Choose one of the topiclisted and write a paper. Paper should be at least 1800 words in length and double spaced.
1. Organization: Papers would benefit from an outline. If a paper cannot be outlined, the organization is likely weak. Paragraphs should have a topic sentence, and paragraphs should be related to an overall purpose expressed through a thesis sentence. No abstract will be required.
Each paper should contain a short biographical section on the authors, taken from the internet; this section should not be more than 250 words. If the internet does not give biographical information for your author, then use paper sources. For your topic research, however, the internet is not the best place.
2. Research: Research for the papers should follow the recommended primary and secondary sources. Primary sources are the “materials on a topic upon which subsequent interpretations or studies are based, anything from firsthand documents such as poems, diaries, court records, and interviews to research results generated by experiments, surveys, ethnographies, and so on.”
(Hairston, Maxine and Ruszkiewicz, John. The Scott Foresman Handbook for Writers (4th ed). New York: HarperCollins College Publishers, 1996, p. 547.)
3. Quotation and paraphrase: More than three consecutive words used by another author need to be documented as a direct quotation (as a block quote or with quotation marks). Both paraphrase and direct quotation need to be documented with a footnote, an endnote or citation. The purpose of such documentation is to enable the reader to find your source with ease. Keep the use of quotations to a minimum, and use MLA formatting. If you need help with the formatting, you can go to the Online Library.
4. Documentation of Classical Literature: Citing Sources in Text.
The MLA Handbook for Writers (2003, section 6.4.8, p. 254), in its section titled “Citing Literary and Religious Works,” says the following:
“When included in parenthetical references, the titles of the books of the Bible and of famous literary works are often abbreviated (1 Chron. 21.8, Rev. 21.3…).”
Notice that MLA format does not italicize the abbreviations for titles of the books of the Bible, but does italicize the abbreviations of the titles for classical literature. Note also that page numbers are not given, rather section and chapter numbers are given; these latter enable the reader to find the location of your source material in any edition or translation.
For classical works, including the Bible, please give chapter and section numbers. If you would like to add page numbers after chapter and section numbers, that is acceptable, but page numbers are not necessary. For classical literature accessed electronically give the URL, and if there are chapter and section numbers, please include those. If there are no chapter and section numbers, please submit paper copies of the sections of the material used.
Possible Topics with Resources found on the Internet:
• _Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) is a good internet source: <http://www.ccel.org>.
• _The Vatican is an excellent internet source at <http://www.vatican.va>.
• _Describe and discuss the factors that contributed to Saint Augustine’s conversion, as recounted in his Confessions.
• _Describe the stages of love in Bernard of Clairvaux in his On Loving God. Compare and contrast with your own understanding of love or that of any other author.
• _Describe in detail what kinds of positive language God Thomas Aquinas notes in his Summa Theologiae(also spelled Summa Theologica), and comment on the value of the idea of analogy.
• _Explain the different paths to God found in Bonaventure’s The Soul’s (or Mind’s) Journey to God <http://www.franciscan-archive.org/bonaventura/index.html#writings>.
• _Show how the dignity of the human person is at the heart of Catholic teaching on social justice in Pacem in Terris.
• _Discuss John Paul II’s criticisms of socialism and capitalism in his CentesimusAnnus.
• _Pope Benedict XVI criticizes consumerism (see Vatican website); what does he mean by this?
• _Compare and contrast the positions of Stark’s The Victory of Reason with Freeman’s The Closing of the Western Mind concerning Christianity as help and or hindrance to the intellectual development of the West.
• _Give a history of the Catholic Church on the death penalty and note how it has changed over time.
• _Recount the Catholic Church’s responses to Nazi anti-semitism.
Possible Topics with Resources found on the Internet:
• _Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) is a good internet source: <http://www.ccel.org>.
• _The Vatican is an excellent internet source at <http://www.vatican.va>.
• _Describe and discuss the factors that contributed to Saint Augustine’s conversion, as recounted in his Confessions.
• _Describe the stages of love in Bernard of Clairvaux in his On Loving God. Compare and contrast with your own understanding of love or that of any other author.
• _Describe in detail what kinds of positive language God Thomas Aquinas notes in his Summa Theologiae(also spelled Summa Theologica), and comment on the value of the idea of analogy.
• _Explain the different paths to God found in Bonaventure’s The Soul’s (or Mind’s) Journey to God <http://www.franciscan-archive.org/bonaventura/index.html#writings>.
• _Show how the dignity of the human person is at the heart of Catholic teaching on social justice in Pacem in Terris.
• _Discuss John Paul II’s criticisms of socialism and capitalism in his CentesimusAnnus.
• _Pope Benedict XVI criticizes consumerism (see Vatican website); what does he mean by this?
• _Compare and contrast the positions of Stark’s The Victory of Reason with Freeman’s The Closing of the Western Mind concerning Christianity as help and or hindrance to the intellectual development of the West.
• _Give a history of the Catholic Church on the death penalty and note how it has changed over time.
• _Recount the Catholic Church’s responses to Nazi anti-semitism.