Name: ___________________________________ Partners' Name: _______________________________

WORLD RELIGIONS RESEARCH PROJECT

Are you tired of taking your huge World History book home every night? Are you tired of having a quiz almost every day? Well, today is your lucky day!!! For the rest of this week and most of next week, we are going to spend our time working on a group research project. Our next units will be on The Development of Africa and The Middle East. After that will come The Development of Europe. In order to cover these sections properly, we must focus on world religions. We have already looked at Hindu (The Vedas, Shiva, Brahma, etc) and Buddhism (Siddhartha, Thevera and Mahayana). Now we will look at Indigenous religions (animism, Native American religions, etc), Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. We will also look at Confucianism.

In order to complete the assignment, you will be put into a group with other students. You are to work as a team!!! First, you will research the following Questions of the Day about your respective religion…

1. Statistics
   
   1. How many followers does your religion have?
      
   2. In what countries do people follow your religion?
      

      
       

2. Birth
   
   1. How did your religion start or evolve?
      

      
       

3. Legend
   
   1. What legendary stories are part of your religion?
      

      
       

4. Sects
   
   1. What sub-groups are part of your religion?
      

      
       

5. Holy Places/ Buildings
   
   1. What does a typical worship building look like in your religion? What are the most famous examples?
      

      
       

6. Rituals (for each sect)
   
   1. What holy days are in your calendar? Why are they there?
      
   2. What rites of passage are in your religion?
      

   
    

7. Worship Practices (for each sect)
   
   1. What must followers of your religion do?
      

      
       

8. Leaders (for each sect)
   
   1. Who (if anyone) is the leader of your religion?
      

      
       

9. Short History
   
   1. How has your religion developed, expanded and contracted over history?
      

      
       

10. Poster
    
    1. You must make a poster that illustrates all of these points.
       
    2. Include any symbols that are important in your religion here (EX: green = Islam, cross = Christian)
       

As you reseach, you must be aware of how to cite your sources. Western university use generally use MLA style citation for both the Works Cited and in text citation. As of today you will be expected to use both!!! For examples of each, go here <http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citmla.htm>. After you complete your research, you and your partner/group will write a 5-6 page paper (double spaced, with only size 12 Times New Roman font). Then, you will create a poster that explains your religion. Finally, next Friday, Nov.20^th you and your group/partner will give a 5 minute presentation. Below is your grading rubric. You must complete everything in order to get a good score. Please note that there is a section for "Did you partner pull her/his weight?" If your group you did not help your group you will lose points! Last, but not least, I expect you guys to use at least four books as sources (you may use our World History textbook for one) and at least 2 scholarly journals (NO WIKIPEDIA!).

    I hope this will be a fun, and challenging project for you guys! I will let you research during class, but you will also have to work outside of class. I suggest that you split up the work and spend your time in class working together. Your grading rubric is below.

 

Gooooooooooooooood Luck!

-Me

GRADING RUBRIC

 

Area	Possible points	Points
Was your research accurate (Did you answer each Q of the D)?	40
Was your Works Cited done correctly?	10
Was your in text citation done correctly?	5
Did you use correct grammar and punctuation?	10
Is your poster accurate and visually appealing?	10
Was your presentation accurate and well delivered (loud and clear)?	10
Did your partner pull his/her weight?	15 (for your partner)