Touchstones are projects that illustrate your comprehension of the course material, help you refine skills, and demonstrate application of knowledge. You can work on a Touchstone anytime, but you can’t submit it until you have completed the unit’s Milestones. Once you’ve submitted a Touchstone, it will be graded and counted toward your final course score.
Touchstone 3: Evaluating the Impact of Religion on Individuals, Society, and the World
ASSIGNMENT: In each of the three units in this course, you have learned about the role of religions in our world. You have already reflected on some of the major approaches to studying religions and compared and contrasted two religions. In Unit 3, you have investigated the impact of religion on individuals and society, including learning about religion’s role in shaping morality and ethics, as well as ritual and material culture. Finally, you also thought about religion’s influence on government and global affairs.
For your final Touchstone, you will evaluate the impact of religion on individuals, society, and the world.
In a 400–600 word short essay, you will evaluate some of the ways in which religions both unite and divide, using specific examples from the lessons in Units 1, 2, and 3 to support your conclusions, by responding to this question: How do religions both unite and divide humanity?
In order to foster learning and growth, all work you submit must be newly written specifically for this course. Any plagiarized or recycled work will result in a Plagiarism Detected alert. Review Touchstones: Academic Integrity Guidelines for more about plagiarism and the Plagiarism Detected alert. For guidance on the use of generative AI technology, review Ethical Standards and Appropriate Use of AI.
A. Assignment Guidelines
DIRECTIONS: Write a short essay of 400–600 words that responds to this question: How do religions both unite and divide humanity?
As you develop your response, you should choose two of the following areas of religious influence from Unit 3 to analyze:
- Religion & the Individual
- Religions & Society
- Morality & Ethics
- Ritual & Material Culture
- Religion in Government
- Religion in Global Affairs
Your short essay should include four parts:
- Briefly introduce your topic and develop a clear and succinct response to the question: How do religions both unite and divide humanity?
- Support your response by analyzing the first area of religious influence that you have selected from Unit 3. Use at least two specific examples from the lessons in any unit in your analysis.
- Support your response by analyzing the second area of religious influence that you have selected from Unit 3. Use at least two specific examples from the lessons in any unit in your analysis.
- Briefly summarize and conclude your short essay.
You will use information from the Sophia tutorials to support your response. When citing material from a tutorial, please include the name of the tutorial and use the following format (using Sophia’s Primal Religions tutorial as an example):
- In-text citation: (Religion and Food, n.d.)
- Reference: Sophia Learning (n.d.). Religion and Food [MOOC]. In Approaches to Studying Religions. https://app.sophia.org/course_preview/approaches-to-studying-religions-3/challenge-1-1/9/8235/religion-and-food-2
This is only an example; your own citations will be to the tutorials you use in answering the question. Please do not use any sources outside the class.
Refer to the completion checklist below throughout the writing process. Do not submit your Touchstone until it meets these guidelines.
- ❒ Have you chosen two areas of religious influence from Unit 3 to analyze?
- ❒ Drawing on these areas of influence, have you written a clear and succinct response to the question: How do religions both unite and divide humanity?
- ❒ Have you supported your response by using at least two specific examples from the lessons in any unit, related to the first area of religious influence that you selected?
- ❒ Have you supported your response by using at least two specific examples from the lessons in any unit, related to the second area of religious influence that you selected?
- ❒ Have you ensured that your evidence supports your initial response? If not, now is a good time to go back and revise your response.
- ❒ Is your short essay between 400–600 words, double-spaced, and formatted in 12-point font?
- ❒ Have you cited examples with in-text citations?
- ❒ Are the cited examples from the class tutorials?
- ❒ Have you proofread your short essay for mistakes in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalization?
B. Rubric
| Advanced (100%) | Proficient (85%) | Acceptable (75%) | Needs Improvement (50%) | Non-Performance (0%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Question ResponseEssay provides a clear and thoughtful response to the prompt. (26%)
|
Essay develops a clear and insightful response to the question prompt, and considers how religions both unite and divide. | Essay develops a response to the question prompt, and considers how religions both unite and divide. | Essay develops a response to the question prompt, but the response may lack clarity or demonstrate a limited understanding of the content. | Essay develops a response to the question prompt, but may only consider how religion unites or divides, lacks clarity, or demonstrates a limited understanding of the content. | Essay does not respond to the question prompt, or response is highly irrelevant. |
First Evaluation of Religious InfluenceEssay evaluates an area of religious influence: Religion & the Individual, Religions & Society, Morality & Ethics, Ritual & Material Culture, Religion in Government, Religion in Global Affairs. All citations must come from the course material. (27%)
|
Essay evaluates an area of religious influence selected from Unit 3’s list and its effect on uniting or dividing humanity. The analysis fully supports the response. | Essay evaluates an area of religious influence selected from Unit 3’s list and its effect on uniting or dividing humanity. The analysis generally supports the response. | Essay evaluates an area of religious influence selected from Unit 3’s list and its effect on uniting or dividing humanity. The analysis may weakly support the response. | Essay minimally or inaccurately evaluates an area of religious influence selected from Unit 3’s list and its effect on uniting or dividing humanity. | Essay does not identify or evaluate an area of religious influence selected from Unit 3’s list and its effect on uniting or dividing humanity. |
Second Evaluation of Religious InfluenceEssay evaluates a second area of religious influence from the areas listed above. All citations must come from the course material. (27%)
|
Essay evaluates a second area of religious influence selected from Unit 3’s list and its effect on uniting or dividing humanity. The analysis fully supports the response | Essay evaluates a second area of religious influence selected from Unit 3’s list and its effect on uniting or dividing humanity. The analysis generally supports the response. | Essay evaluates a second area of religious influence selected from Unit 3’s list and its effect on uniting or dividing humanity. The analysis may weakly support the response. | Essay minimally or inaccurately evaluates a second area of religious influence selected from Unit 3’s list and its effect on uniting or dividing humanity. Example may not be cited correctly, or an outside source is used. | Essay does not identify or evaluate a second area of religious influence selected from Unit 3’s list and its effect on uniting or dividing humanity. |
Use of EvidenceEssay uses specific examples that support the response. All citations must come from the course material. (13%)
|
At least 4 specific examples from Unit 3’s lesson are used to support the response. These are thoughtfully chosen and explained. Examples are cited appropriately. | At least 4 specific examples from Unit 3’s lesson are used to support the response. Examples are cited appropriately. | 2–3 specific examples from Unit 3’s lesson are used to support the response. Examples are cited appropriately. | At least 1 specific example from Unit 3’s lesson is used to support the response. | No specific examples from Unit 3’s lessons are used to support the response. |
ConventionsEssay follows conventions for standard written English. (7%)
|
There are almost no errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization; all length and formatting requirements are met. | There are minor errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization that do not impede readability; length and formatting requirements are nearly met. | There are frequent errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization that somewhat impede readability; length and formatting requirements are nearly met. | There are consistent errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and capitalization that significantly impede readability; length and formatting requirements are not met. | Submission does not meet the minimum threshold for points to be awarded. |
C. Requirements
The following requirements must be met for your submission to be graded:
- Composition must be between 400–600 words.
- Double-space the composition and use one-inch margins.
- Use a readable 12-point font.
- All writing must be appropriate for an academic context.
- Composition must be original and written for this assignment.
- Plagiarism of any kind is strictly prohibited.
- Submission must include your name, the name of the course, the date, and the title of your composition.
- Include all of the assignment components in a single file.
- Acceptable file formats include .doc and .docx.
- In-text citations should use this style: (Religion and Food, n.d.)
- References should use this style: Sophia Learning (n.d.). Religion and Food [MOOC]. In Approaches to Studying Religions. https://app.sophia.org/course_preview/approaches-to-studying-religions-3/challenge-1-1/9/8235/religion-and-food-2
- All cited examples are from the class tutorials,