If the student opts for a research paper, here are some guidelines to
follow:
1. Choose a topic related to some aspect of our study this semester
and begin to organize your research into one of the following types*:
- Thesis
- Prescriptive
- Descriptive
2. If your paper is a THESIS* or is DESCRIPTIVE*E in nature, it must
present ORIGINAL ideas and/or show definite relationships, not just
be organized FACTOIDS (for example, "The Life and Hymns of Charles
Wesley").
3. Submit an outline and a bibliography with at least 10 sources (not
counting ONLINE sources) by mid-semester.
4. Submit the final paper by 5:00 p.m. of the Final Exam date as listed
in the Exam Schedule.
5. Use the Chicago Style Manual guidelines:
- endnotes (as opposed to footnotes)
- bibliography
- cover page
6. The paper should be no less than15 pages in length including the
bibliography and cover page.
7. You should plan to have a minimum of 20 referenced sources and no
more than 2 sources may be internet references. There must be a cover
page and bibliography. End notes is preferred to footnotes.
8. There will be a drop of a third of a letter grade for every misspelled
word or any other obvious mistake in grammar or formatting.
* Research TYPES
THESIS: a position or proposition that a person offers to maintain
by argument; a position to be proved by research:
John Calvin's admonition against instrumental music developed as
a direct result of his inability to play an instrument.
The decline in the use of hymnals and other printed material in American
evangelical worship services after 1970 is related to the overall
decline in the assessed mean literacy rate: 5th grade reading level.
PRESCRIPTIVE: providing a solution to a problem:
A collection of hymns for use in retirement communities.
DESCRIPTIVE: demonstrating the instances of an idea or phenomenon:
Sado-masochistic language in gospel hymns before 1930
Calvinistic language in the hymns of Isaac Watts
The Romantic ideal and aesthetic in the hymns of Fanny Crosby
Research papers which will not be acceptable include papers
which are biographical in nature or descriptive of historical periods
or hymn types:
The Hymns of Fanny Crosby
The Hymns of Isaac Watts
Shape-note hymnody
German hymnody of the Reformation
Praise and worship music