Criteria for Papers on Native Cultures

The papers which I have assigned on a native culture and religion should conform to the following criteria:

1. Each student should select a particular native culture to study. This native culture must be agreed to by the professor. The culture should be chosen by Thursday, February 3. Students might consult this linked site for some possibilities.

2. A paper of approximately fifteen pages (double spaced) on the culture and religion of the group will be presented to the professor in class on Thursday, April 28.

3. A preliminary report of each student's progress will be sent to the professor via Blackboard Assignments function by 11:59:59 on Thursday, April 7. This will be a progress report on where the student is in his or her research and can include problems and difficulties that the student has come up against. The project will be graded and will also enable the professor to give further help to students who might be running into problems in their work.

4. The paper should include discussion of the following areas:
   
   -- a description of the history and culture of the Native People.
   
   -- an analysis of the religious thought (mythic/systematic), action (ethical/ritual), community (religious/social) and imaginative (artistic) dimensions of Native religion. For more on this see my outline of the Sacred.
   
   -- the religious situation of the tribe in the "modern" world including their interactions with more complex societies and their own views of the modern world if this can be discovered.

5. Your preliminary report (due on April 7) will consist in the following:

   • What have you done so far? What books, web sites, and so forth have you consulted to this point?

   • What have you discovered relating to the topics outlined above to this point?

   • What problems have you run into? What don't you understand or what confuses you? This is where I can be most helpful to you in my response to your report.

   • What do you plan to do next? What areas that you have not covered are you going to cover? How do you plan to do this?

6. The paper will assist the students in their preparation of their final examinations since their native group will be a subject of discussion on this exam.

7. Students should feel free to consult with the instructor on bibliography, methods, or points of difficulty.

8. Work on the paper should begin immediately since it might take some time to decipher a culture different than one's own and present the results in an organized fashion. Also April 7 is not as far off as it might seem.

9. Students are strongly encouraged to make use of the Writing Center at the beginning of the process of thinking through their paper topics.

GOOD LUCK!

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