Human Body is ‘an image of society’

FORMATIVE ESSAY

Order Description

Human Body is ‘an image of society’

Write a 1,500 word essay on the following question. Illustrate your answer with specific ethnographic examples.

Critically discuss the claim that the human body is ‘an image of society’ (Douglas).

Comparative Source Analysis (CSA)
Paper #2
Fall 2015
Page Length: 4-5 pages, not including Works Cited page
Value: 10% of course grade
Due date: Beginning of section during Week 6. After this time, late penalties will apply
(see MMW Style Sheet). Even with late penalties, your CSE will not be
accepted after section of Week 9, after which time it will be considered “not
completed” and will result in a grade of F for the course. Any exception to
this deadline must be approved with specific and legitimate documentation in advance by your TA.
Purpose
In the Critical Reading Assignment (CRA) you just completed, you were introduced to one scholar’s position on a given subject. In the second writing assignment, the Comparative Source Analysis (CSA), you will examine how two pieces of scholarly work relate to a common topic and to each other. This assignment provides you with another opportunity to practice critical reading, summarization and paraphrasing skills and to introduce the process of formulating a research
question. This assignment will:
• expose you to two different scholarly approaches to a common topic.
• teach you to think about how scholarship overlaps and how it differs in the treatment of a common topic.
• teach you how to identify conceptual problems, articulate the significance of those problems and analyze how well an academic argument addresses them.
• give you some practice in designing a research question
Read assigned articles/essays
Your professor has assigned two scholarly works that you will read, compare and analyze. You will find the following texts on your professor’s Ted site:
• Pagels, Elaine. “God the Father/God the Mother.” The Gnostic Gospels. New York: Vintage Books, 1979. Print.
• Lang, Karen C. “Images of Women in Early Buddhism and Christian Gnosticism.” Buddhist-Christian Studies, 2 (1982): 94-105. JStor. Web. 11 Nov. 2012.
Write a four-five page analytical essay
Write an essay that explains and analyzes how the assigned sources relate to a common topic and to each other and that advances one research question that both sources answer. You may organize your essay any way you feel is best, but in your essay you should:
1) Write an introduction.
a) Identify each source. Who are the authors, and what kind of sources are these?
b) Identify the common topic and provide any background information about the topic that is necessary to situate the articles in their historical context and to help the reader understand the content of the articles.
2) Summarize the argument contained in each of the two sources (maximum 200 words for each source). What problem does each author address, what is the significance of that problem, and how does each author address it with an argument?
3) Following the summaries, write an analysis demonstrating what these sources teach you about the topic and how they speak to each other.
a) What are the areas of commonality (comparison) regarding the topic? Consider the author’s: approach, problem, method, sources, thesis, claims, evidence and/or conclusions. Provide specific examples from the source and include marked printouts/photocopies for all citations.
b) What are the areas of difference (contrast) regarding this topic? Consider the author’s: approach, problem, method, sources, thesis, claims, evidence and/or conclusions.
Provide specific examples from the source and include marked printouts/photocopies for all citations.
4) Advance a research question. Restate the common problem that these two sources address and formulate a Level-3 research question to which these two sources provide different answers. What broader question do these sources address? How do these sources address the question? What might you still need to know in order to answer this question?
(Note: A Level-3 research question is an open-ended question to which an answer can be proposed based on scholarly research, but that cannot be answered definitively. See the
“Levels of Arguability Worksheet” that is posted to the MMW Website under Reference
Handouts).
Note about using quotations: You may use quotations in this assignment, but use them judiciously and be sure to cite appropriately.
Resources to help you with this assignment:
• Professor Keller-Lapp’s Writing Lecture in lecture on Thurs., Oct. 15
• UCSD Writing Center Workshop, Wed., Oct. 28, 5-6pm.
• Two-minute videos posted to your course Ted site:
Compare and Contrast Essay (several options)
 Why we cite
 How we cite (summarizing and paraphrasing)

What to turn in:
Your four-to-five-page Comparative Source Analysis paper in MLA format
Labeled photocopies/printouts of title pages and all other pages from which you have cited
material. On each page, you must mark the material cited by underlining or highlighting the
text. You must also write the name of the author on the top of each page.
Works Cited Page in correct MLA format
Your graded Critical Reading Assignment
Print and submit the CSA grading rubric with your paper
Submit the same version of your Comparative Source Analysis paper (excluding Works Cited page) to Turnitin.com by midnight of the day it is due in section 10.5.15 hkl

Solution

Human Body is ‘an image of society’