This paper will count as 25% of your final grade and will be connected, in theme, to your last paper, as well, but this part is the Research Paper and is graded separately. Using sources such as books, articles, specialized encylopedias, films, or whatever else you may find, you are to write a research paper on the history of The People’s Temple. You are absolutely not to use Wikipedia for this paper and all research should be drawn from materials you find via the Library databases I showed you. I would also prefer you not use the internet unless you find something valid and useful that ends with .gov, .edu, .org. Let me also emphasize that the films I asked you to watch have good information in them, but do NOT rely on those for your information. I want to see a variety of sources used in this paper and you will be penalized if you overuse the films.
I am providing you with a question sheet. It includes all the questions you need to address in part one of the paper. This does not mean, in any way, that this paper is in the form of answers. It simply means this is the information I want to see in the paper and it is up to you to organize it into a cohesive paper.
The basic information about The People’s Temple should be presented. We all know how this ended, but not many people know the history of the temple. Who was the leader? How did the Temple get started? Where did it get started? What was its beliefs? What kind of people joined? What did the church do for the community? What was its progression over the years? In essence, you are presenting information to someone who knows nothing about The People’s Temple. You do not need to spend a lot of time on the mass suicide – primarily on the history of the movement.
This paper must be MLA formatted and documented, with in-text parenthetical citations and a formal Works Cited sheet. This time, MLA is part of the grade and anyone who does NOT document their work will receive an F, so take the technicalities seriously. If you need to rewrite this paper for any reason, you will need to get it back to me quickly.
(In no particular order, these are the questions your papers should address, meaning this is the information you need to include. Use them as a guideline for your research.)
Paper # 3: The History of the People’s Temple
1. What was the People’s Temple?
2. How and where did it start?
3. Who was the leader of the People’s Temple?
4. Why did Jones start the People’s Temple?
5. What were some of the beliefs that guided Jones? That is, why did he want to create this church?
6. When and why did he move to California?
7. What good things did People’s Temple do for the
Community in California?
8. What did you have to do to be a member?
9. What were his masses like?
10. How did he recruit members?
11. What did members of the church believe in?
12. Why and how did he get the support of higher ups in
society?
13. Why did Jones move his church to Guyana?
14. What was life like in Jonestown?
15. Why did Congressman Ryan go there?
16. What was the end of Jonestown?
The point is that you are presenting an account of the history of this church/cult and also showing me that you can use the sources and weave material together.
No one source should predominate your paper. I should see a mix of sources used, including material you find in books, articles, films, etc. that you find through our library databases. You should NOT be using websites for this paper.
In a paper of this length I would expect to see a minimum of four sources, but that is in addition to the material provided by me, meaning if you use the film, that does not count towards your original source tally. I want YOU to find material to use in addition to what you choose to use from what I provided. There are many books on this topic which you have access to via the library database and book chapters are good sources of information.
