1. Description of the Paper:
Write a paper on a literary motif found in the Psalms and/or the Wisdom Literature in the Bible. A literary motif is a recurring verbal expression of something with either tangible or intangible attributes. A motif could refer to an object that can be observed, an experience that can be described, or an idea that can be conceive.
**For example, a natural phenomenon which can be observed is death. And death isinvolved with things which might not be directly observed, such as certain attitudes and perspectives. Nearly all the literature in this course refers to the aging process and death in one way or another.
2. Procedure:
Your research should include at least five sources, two which should be from Bible encyclopedias and dictionaries, and two from book commentaries. Include publication information on the Bible translation(s) used in your References page.
3. Mechanics:
Your paper should be 10-12pages in length, doublespaced, following the APA paper format.
4. General Information on Research:
a.Dictionaries and encyclopedias can be usedfor secondary sources. Secondary sources can provide information about primary sources. Concordances provide helps for word and topic studies.
b.Primary sources are the original literary work, such as the plays of William Shakespeare. In our course the main primary source is the Bible, but there is also the less relevant literature from the Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations which is to be considered.
c.Secondary Sources are the works of those who explain the primary sources. Access to secondary literature is found through the tools previously mentioned as well as by databases and indexes.
5. General Information on Writing:
a.Three primary skills we rely on when writing from sources are quotation, paraphrase, and summary.Choosing one means of citing a source is part of your strategy in supporting your claims. Besides quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing, the only other words in your paper are your own words.
b.Given these tools for writing from sources, one must distinguish their own words from the wordsof the sources used. Writers distinguish themselves from their sources by meticulously noting the precise location of the words of their sources so that your reader can follow your logic and pursue further information through the sources cited.
c.After developing each main point of your paper, write the introduction to your claim and the conclusion to your paper. A good introduction leads with a point of interest, then provides appropriate context for the reader to understand your claim. If the main points of your paper are derivedfrom your claim, your introduction need only introduce your claim. A good conclusion would consider the broader implications of the argument in the paper.
d.In paragraph development, remember that paragraphs are similar to the paper as a whole in that both have an introduction, a claim, and support for the claim. A good paragraph introduces the new topic at the beginning and stakes a claim about the topic. Another way of saying this is the writer expresses a point of view about the topic in the paragraph. The point of the paragraph should be stated in one of the first few sentences or in the last few sentences. The body of the paragraph provides evidence and reasoning to support the point of that particular paragraph. Write transitionsfor each main point of your paper and for each paragraph in the main point.
