New Testament

Requirements for Passage Analysis

I. Students should choose from one of the following passages:

	Titus 2:1-15
	2 Peter 2:1-22
	Hebrew 1:1-14
	Hebrews 4:14-5:10
	Hebrews 12:1-13

II. Research the historical and literary dimensions of the passage you chose using at least three of the following resources (these resources are in the Lyon College Library):

Bart D. Ehrman – The New Testament: A Historical Introduction to the Early Christian Writings

HarperCollins Study Bible

The HarperCollins Bible Commentary

The Women’s Bible Commentary eds. Newsome & Ringe

Word Bible Commentary (multi-volume--you need to find the volume dealing with the book where your passage is found)

Hermeneia Bible Commentary Series (multi-volume--you need to find the volume dealing with the book where your passage is found)

Anchor Bible (multi-volume--you need to find the volume dealing with the book where your passage is found)

Anchor Bible Dictionary

Interpreter's One-Volume Commentary

Jerome and/or New Jerome Bible Commentaries

III. After researching the passage carefully, students will write a 700-1000 word paper that discusses the following:

	The historical context of the passage (when it was written, by whom, where, for whom, and generally what was going on at the time the passage was written)
	The literary context of the passage (its place in the larger work where it is found, the type of literature in general it represents, such as poem, aphorism, etc., the meaning of key terms in their original language and context, does the passage make use directly or indirectly of other sacred writings, etc.)
	The meaning of the passage in light of the previous points.
	A concluding paragraph or two (maximum) of the student’s view about the passage’s meaning for today. In other words, in light of the previous points, how might this passage be applied to our time and context?

Important Notes:

1. Some of your sources may disagree about issues such as the date a letter was written or authorship. When this happens, you need to explain the disagreement, why the different sources disagree, and which side you take in the disagreement.

2. Even though most of the paper is an analysis of one passage, students must still provide proper citations of material that come from any sources used (Ehrman, HarperCollins Study Bible, or any others used by the student). In short, keep in mind the honor code's position on plagiarism.

Basic Formatting Requirements:

Papers must be typed or word-processed in a 12 pt. font (preferably Times New Roman). Line spacing should be double-spaced. Page length should be somewhere between 700-1000 words. (It is acceptable to have a longer paper.) Although papers are graded primarily on the basis of content, not following the instructions in these guidelines and/or poor writing can affect grading. Good writing is writing that is clear, coherent, and organized. See the general points about writing a paper at the bottom of this page.

Papers should be submitted as a Word document attached to an e-mail by noon on April 19.

Students must document the sources of ideas and quotes that are not theirs. You may use MLA, APA, or any other standard system to cite sources and create a bibliography or reference cited page. Paraphrasing sources should be avoided. It is strongly recommended that students read over the section on plagiarism in the MLA Handbook in order to avoid inadvertent plagiarism. [[For on-line help on how to cite sources see http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/modeldocs/humanities.htm, http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc, http://citationmachine.net/ , and http://www.libs.uga.edu/ref/chicago.html]

There is also a series of tutorials on how to avoid plagiarism at http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/plagiarismtutorial/default.asp?s=&n=&i=&v=&o=&ns=0&uid=0&rau=0

Special Note: Unlike some versions of the APA, I want parenthetical citations to include relevant page numbers even when you are not quoting.

General Points Regarding Writing Papers (I suggest you check off each point as you make sure it is completed):

Do not use contractions in formal papers

Do not use "man" and "mankind" when you really mean human or humankind

When quoting a biblical text, e.g., "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God," the only citation you need is that Book chapter:verse (e.g., Matt. 5:8). You do not need to cite the actual Bible you got it from (e.g., HarperCollins Study Bible). You should indicate, by abbreviation, which translation you are using, e.g., NRSV, NIV, KJV, etc. Thus, in the example above it would look like this:

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God" (Matthew 5:8 NRSV).

The only time you need to cite the actual Bible you are using is when you are referring to material in the footnotes or introductions, i.e., all non-biblical material. When citing the non-biblical material, you should follow standard citation format for an edited book.

Citations should always include page numbers if the source is paginated.

Citations of web sites should be complete and specific--for example, if you are referring to material found at http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/groups/rph/rph120/index.html do not put http://www.lyon.edu/webdata/groups/rph/ only.

It is not enough simply to list all the works consulted at the end of a paper. All information and ideas which a student finds from the works consulted must be specifically cited at the point in the paper where that information is included.

A paper that is almost entirely quotes rather than the student's explanation of the ideas in the book is not appropriate -- that kind of paper is not a paper at all, just an assemblage of quotations.

Each page of your paper, except the title page, should have a page number.

Since your papers are to be turned in electronically, to sign and pledge your papers, you should include your name, your student ID number, and the phrase, "I pledge this assignment"

In my classes, I prefer that you refer to yourself as "I" rather than as "the author of this paper" or "we"

See http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling for words that you should definitely not misspell.