APPENDIX
4: PROJECTS
In addition to participating in ongoing discussions,
every student may at the end of the course submit a literary (written)
assignment and carry out one of the applied projects listed below.
LITERARY PROJECTS – OPTIONS AND REPORT FORMS
Literary projects primarily focus on writing something
related to the themes and objectives of Century of Light. They help you
systematically develop your understanding of the work, though they usually do
not involve presenting your new learning to others. Forms are available once
you decide if you would like to complete a project, and which one.
Option 1: Self Assessment: This simple option requires the completion of the Learning
Self-Assessment form. The purpose of the learning self-assessment form is
to allow a student to record a summary of what he or she has learned and pass
the information on to the tutor. Your summary may include: new understandings
and insights gained; skills acquired or improved; new feelings or attitudes you
have experienced; changes in understanding how to share the Faith; and ways of
applying or using the course materials you have considered. In short, it gives an opportunity for you to
review in detail what you have gained from the course, for your own benefit and
for your tutor’s information.
Option 2: Short Write-Up: Write 1–6 pages on some aspect of Century of Light. If possible, relate your write-up to one of the themes or objectives of the book. Otherwise, write about any aspect of the book that you find interesting. You may quote from the book or other sources but the sum total of your quotations should not exceed 20% of your total write-up.
Option 3: You may select one or more of the Theme
Questions for your research paper/essay.
Option 4: Prepare a curriculum of similar length for one
or more presentations on Century of Light (firesides, deepenings, youth
classes, or other).
Before beginning the paper, it is advisable to send a
one-paragraph summary and a list of the major points, or a draft outline, to
your tutor.
Option 5: You may select one or
more of the Theme Questions and write a 15 – 25 page research paper.
Option 6: Choose a topic that
you feel responds to the objectives of Century of Light.
Before beginning the paper, you are advised to send a
one-paragraph summary and a list of the major points, or a draft outline, to
your tutor, to make sure the result will be considered as work at the graduate
level. Your advisor may be able to suggest authors to read in order to ensure
your work is in dialogue with existing research (which is a key element of
graduate study).
GUIDELINES FOR RESEARCH PAPERS:
The research paper should have the
following:
Title page stating your name, the
title of the paper, course, and date
The text (8–14 pages, intermediate
level; 15–25 pages, advanced level)
Citations with full bibliographic
information
The title page
gives the reader the basic information about the paper and provides a place to
write comments. The paper must be on a
topic related to the course.
The text should
have a thesis statement near the beginning, stating what approach or point the
paper will argue. Papers that are
primarily descriptive are acceptable, but if a paper is to be written at the
graduate level it should argue a point. Graduate level papers must also be in
dialogue with the relevant scholarly literature. Please double space the paper
and leave standard margins so that readers have room to write comments.
Citations are
important because they inform the reader where you found your information and
help him or her distinguish between ideas that are yours and ideas that are
from your sources. All non-routine
information and observations or conclusions by others should be footnoted. Good
citations are very important in making a paper complete and honest; they also
can give the reader confidence in your statements. A good citation must enable
the reader to go find the information or observation being cited, and thus must
include the author’s full name, the book’s complete title, the publisher, the place
of publication, the date of publication, the edition number (if any), the
volume number (if any), the issue number (if any), the name of translator (if
any), the name of editor (if any), page number, and any other information that
makes the source unique.
You may use any
standard system of citation. Any of the following basic systems are acceptable:
1. A short parenthetical reference in the text
(such as [Smith, 36], where “36” is the page number) and a full citation in the
bibliography.
2. A numbered note at the bottom of the page
(footnotes) or at the end of the paper (endnotes) containing a short
bibliographic reference, with the full citation in the bibliography.
3. A footnote or endnote where the first
reference to a source gives its full bibliographic information and subsequent
references to it giving a shortened form of the entry. In this form of citation, a bibliography
page may be unnecessary.
The paper should include footnotes and a bibliography and
should be in dialogue with relevant scholarly literature.
For more
information about papers, the form in which they should be written, and use of
citations, contact the ABS.
APPLIED
PRESENTATION PROJECTS
Applied projects
are intended to provide students with the opportunity to express the insights,
significances and/or ideas gained from Century of Light in applicable
verbal, visual, or audiovisual forms. They provide the opportunity for creating
powerful applications which, when well done, will be of considerable impact in
“sharing with others the challenging implications of the revelation brought
by Bahá'u'lláh.”
Students at all
three levels should, by the end of the course, select and complete only one of
the several applied project options listed below under the headings:
Artistic projects -
those
prepared by a student, which may be presented to others.
Presentational
projects - those prepared and shared with others.
Other projects.
Each set of
projects is followed by Reports Forms with instructions on how they should be
completed. After you select and implement one project, fill up its report form
and forward it to your tutor, within the time allocated in the program.
The headings and
subdivisions of the projects are nominal. For example many of the suggested
presentational projects require artistic talent. If one of the items listed
under Artistic Projects is prepared by a student and shared with others in the
context of making a presentation on Century of Light, then it is
considered to be an Artistic Presentational Project.
Combinations of Projects: You may wish to complete a project that combines two or
more types of projects. For example, in
the course of planning a fireside you may wish to include charts, diagrams, or
even a slide presentation in support of your views; or you may wish to include
a poem or song or a knowledge map during a deepening class. Be creative in learning ways that are useful
to you and your community for implementing the objective of Century of Light. But when you submit work to us, please
provide us with at least two pages about the project you completed and please
be sure to explain it clearly, so that we can evaluate the work effectively and
offer you useful comments about it.
Feel free to adapt or modify any of the existing forms for projects to
create your own form.
Each of the above
project types is described and followed by generic report forms. A generic
variant of the forms can
also be downloaded from the ABS website.
The forms need not
be followed rigidly; you may retype them, change the spacing between items, add
your own items to them, and in some cases you may wish to drop items that are
not relevant to your particular project. The important thing is to be creative
and do something that will result in learning something new, for reading alone
rarely results in deep or permanent learning.
It is also important to aim your project towards one of the themes or
the objective of Century of Light and not explore an obscure or minor
aspect.
Artistic
Projects Options
1. Poetry, Short Stories, Songs, Painting,
Sculpture, Dance. For any of these
efforts to serve as a project for this course, it must relate to the material
being studied, either by using the material directly or by being inspired by
the material. There is no required
minimum length for the work. It should,
however, be accompanied by a 1–2 page explanation that describes how it was
created and how it uses the material of the course.
2. Dramatic Presentations. A dramatic presentation might involve a
skit, monologue, or other form. It
could be primarily theatrical or educative.
In some cases an audio or videotape might be an appropriate item to
include when describing the project.
In view of the
nature and subject matter of Century of Light, those inclined towards
theater and drama will find in it a mine rich with events that can be
dramatized is such a way as to express themes or objectives of the book. If you
are so inclined, we encourage you to creatively rise to the occasion. –
prepare, for example, (dialogue for) a play which you will hopefully produce in
future to the delight of your audience.
1. Firesides. A fireside is
here defined as any presentation developed primarily for a non-Bahá'í
audience. It need not have a large
audience and formal venue; a presentation over lunch to one person is
fine. For the purposes of this course,
however, the presentation should be planned, not spontaneous. The report can be of a hypothetical fireside
you want to give at some point in the future; it need not be a report of an
event that has actually taken place. A
reporting form is available from the website.
2.
Deepenings/Classes. A deepening or class
is here defined as any presentation developed primarily for a Bahá'í
audience. It need not have a large
audience and formal venue; a presentation in your living room to one or two
persons is fine. For the purposes of
this course, however, the presentation should be planned, not spontaneous. It could be for a weekend school, a
children's class, a local committee, or it could be privately arranged. The report can be of a hypothetical
presentation you want to give at some point in the future; it need not be a
report of an event that has actually taken place. A reporting form is available from the website.
3. Slide Presentation is here defined as a
presentation prepared by Microsoft’s “PowerPoint” or by any other similar
program. The presentation, 15 slides minimum, should address one of the themes
or objectives of Century of Light. Slides should include visual aids
such as graphs, diagrams and pictures supporting the concepts being
conveyed. The presentation can be one
you plan to give at some point in the future. Of course if you are able to show
it to a small group or even to one person, you will benefit from realizing its
impact and be able to share your experience.
A reporting form is available from the website.
Knowledge Maps: A knowledge map is a presentation of
important information in visual form.
It might a chart, graph, illustration, timeline, outline, list, or some
other format. In some cases a knowledge
map may need to be accompanied by a brief (1-2 page) explanation of what the
knowledge map expresses and how it was created. Some sample knowledge maps can be found online at:
www.wilmetteinstitute.org/projects.
Inventing Your Own Project: The options
suggested above seem fairly comprehensive, but you can think of other
types. For example, the form on
planning a deepening or class may not be adequate for a children's class; you
might consider such a class a distinctively different type of project. Feel free to invent your own type of
project. But please provide us at least
two pages about the project you completed and please be sure to explain it
clearly, so that we can evaluate the work effectively and offer you useful
comments about it. Feel free to adapt
or modify any of the existing forms for projects to create your own form.