Write a 1,200 word (minimum) expository essay describing a personal experience you have had that seemed unexplainable, and then analyze the experience in depth from three different perspectives – magic, religion, and science – based on the readings, lectures, slide shows, films, articles presented in this course.

Please check out the essay instructions attached. I will send the required book later. Hopefully, we can work together 🙂

Deadline is Aug 21.

Requirements: Mentioned in the attached file

ANTH 367 Social and Cultural Perspectives on Witchcraft and Sorcery

Expository Essay Assignment

Assignment: Write a 1,200 word (minimum) expository essay describing a personal experience you have had that seemed unexplainable, and then analyze the experience in depth from three different perspectives – magic, religion, and science – based on the readings, lectures, slide shows, films, articles presented in this course. Evaluate magic, science, and religion, as explained in course materials, not outside sources, in terms of their usefulness or reasonableness in explaining your personal experience. In your opinion, how do these different ways of explaining the world –magic, science, religion – help you understand your experience, or not? The important idea is to show what you’ve learned about magic, religion, and science in this course that you can bring to bear in an analysis of a real life experience. Please use anthropological terms and concepts wherever possible (cite definitions in course materials, not from a dictionary or outside source).

Requirements: Students who want to earn a good grade, please read: Details are important – essays written in generalities without supporting data, details, and examples from course materials (books, articles, slide shows, films) will earn a low grade. Citations are important. Students need to provide in-text citations with page numbers from the book, or location numbers from the Kindle edition, every time anything from the book is discussed. Please do not use outside sources to write your essay, as this will result in an F. Please use in-text citations liberally; insufficient citations will result in a low grade. Please do not use “quotations” as a replacement for an explanation in your own words. Quotations are other people’s words, and you need to use your own words to explain things. Paraphrase or summarize instead of using quotations. The length requirement is “minimum 1,200 words.” Anything less than that will not be eligible for a high grade. Longer is okay.

Expectations. Please note that, for this course, students are expected to be able to write a college-level expository essay suitable for the Writing Proficiency portfolio, with a good mastery of English idiom, spelling, and grammar, and without plagiarism. This is not a course that teaches the English language or that trains students how to write. The instructor does not favorite one student over the others by helping one student write their essay to get a high grade. The instructor does not edit a student’s draft, give tips on how to make their draft get an A, or allow revisions of their draft after it’s graded, which is unfair to other students. Feedback is provided on graded essays. Students are expected to have taken a basic writing course, and be able to think, read, and write in college-level English. Students get help with learning how to write essays in the Freshman English courses, the Freshman Seminar courses, and the Intermediate Seminar courses. The Writing Center can offer help with writing, but they cannot write a student’s essay or edit it.

In-text citations. Citations are fundamentally important for this assignment. Citations are where you give credit to the person who wrote the materials (books, articles, slide shows, films), right in each sentence where you used material from the sources. Citations are not “quotations.” Citations and “quotations” are two different things (and “quotations” from sources are not allowed for this assignment).

In your essay, each time you use any example, data, or ideas from course materials you need to cite the page number or location number where you found it, giving credit to the author. Citations for this assignment must be “in-text” citations, which go in parentheses at the end of the sentence where you used information from sources, and before the period at the end of the sentence. Footnotes and endnotes are not allowed for this assignment.

All you have to do to cite a source for anthropology papers is remember to put 3 things in your in-text citation: (Author Date: Page), like this (Stoller 1989:84). In this case, Stoller is the last name of the author, 1989 is the date of publication, and 84 is the page number. Do not type out the whole name of the author or write the name of the book for an in-text citation – just the author’s last name, the date of publication, and the page number or location number. You need citations throughout your paper, every single time you use any data from the source. If you don’t provide in-text citations each time you use information from the book, do not expect to earn a high grade.

If you cite slide show lectures, for example, you can make it clear where you got the information from by adding an abbreviated title of the slide show, like this (Worley 2023 Symbols). Use 2023 for all slide shows.

If you cite lecture notes, you can cite them by adding an abbreviated title of the lecture notes, like this (Worley 2023 Types) or (Worley 2023 Unexplainable).

If you cite a film, you can cite it like this (Randi 2000 Psychics).

You would put the full information in the Bibliography / References section.

Bibliography. At the very end of the paper, include a Bibliography / References section with the full information about each source (Author last name, first name; date of publication; full title of book; city where it was published; name of the publisher). If any information is unavailable, just put as much information as you are able to find.

BIBLIOGRAPHY / REFERENCES [Examples – books, lecture notes, slide shows, films]

Stoller Paul. 1989.  In Sorcery’s Shadow: A Memoir of Apprenticeship Among the Songhay of Niger.  Chicago:  University of Chicago Press.

Luhrmann, Tanya. 1989. Persuasions of the Witch’s Craft. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press. ISBN: 0674663241.

Worley, Barbara. 2023. Types of Magic (class lecture notes).

Worley, Barbara. 2023. Explaining the Unexplainable (class lecture notes).

Worley, Barbara. 2023. Religion (class slide show).

Randi, James. 2000. Secrets of the Psychics (film). PBS Nova. March 28, 2000.

Rubric – Suggested Structure (Expository Essay Style):

This is only a suggested structure. The essay must be in expository essay style, which generally follows a structure like the one below.

1. Introduction: The opening sentence(s) in the first paragraph introduces the essay topic in a thoughtful, provocative manner, not by “beating about the bush” with fluffy writing. Get to the point right away. Opening sentences such as – “This is an expository essay,” or “I am going to write about,” or openers that repeat the assignment question – are superfluous and boring. Say something that shows you have thought about the topic and understand what is important about it.

Think of how you would start explaining the topic to a friend. One of the sentences in the first paragraph must provide a clear statement of thesis – tell the reader what you will be “arguing” about the topic. Another sentence should provide a road map that tells the reader at least three specific issues/themes (i.e., magic, religion, science) about the topic that you will be addressing in the rest of the paper, in the order you will be analyzing them. This introductory paragraph should be no longer than about half a page. Data and examples do not belong in the introductory paragraph; they go in the paragraphs where you present your argument, your analysis.

The first paragraph is normally edited after completing the rest of the paper, after you have a clear understanding of what you are explaining. You can write a draft, but go back to it after you have written the paper and make it clearer.

2. Background: The second paragraph or two should describe your personal experience that seems unexplainable, as you remember it. This part should be about half a page per paragraph. The description of your experience is not the whole paper; the longest part of the essay should be your analysis.

3. Analysis: Subsequent paragraphs should analyze your experience from the perspective of magic, religion, and science. Critical thinking: Address each perspective one at a time, define it using course definitions not the internet, not a dictionary; weigh and evaluate how your experience would be explained by each perspective. Each paragraph should be about half a page. The analysis is the most important part of the essay. You may find that you have a whole lot of data about one issue/theme that can be split up into two or more sub-themes, each of which becomes a separate paragraph, which will result in a longer paper.

4. Conclusion: The last paragraph should offer some overall insights (something more than just a summary of the points you already made). What can you conclude about your experience after examining it in terms of the three perspectives? Does one perspective work better than the others? Do any of them offer any closure on the meaning of your unexplainable experience?

Deadline. The deadline for the paper is announced in the course syllabus. Late penalties will apply after the deadline, as per the course syllabus.

Editing. Edit your paper carefully before turning it in. Make sure your very first sentence addresses the assigned topic (get to the point right away). Make sure you have a clear statement of thesis in the first paragraph, and a road map telling the reader what three (or more) themes you will be analyzing. Use a spell checker, but that won’t be enough. Go through manually and look for spelling and grammar errors. Toss out sentences or ideas that do not relate directly to the analysis. Make your sentences as clear as possible. Get rid of typos. Get rid of subtitles. Do not put any extra space between paragraphs. The paper should be double spaced (no more, no less). Use a professional font such as Times New Roman or Cambria 12-point font. Make sure the first sentence of each paragraph is indented 5 spaces. Be sure to put your name at the top of the essay, with the course number and date.

Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a type of theft punishable by law, and students are expected to be able to write an essay without taking words from other sources and presenting them as their own. Plagiarism includes copying, close-copying, or closely re-phrasing anything that is not your own writing. This includes using AI such as chatGPT, using another student’s essay, or taking other people’s words off the internet to write an essay. Jumbling words around from other sources still counts as plagiarism, and the Blackboard software can detect it. In the business world, people can get fired from their jobs if they plagiarize on work done for a company. University students are expected to be able to write essays in their own words without presenting other people’s work as their own. Students are required to familiarize themselves with the UMass Boston policies on Academic Integrity:

Turn It In: Blackboard uses Turn It In software to check for plagiarism. This software will detect any copying or close-copying of websites, books, articles, other students’ papers, etc. Turn It In also provides a rating based on whether or not a student used AI such as chatGPT to write their paper, and this is plagiarism. The Turn It In software produces a detailed report showing where the copying took place, what the source was, and what percentage of the paper was copied. The Turn It In software can show the name of a student who shared their paper with another student: in this case, both students will be referred to the Dean for disciplinary action. The Turn It In report provides material evidence for plagiarism.

Uploading essays on Blackboard: All essays must be properly uploaded on Blackboard as a Turn-It-In assignment (this software checks for plagiarism). When you upload your essay, Blackboard will open a pop-up window with a confirmation number, letting you know your paper was uploaded, so you need to wait for the confirmation number. It is entirely your responsibility to make sure it’s your essay you’re uploading, and not the assignment instructions or anything else. If you have any problem uploading your term paper on Blackboard, you must immediately contact Blackboard support and obtain help so that your essay will be uploaded by the deadline.

Please ensure that what you upload is the correct file. Give your essay file a different name from the assignment instructions. Put your name in the filename. Do not include the essay instructions in the same file with your essay. If you upload something other than your essay, you will earn the late penalty – you will not gain extra time to write your paper, and the late penalty will be calculated daily until you finally turn in your actual essay. If you upload something that is not your paper, you will not be excused.

You will not be allowed extra time by uploading the wrong file. If you have a serious excuse you can contact the professor in advance (not after the deadline) and ask for a one or two day extension to avoid a late penalty, but uploading the wrong file to get more time is not excusable, is not fair to other students, and points will be taken off for the late penalty. No exceptions.

Please note. This is an individual assignment, not a collaborative assignment. Just make sure you develop your own ideas and don’t use anybody else’s. If your paper sounds like somebody else’s, you may be in serious trouble. Students who use AI such as chatGPT or who copy material from other sources should not expect a high grade, and may earn an F.

Top grades. The best term papers will determine the benchmark for the rest of the term papers. All term papers will be graded together after the deadline to determine the best ones. Essays may not be revised after they’ve been graded.

If you run into a jam, make an attempt to write something and turn it in on time. I always give partial credit if a student shows a willingness to try, even if the paper is not complete.

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