A. Assignment Guidelines
DIRECTIONS: Write a short essay of 400-600 words that responds to this question: How do religions both unite and divide humanity?
As you develop your response, you should choose two of the following areas of religious influence from Unit 3 to analyze:
Religion & the Individual
Religions & Society
Morality & Ethics
Ritual & Material Culture
Religion in Government
Religion in Global Affairs
Your short essay should include four parts:
Briefly introduce your topic and develop a clear and succinct
response to the question: How do religions both unite and divide
humanity?
Support your response by analyzing the first area of religious
influence that you have selected from Unit 3. Use at least two specific
examples from the lessons in any unit in your analysis.
Support your response by analyzing the second area of religious
influence that you have selected from Unit 3. Use at least two specific
examples from the lessons in any unit in your analysis.
Briefly summarize and conclude your short essay.
You will use information from the Sophia tutorials to support your
response. When citing material from a tutorial, please include the name
of the tutorial and use the following format (using Sophia’s Primal
Religions tutorial as an example):
In-text citation: (Primal Religions, n.d.)
Reference: (n.d.). Primal Religions [MOOC]. In Approaches to Studying Religions. Sophia Learning. https://app.sophia.org/spcc/approaches-to-studying-religions–2/unit1/study-guide/7845/primal-religions-2
This is only an example, your own citations will be to the tutorials you use in answering the question. Please do not use any sources outside the class.
Refer to the completion checklist below throughout the writing
process. Do not submit your Touchstone until it meets these guidelines.
❒ Have you chosen two areas of religious influence from Unit 3 to analyze?
❒ Drawing on these areas of influence, have you written a clear and
succinct response to the question: How do religions both unite and
divide humanity?
❒ Have you supported your response by using at least two specific
examples from the lessons in any unit, related to the first area of
religious influence that you selected?
❒ Have you supported your response by using at least two specific
examples from the lessons in any unit, related to the second area of
religious influence that you selected?
❒ Have you ensured that your evidence supports your initial
response? If not, now is a good time to go back and revise your
response.
❒ Is your short essay between 400-600 words, double-spaced, and formatted in 12-point font?
❒ Have you cited examples with in-text citations?
❒ Are the cited examples from the class tutorials?
❒ Have you proofread your short essay for mistakes in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization?
