TRS 201: Faith Seeking Understanding—Research Paper Project

Annotated Bibliography Due: Wednesday, February 7th

Rough Draft Due: Friday, March 16th
Final Draft Due: Monday, April 16th

Length: 7-8 pages

Number of academic sources:

 For Annotated Bibliography: 7 or more
 For Paper: 5 or more

Guidelines for Annotated Bibliography:

 Are the bibliographical entries properly formatted in the student’s chosen style (e.g., MLA, APA,
Chicago, Turabian)?
 Do the student’s annotations:
o Show that the student has some familiarity with the source and is able to give a basic summary of
it?
o Show that the student has assessed the quality of the source?
o Show that the student has assessed the relevance of the source to the student’s own research?
 Most important: are the student’s sources truly academic? Usually this means that they will be
obtained by using library resources and will be produced by academic publishers.

Annotated Bibliography total points: 16 (graded on check plus/check/check minus scale)

Grading Rubric for Paper (points assigned for final draft; categories used to assign check, check plus,
check minus for rough draft):

Argumentation: 35 points
 Guiding considerations: Is the student’s argument clear—that is, does it have a clearly articulated thesis
and topic sentences that flow from that thesis? Do its conclusions follow from its premises? Is it
supported by evidence? Is it persuasive? Is the student in control of her/his argument—is it focused and
without unnecessary digressions? Does the argument flow naturally—is it clear how one part proceeds
from another? Is it elegant? Does the student avoid logical fallacies in her/his argument?

Treatment of the Topic: 35 points

 Guiding considerations: Does the paper attempt to answer a question using theological methodology
(i.e., does it approach the question while reasoning from the perspective of Christian faith)? Does it
engage with relevant course material? Is it well-researched, and does the student show a command of
his/her sources? Are the sources adequately academic (i.e., peer-reviewed, produced by academic
publishing houses)?

Mechanics: 26 points
 Is the paper free of grammatical, syntactical, and orthographical (spelling) errors? Are sources clearly,
appropriately, and consistently cited?

Rough Draft total points: 48 (graded on a check plus/check/check minus scale)

Final Draft total points: 96