The Research Assignment - Instructions
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101
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Religion
Date
Feb 20, 2024
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RLG101S
Professor Khalidah Ali
Spring 2024
The Research Assignment
The Research Assignment is worth 12% of your final course grade and is due on Feb 20
th
, 2024. Please read these assignment instructions thoroughly! Reading thoroughly will be essential to your success. Assignment Overview
Before the interview, it is important for you to conduct some preliminary research that will help you to gain some knowledge about the tradition you plan to study. This preliminary research is a critical step that all scholars must take before conducting fieldwork. In this phase, the list of 3 initial research sources that you identified in the Interview Information Survey will expand to a list of 5-6 sources, though you do not have to use the initial sources from the Interview Information Survey if you no longer find them useful. Using these 5-6 sources
, you will be asked to summarize and explain what you have discovered about the tradition of your interviewee. This summary exercise will not be in the format of a formal essay; rather, you will be answering specific prompts, and responding to each prompt in a few paragraphs using proper citations. Based upon this summary exercise, you are then required to develop 3 interview questions
based on your research. The three prompts are as follows:
1.
The first prompt in the research assignment asks that you summarize and explain (in two or three paragraphs) general information on the religion under study. Please indicate specifically how this general information is relevant to your project, and how this general
information will help you develop your interview questions. 2.
The second prompt will ask you to explain (in two or three paragraphs), 2 or 3 food traditions within the religion under study. These food traditions can take the form of food restrictions, charity, religious offerings, rituals, festivals and/or special occasions, among other elements (see readings on Food and Religion from week 2 for ideas). 3.
The third prompt will ask you to develop three of your own specific, original interview questions,
based on your research. These questions should be different from the generic
interview questions listed here in the interview questions document
. As this is a formal assignment, you will be required to use proper citation format to give credit to
all of your sources. You must use Chicago-style citation format (preferably author-date in-text citations but footnotes are also acceptable) for this assignment. You will also be required to include a bibliography
. Diligent and precise documentation of sources is one key to success on this assignment. 1
RLG101S
Professor Khalidah Ali
Spring 2024
Specific Assignment Guidelines
In this section, I will give you details on how to successfully complete each part of the assignment. Format:
Use Word (or another word processor) for your submission, using 12pt font, with standard margins
Include a title
Include your full name
Organize your document into four sections, using section headings: o
Part 1: General Information
o
Part 2: Food Traditions
o
Part 3: Interview Questions
o
Bibliography
The minimum word-count for this assignment is 900 words and the maximum word count is 1500 words (including the title, section headings, and bibliography). Sources
As mentioned above, you can expand the list of sources that you selected in the Interview Information Survey into 5-6 sources. However, if you find that the sources you initially selected are no longer useful, you are permitted to find 5-6 entirely new sources. The best place to start your research is the UTM Library catalogue
. A simple search of “food and
religion” will lead to thousands of search results, and each religious tradition is represented in the
UofT library system. Therefore, learning how to navigate the UofT library system is essential. Library skills are taught in the library module, and our RLG101 library page has suggested sources for you to look through: https://guides.library.utoronto.ca/RLG101utm
. If you are unsure
of how to use the library system, please speak to a librarian or ask your TA for assistance. Librarian Nathan Wolfe is also available as a resource: nathand.wolfe@utoronto.ca
. At least three
of your sources must be academic. Your other sources can be academic works, professional media articles, documentaries, videos, websites, among other types of sources. Note
that the quality of your writing will reflect the quality of your sources, so try to be diligent in finding the best material for your project. In academic work, it is essential to include citations to give credit to the original authors and researchers whose work you have used or built upon. This demonstrates academic integrity and respect for others’ intellectual property. Citations also provide evidence and support to the claims
and ideas in your writing by offering readers a way to verify the credibility of your sources, and helps you to avoid plagiarism. You must employ Chicago-style in-text or footnote citations. More instructions on Chicago Manual of Style can be found here
. 2
RLG101S
Professor Khalidah Ali
Spring 2024
You will also be required to include a bibliography that lists all of your sources that you have cited in the assignment. Part 1: General Information about your Interviewee’s Religion
As stated above, the first prompt asks that you summarize and explain (in two or three paragraphs) general information on the religion of your interviewee. You also must explain how this general information is relevant to your project specifically, and how it will help you develop your interview questions. Your understanding of your interviewee's food traditions can be greatly enhanced by delving into
the beliefs and practices of their religion. Many religions incorporate food restrictions that are deeply embedded in their belief systems, and faith traditions frequently employ food as a symbolic element in their rituals and ceremonies. Furthermore, major religious festivals and holidays are often intricately tied to a religion's historical roots and influenced by its geographical context, and food practices are intertwined with prayers and rituals as integral components of these religious observances. It's worth noting that within a single religion, different sects may follow vastly diverse food guidelines and traditions. Therefore, acquiring background knowledge and context can be instrumental in gaining a better understanding of the specific religious traditions associated with food.
In your assignment, you can discuss beliefs, concepts, history, geographical location, texts, and actions found within your interviewee’s religion that you see as relevant to understanding food traditions. For example, you can explain which Muslim beliefs guide choices related to food consumption such as belief in God and living a life in accordance with Qur’anic teachings. If your interviewee is Hindu, Buddhist, or Jain, you could discuss the principle of non-violence (
ahimsa
). If your interviewee is Rastafarian, you may want to include the historical and geographical context of the religion. After you have discussed these major aspects of your interviewee’s religion, you then must explain why
the information is relevant to your assignment. In other words, what does this information help you to understand, and how does it make you better prepared to study this religion and come up with good interview questions? You are required to use proper citation format to give credit to all of your sources in this section of the assignment using Chicago-style in-text or footnote citations. Part 2: Food Traditions
In this section you are asked to explain (in two or three paragraphs), 2 or 3 food traditions within the religion under study. These food traditions can take the form of food restrictions, charity, religious offerings, symbols, rituals, festivals and/or special occasions, among other elements. For example, if you plan to interview a Muslim, you can research rules regarding halal and haram food. If you plan to interview someone who is a Catholic Christian, you can research the Eucharist. Taking the time to become familiar with such traditions of the religion in your study will help you to be better prepared for your interview. It is important to note that while your 3
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RLG101S
Professor Khalidah Ali
Spring 2024
interviewee may not engage in every food tradition that you have researched, you will want to have some foundational knowledge of traditions that can aid you in developing your research questions and help you engage your interviewee in meaningful ways. You are required to use proper citation format to give credit to all of your sources in this section of the assignment using Chicago-style in-text or footnote citations. Part 3: Interview Questions
As you will have noted already, there is a set of questions contained in the interview question document
which can be found on Quercus. This document lists 18 generic questions that can apply to any religion, and you can start your interview with selected questions from this list (it is up to you how many you use). In addition to these questions, you must develop three
of your own unique interview questions based on your research. There are several criteria you must follow when developing your questions:
1.
Each question must be different from the questions in the interview question document
.
2.
Each question must relate to food and religion.
3.
Each question must be specific
to your interviewee’s religion.
4.
The questions should be neutral
(i.e., there is no judgement added to the question, whether it be praise or critique).
5.
Keep your questions as open
as possible (i.e., they are not yes/no questions).
6.
Keep your questions aimed at your interviewee’s own practices and beliefs
(as they are not expected to speak on behalf of an entire religion). You will be evaluated on how well you follow these criteria when constructing your questions. However, your questions need not be complicated. For example, the question can be as simple as
asking a Jewish interviewee, “When you think of Passover, what foods come to mind?” or a Jain interviewee, “In what ways does the principle of non-violence guide the choices you make around food?” These questions are simple, but demonstrate that you have familiarized yourself with food traditions, and that you are now seeking to find out how your interviewee integrates such traditions into their everyday life. You do not
need to cite your sources in part 3. Examples of interview questions that do not
fit the criteria:
1.
Why don’t you pray? (Not neutral, not about food, not specific to the interviewee’s traditions)
2.
Do Muslims find Ramadan oppressive? (Not neutral, not really about your interviewee’s specific beliefs and practices)
3.
Do you take communion? (This is a yes/no question and there’s no room for discussion if
the interviewee says ‘no’)
4
RLG101S
Professor Khalidah Ali
Spring 2024
The Bibliography
A bibliography is a crucial component of academic writing that provides a comprehensive list of all the sources, references, and materials consulted or cited in a research project, paper, or document. It serves as a valuable resource for readers, allowing them to locate and explore the original sources used by the author. A well-constructed bibliography typically includes a variety of sources, organized in a consistent citation style properly formatted and alphabetically arranged. Please create a bibliographic list in Chicago-style for all of the sources you cited in Parts 1 and 2.
Note that the Chicago Manual of Style has two formats for your list of sources, both of which are
acceptable for this project. Please pick one and be consistent. If you are confused about how or what a bibliography should look like and how to build one, visit this page
and speak to your TA, myself (Dr. Ali), or a librarian. You should have a minimum of 5 sources listed here, but can use more sources for this assignment if you wish to do so. 5