Religious teachings about love, and traditions such as wedding ceremonies, have developed throughout history and across the world, reflecting the core values and teachings of the various religions. For this paper, students will choose one religious tradition and research and write a paper exploring a particular topic concerning love, discussing it in the context of that religion. You may choose from any religious tradition, and your topic could take a variety of directions, according to your own preferences. For example, you could research and write about:

• the symbols, rites and practices associated with a typical wedding ceremony of one religious tradition

• core ideas or issues around marriage in that religion (e.g. arranged marriage)

• issues or topics such as family customs, homosexuality, divorce, or parent-child relations within that tradition

• exploring spiritual writings about love from the scriptures of a tradition, or from a major thinker within it

In any case, be sure and draw connections between what you are focusing on and some of the core teachings and beliefs of the religion itself.

How to Proceed

For your research, you need to draw upon at least two scholarly sources, whether they be books in the library, encyclopedia entries (like the Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions, or the Encyclopedia of Religion, both of which can be found in the reference section of SMU library – ask a librarian if you can’t locate it), scholarly journal articles, or scholarly (e.g. university) websites. You may use course articles in your paper, sparingly, but these cannot be counted towards your two scholarly sources.

A. Outline & Annotated Bibliography (10%) Due on Blackboard by midnight Sunday July 26th

Once you have your topic and some researched sources identified, write a preliminary Outline and post it on Blackboard in the Outline assignment portal (under Course Content menu). Your Outline should include the following information:

• Your Name

• Preliminary Title of your paper

• Short (~100 words) description of your topic

• Annotated bibliography, which consists of:

o bibliographic citation (MLA format) of your two (or more) researched sources

o a short (two sentences or so) description of each source. For guidelines see the Writing Centre’s annotation instructions – the “Description” section – at: http://www.smu.ca/webfiles/WritinganAnnotatedBibliographyJune2012.pdf