Religion and Ethics in the News Summaries and Reflections

Religion and Ethics in the News Summaries and Reflections
Assignment REL 250: Religion and Ethics in Contemporary Culture
Using the space provided on Canvas, students are required to post 5 summaries of recent news articles, videos, podcasts, or other online media relevant to a contemporary moral issue. Each summary is worth a maximum of 6 points. In order to provide students with as much flexibility as possible, these summaries can be completed at any point during the last half of the course (The final due date is Aug. 25). However, I do ask that students submit each one individually (i.e. submit the first summary to summary #1, the second to summary #2, etc.), and I encourage students to pace their submissions, so that they are not overwhelmed at the end of the course. Please upload each summary as a Word document or type directly into the text box provided in Canvas. Each summary should include a link to the article or resource, be at least 300 words in length, and include both a brief summary of and reflective response to the reviewed resource (see below for examples of questions that might guide your reflective response).
Additional Information and Guidelines:
-The topics of your summaries do not have to coincide with those we are considering in class, but they do either have to relate to the topic of religion and/or ethics in some way. If your resource refers only to religion, I ask that you use the reflective portion of your review.
-You can choose to change topics for each submission, or you may choose a focus for your summaries on the same topic, selecting different articles or resources in order to gain a broader perspective.
-When selecting your article or resource, please consider the source and use good judgment. Also, in terms of news articles, please make sure the article is recent (within the last several weeks), and please avoid using the same source for each of your articles. Please use no source (e.g. Huffington Post, CNN, etc.) more than two times for your reviews. One of the points of this assignment is for you to review and respond to a variety of perspectives. Mix it up. Editorials are fine as well. In cases of other media or resources not reporting on recent news, the source does not have to be as recent, only relevant and interesting enough to serve as the topic of your summary. Some questions to consider: Is the source (and therefore the information) reputable? Will the article or resource provide you with enough information to write an appropriate summary? Have you had enough variety in your topics, sources, etc.? If summarizing an article, is the article recent?
-There are a variety of ways to approach your summaries, which may be determined in part by the article or resource. However, your summary should also always include some level of personal or critical engagement with/reflection on the source. For example, in addition to providing a summary or synopsis of the source, your review may: provide several main points in the article, including the position of the author if presented or implied; identify and discuss questions or issues that come to mind as you review the material; articulate what you take to be significant or interesting about the piece; draw connections to something we have discussed in class, etc. If each of your summaries takes the same form, these assignments will, I imagine, grow incredibly tedious for you. This is certainly not the goal of the assignment.

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