Bhagavad gita analysis/reaction paper

Paper Writing Guidelines

FORMAT

· Type the following in the top left or top right corner of your paper:

Name

Class

Professor’s name

Date

· Type a descriptive title for your essay and center it on the page.

· Introduce your subject matter in the first paragraph. Type what you will accomplish in your essay. State your thesis, or your argument.

· In the body paragraphs of your essay, use evidence to support your argument. Cite specific examples and sources. Whenever you make assertions, document your claims with references. Whenever you wish to quote someone else, you must put their statements in quotations and cite your source. Do not plagiarize. You can also use charts/diagrams/pictures/etc as evidence but they should be in an appendix at the end of the paper and do not count toward the final page count.

· In the conclusion, restate your argument and raise questions relevant to your conclusion.

· Research papers should not merely include a summary of the topic you researched. You need to include some considerable analysis. After selecting and researching your topic come up with a ‘how’ or ‘why’ question to guide your analysis. Questions starting with ‘how’ or ‘why’ often drive at the significance of your topic. For example, let’s say your topic was the Hindu festival Holi:

· An ‘okay’ paper might include who celebrates Holi, when, where, and the process or things involved in celebrating the holiday.

· A great analysis paper might address the following questions, (which drive at the significance or deeper meaning) : why does the festival continue to be celebrated every year? How might the festival reinforce what it means to be a Hindu? Why are colored liquids and powders thrown on everyone (essentially you would be exploring the symbolic meaning of the objects here)? How has the festival changed over time and why? How does the festival differ among sub-groups or geographical lines? Why? From researching the answers to these questions you will be able to form a strong thesis argument.

· Use page numbers at the bottom right of your pages.

· When citing a source, use MLA formatting. If you need assistance with this, google ‘MLA citation machine.’ BibMe is one program that can assist you with this (www.bibme.org)

· Use block quotations for quotations four lines or longer. Block quotations are single spaced and indented. You do not use quotation marks for block quotations. Example:

According to Wayne Teasdale, mystical life:

Awakens in us the possibility for real spontaneity in our actions and responses to others. This spontaneity inspires us to acts of kindness, mercy, compassion, love, charity, patience, and gentleness. Spontaneity again highlights an other-centered focus, often to a heroic degree of selflessness; it is a very significant part of the social dimension of spirituality.

Notice that I kept spontaneity in italics as the author did. This is because you keep the style that the author used.

STYLE

· Do not abbreviate. For example: use ‘do not’ instead of ‘don’t’

· Use ‘he/she’ when you need a pronoun that is not gender specific. In other words, refer to both sexes.

· Do not use the same word over and over again. Use a thesaurus when necessary. However, make sure you only use words you can define.

· Do not use the first person. (do not use ‘I,’ ‘me,’ ‘we,’ etc.)

MECHANICS

· Check your spelling!

· Avoid run on sentences.

· Do not use fragments or incomplete sentences.

· Be consistent with your use of tenses.

· Make sure your subjects and verbs agree.

· Use proper punctuation.

· Proofread your essay.

DRAFT GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

· Use the spell-check feature prior to printing your paper. This is a helpful tool that catches simple spelling errors. If, while reading your paper, it becomes apparent to me that you did not use it, I will return your paper to you ungraded and you will be docked a letter grade on the assignment.

· For your first draft, please turn in a minimum of 3-4 full pages and a bibliography page.

· For your second draft, please turn in a minimum of 6 full pages and a bibliography page. This draft should reflect changes you’ve made since your first draft.

FINAL PAPER GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

· Your final research paper is due during week fourteen (Nov. 23-27).

Please contact me early into the semester if you have any questions. I am here to help you develop an excellent research paper! (

� Teasdale, Wayne. The Mystic Heart. Novato, CA: New World Library, 2001. p.168