The focus papers are to be four to five pages in length and are to explore a topic or issue arising from the class sessions prior to the due date of the essay. Some focus paper topics may be assigned by the professor. Late papers will be lowered a letter grade. The term paper should be about eight pages in length and should deal with the relation between a passage or theme of the Bible and a contemporary issue or approach to interpretation. For both focus papers and the term paper, students will be expected to use appropriate reference systems and properly document quotations and ideas derived from others.
Topics are to be determined in consultation with the professor.
Fifteen percent of the grade will be based on participation. Students will be evaluated on the academic quality of their response in assignments to the content of the course. All written work must be the student's own. The college's policy on academic honesty, as stated in the current catalogue, will be enforced. Plagiarism will result in the failure of the assignment or the course, depending upon the seriousness of the case in the judgment of the professor.