoid general value labels such as “true/false,” "biased/unbiased," “right/wrong,” etc.; focus instead on discussing the exact nature of the truth, bias, rightness or wrongess in your source's claim(s). As part of this assessment you should consider the perspective (i.e., subtle emphases, emotional tone, implied approval/disapproval, assumptions) of what the source says [more about this #3], briefly comparing the author's statements to those of the one or more more other readings assigned for the course.

3. Wider Relevance: discuss the significance of those themes/issues highlighted in your summary and evaluation for understanding the roles and relationships that women and men have adopted and adapted in the context of their religious lives (see "Dimensions of Religion & Culture).  Here once again you must make reference to specific claims and statements from your source.

[View writing sample #1/#2 modeling these three steps.]

Point Values: just over half of your score (usually 15 out of 25 points) will be based on #1 above, so make sure to give your summary the attention and space it deserves. The remaining two parts (#2 & 3) will receive equal weight (5 points each). Thus evaluation and relevance are less significant than the summary; but note that failing to address one or the other will considerably lower your score.

Other Details about length: 1200-1700 words (5-7 pages in most fonts); media: initially to be submitted electronically (attached or contained in an email to me), also with four (stapled or paper-clipped) hard copies brought to class; deadlines: Sunday 3 pm, immediately preceding the Tuesday class at which the source you are analyzing will be discussed. Since timely submission is essential to other members of the class being able to read your analysis, the score for a paper submitted late will be decreased by one-half grade (= 2 & 1/2 points) for each week after the deadline. Details regarding style and format for the papers will be reviewed in class, and may be read before or after that time by reading FAQ #8-16.

Synopsis of Assigned Class Period (10 points)

Each week one or two student synopses of the previous class meeting will remind us of where we ended our discussion the preceding week, and also serve as a starting point for considering similar or related issues in the new material to be considered. Because you'll be considering the class period as a whole, this two page summary & comment will have a significantly broader focus than the reading analyses which begin the discussion. You'll actually be considering three different layers of commentary--original sources, scholarly commentary, ensuing student conversation--and your own synopsis will add one more layer to this!

Your Task : summarize broadly the themes, issues, and/or claims addressed by a range of student voices, at least some of which should reflect the concerns of the assigned readings; and add one or two of your own conclusions or insights.  I recommend that you use the same three steps prescribed for the reading analyses, presenting (either in this or some other order):

1. representation of main themes/issues/claims, balanced and sensitive to the larger context of the conversation;

2. your critical assessment of those themes/issues/claims, much more briefly and generally (without necessarily refering to subtext); and

3. your thoughts on the relevance of the themes/issues/claims for understanding women’s and men’s roles and relationships in their religious context, drawing together, in a carefully crafted concluding statement, what we have all learned from the previous week’s materials and our conversations about them.

CAUTION: by all means do NOT submit detailed minutes of the class conversation (though taking careful notes will greatly assist in composing the synopsis)

As withreading analyses, remember that you must once again make reference to the specific statements of your source(s), which in this case will be primarily paraphrasing other students in the class. But be sure you have done all the relevant assigned readings before attempting to summarize and interpret the focus of a class conversation; do not base your writing simply on the student commentary! Try to capture the exact wording used in the conversation where possible; but even where you are unsure your can still sketch the general outlines of what was said. 

Point Values: even in this much shorter piece, your representation will still count for half the total number of points (5), and so should still take up roughly half of your paper and be clearly distinguished from assessment and reflection, though you may wish to vary the order of the items presented above.

Reminders about length: two pages is the absolute limit (if you want to use minute fonts and tiny margins, that’s up to you; make sure to use back-to-back copying for distribution); medium: to be typed out, copied and distributed to the class (no more than one page front and back), so you won’t need a staple or paper clip!) in multiple copies; deadline: beginning of the class one week after the meeting described in the synopsis. The same late policy and style/format requirements articulated for the reading analyses apply also for the synopsis (though in this case 1/2 grade = 1 point for each week a paper is submitted late).

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[1] To make sure your claim is precisely focused, I highly recommend that you use the following formula: "[author X] claims/argues/emphasizes/suggests/etc. that..." : The exact verb you use will depend on how strongly the author (or alternately you yourself) makes her or his point; but you should at all costs avoid constructions such as "[author X] talks about/discusses/focuses on..." as these lead away from specific articulation of the author's underlying intent and towards general descriptions of the topics covered. If you think that the claim you have articulated might be too general, test to see if there is at least one viable counter-argumen; if not, it is probably too obvious a point on which to build a summary. [back to text]

[2] The most systematic way to do this is to provide (a) the relevant details of that which precedes the word, phrase, sentence, or set of sentences your are quoting, either in the immediately preceding sentence, paragraphs and pages, or else much earlier; then (b) subsequently note (again briefly) the way that the content of your quotation is resolved in the subsequent parts of your source; and, (c) if several quotations follow one another, the essential details that fall between those quotations. [back to text]

[3] Please use the neutral term "perspective" rather than critical term "bias." The latter implies that a particular author's presentation is faulty; the former simply points out that it is one of many viewpoints available for gaining information on a particular subject. Generally perspective is effectively addressed answering two or more of the following interrelated quesions: (a) what is the underlying emotional tone (e.g., zeal, enthusiasm, passion, disgust, anger, etc; note that disinterest, detachment, etc. are also emotional tones) conveyed by the reading?(b) to what degree does the author emphasize particular viewpoints, experiences, aspects of religious life, etc. over others? (c) to what extent does (s)he seem to approve/disapprove (often not stated explicitly) of the viewpoints, experiences, aspects of religious life, etc. considered? and/or (d) what unstated assumptions does (s)he seem to make about those viewpoints, experiences, aspects of religious life, etc.? In practice these four overlap; tackling the specifics of any tone of them is an effective way to address perspective more generally. [back to text]