instructions for research papers the life and teachings of christ 1. the paper must be an academic paper in style, content, and form. it is not a sermon or devotional, but a research paper which begins with a thesis statement followed by well organized presentation of evidence supporting your thesis. 2. the paper must conform to the 19th edition of the chicago style manual. there is an excellent website which briefly answers your questions about chicago style. The website deals not only with correct footnote and bibliography form, but general style, punctuation, and organization. Note the following specifications: 1. Quotations of more than three lines must be indented and single spaced. 2. Use footnotes not endnotes. 3. Use italics for book titles, not underlining. 4. Scripture references should be placed in parenthesis just before the punctuation mark. They should not be routine footnotes. 3. The paper must site at least 20 sources. Ten of those sources must be refereed scholary journals, like Journal of Biblical Studies, Harvard Theological Review, New Testament Studies, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, etc., or commentaries by major publishers and established commentary series, like ICC, NICNT, NIGTC, etc. The point is that I do not want Wikipedia articles, online articles that are not scholarly in nature, or parochial/denominational publications. You can use some of the popular denominational publications, but the paper must have ten academic/scholarly sources. Again, you may use some denominational/sectarian publications and journals, and also internet articles, but you must use at least ten "scholarly" sources as indicated above. Use the ATLA electronic source to find the articles, books, and commentaries, and then use a local library or library loan resource to get them. Some scholarly articles are available from ATLA in electronic form. Common errors to avoid: 1. The paper should be within the number of pages specified. If the assignment is a 12-15 page paper, don''t send me 35 pages. A good writer must learn to condense his/her information to specified lengths for publication. 2. Do not send me a sermon or devotional or moral exhortation. Those are good things and have important options for tone and style, but an academic paper should be objective in tone (without exhortations, excessive rhetorical questions, harangues, moral exhortations, etc.). Sermons, devotionals, and moral exhortations are great, but belong to another genre of writing. 3. Do not write a paper that has nothing to do with this course. The topic must be approved in advance and have something to do with this course. (Preferably, it will be related to some important subject or theme presented in the lectures or assigned texts, but not a rehashed summary of those texts.) A good starting point may be footnoted sources and bibliography of the assigned texts. 4. Bible translations, study Bibles, wikipedia articles, dictionaries, etc., will not be counted toward minimum source requirements. 4. You may complete the Research Log Journal requirement by submitting a paper bibliography of twenty sources. (Sources not cited in the footnotes should be listed in a separate bibliography.) ********