This Final Examination has two parts — Part A and Part B. Both parts make up the Final Examination. Both must be completed and submitted in one file.
The Assignment with both its parts is due February 8th, 2026, before 11 p.m. PST.
Given that this assignment was assigned two weeks before it was due, no late work will be accepted.
Has the student in this examination –
- Demonstrated a deep knowledge of the textbook, resources, and discussion assignments? That is, of the material we’ve covered in this course.
- Applied this knowledge skillfully and persuasively throughout their essays?
- Inferred from known facts to arguable or “educated” guesses?
- Cited (given proper credit to) the sources they have used?
- Written a clear, grammatically correct, well-organized essay, free of misspellings
Your first requirement for this paper is the most important: it is essential that you draw upon as many of the required texts and sources assigned in this class in crafting your essays.
Show me that you have not only read these works, but are also capable of using their insights and information to draw your own conclusions about the history of World Religions that we’ve examined in this course.
Those papers that marshal more of the evidence from the readings we’ve tackled in this course and marshal this evidence skillfully will earn the highest grades.
The minimum word counts are contained in the examination (below). Please look for them. If you wish to exceed the minimum word requirements, please do where allowed. In calculating your word total, I will not count your bibliography or title page, only the main body of the essay itself. Also know that the essays must be double-spaced throughout, typed, and that you must use Times New Roman. Be sure the file is uploaded in one of the three acceptable file formats: txt, doc, docx. No exceptions. If I can’t open your file, it is the same as if you did not upload it.
Citing Your Sources: Be sure to correctly cite the words you borrow. When you borrow another author’s words, data, or ideas, use quotation marks to make clear what you’ve specifically borrowed, then immediately give a parenthetical citation telling me the work you’ve used, the author, and the page number. Using another person’s words without citing their work or without using quotation marks to identify precisely what you’ve borrowed is plagiarism. Ignorance of the term is no excuse and it will earn you an “F” for the paper and may lead to a black mark on your academic transcript when the plagiarism is reported.
If you are not quoting brief passages from our sources (Esposito, the videos, forum documents, the resources, and so on), you are not supporting your claims in the essays and will lose critical points.
PART A
We started this course in the Great Religions with two questions. One of these was — “How have religious traditions profoundly shaped the world to be the way it is today?” In this part of the Final Examination, I want you to use the knowledge gained here to contextualize a recent event. To contextualize something is to provide meaning to something by placing it in its historical context.
1. For this part of the examination, please find a current newspaper article from a mainstream newspaper that discusses a recent event which reveals clearly and unmistakably the profound impact of some of the religious traditions we have explored in this class. Be sure the article you choose has not been used for work on an earlier assignment. Make it new.
A “mainstream newspaper” must be one of the following:
Los Angeles Times / New York Times / Wall Street Journal / Sacramento Bee / Washington Post / San Diego Union / The Guardian (British) / Le Monde (French) / U.S.A. Today / London Times /
A “current newspaper article” must be one written between 2023 and today. A “recent event” must be one that occurred in the same period — from 2023 to the present.
2. In your own words (always), please cite your article, providing a link to it. Then briefly summarize the three most important parts of your chosen article. Aim for, at minimum, 500 words on this. Use only your own words, not those of the article’s author.
3. Next, discuss specifically how the applicable religious traditions have profoundly shaped the main event or subject discussed in your chosen article. Obviously, to do this part of the examination, you must discuss the religious traditions that apply to the event in your article. You must then argue persuasively for their impact — how these traditions have shaped the event or subject or affected its meaning or interpretation. For this part, please write, at minimum, 1000 words. If you wish to write more for this discussion part of Part A, please do so. Make it all relevant.
Therefore:
One newspaper article (attached to your essay or weblinked. If the link is dead or fails in anyway, points will be lost.)
One article summary (not more than 500 words) taken from the approved list of newspapers.
Analysis (1000 words at minimum, more if you like)
PART B
Every module in our course has had its own Resources page. Those resources have been chosen to throw light on the focus for each respective module. Each week I have asked you to explore these pages. From your comments and messages to me over the last three weeks, many of you have. This part of the assignment will be to your advantage.
- For this part of the Final Assignment, please choose THREE resources (a website, database, film, etc.) offered on three different Resource pages in our course. Resources we have used already in the class or that the student used on another assignment cannot be used. Be large and seek new frontiers: it is YOUR education. Follow your curiosity and questions.
- Next, answer the following questions for each of the three resources:
- For each of the three resources, taken separately, briefly describe (in 200 words per resource) what the resource is. Summarize it. Hit all the high (significant) points so that a person unfamiliar with the resource knows precisely what the resource offers. DO NOT WRITE MORE THAN 200 WORDS FOR THIS DESCRIPTION.
- In 500 words or more for each resource, make clear how this resource (of the three you’ve chosen) specifically and significantly connects to the themes and materials and questions we have studied in our course. Work hard on this part: it matters. Please go beyond the obvious. Be specific. List those themes and materials and questions that apply to each resource and show me your knowledge not only of the resource, but also of the Esposito text that you are connecting the resource to.
Hint: if you are not citing from the book to show these connections, you are shedding points. Aim higher.
I will grade your work according to the number of significant connections you find, your knowledge of the resources, and your knowledge of the Esposito text. A superficial knowledge will lead to easy and obvious connections. You are too smart and resourceful for such easy and obvious links. Aim higher.
Therefore:
3 Resources from 3 different Resource Pages
3 Summaries (each no less than 200 words) of the 3 Resources
3 ‘Connection’ Analyses (each 500 words long at minimum or slightly longer)
World Religions Today Esposito et. al 7th edition, I can send file of textbook
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