The Last Thesis Proposal Guide Your Students Will Ever Need Posted on March 3, 2020 by Richard Newton Pssss…over here. Are you thinking about or currently advising a student thesis project? If so, did you give your student a list of what should be included in their thesis proposal? No student in the history of the world has refused such a list. And even though the list makes advising a whole lot more productive, I bet you can name some profs who have been holding out. At the request of frustrated students everywhere, I’ve created a little guide for you to revise and share as you deem fit.
AAR + SBL: Toward an Anthropological Study of Scriptures Posted on November 14, 2014 by Richard NewtonEach November, droves of Religious Studies educators leave their students to attend the jointly held meetings of the American Academy of Religion and the Society of Biblical Literature. Maybe it’s the nametags. Maybe it’s the S.W.A.G. Or maybe it’s just the mutual acknowledgement that in order to catch a pre-conference nap, we too lied to a seatmate about where we are going for the week. The camaraderie that exudes the meeting hall defies definition…
Writing With a Point—Part 3: Literature Reviews in the Humanities Posted on September 22, 2014 by Richard NewtonLiterature reviews offer a chance to experiment with drawing connections. They train students to attentive to what previous research has said. Like a jazz musician, the seasoned learner knows when to hold ponderous silence, when to harmonize, when to bring some dissonance, and when to breakout with a solo. Ultimately, the literature review is an exercise in active listening….
ACE Series Part V: A Call to ACE Critical Reasoning for the Last Time Posted on August 21, 2013 by Richard NewtonWe are at a pedagogical turning point. Once we could impress students with our powers of memorization and recall. But that day is ending. Fast thumbs and fine-tuned algorithms can replicate the same thing. Sure, you can hold onto the belief that no one lectures quite the way you do. But what will you teach when your school uploads your lectures to iTunes University? Our task is becoming less about just transmitting content. Whatever our respective domains, we are increasingly called to train students in application, access, and analysis….
ACE Series Part IV: Writing ACE Commentary, or Everything I Need to Know About Arguing I Learned from Billy Madison! Posted on August 13, 2013 by Richard NewtonMy research deals with the scriptures people use to orient their lives. This interest may have begun in adolescence. Much to the chagrin of my youth group directors, my friends and I had a wider canon than the authorized version of any denomination out there. Our central text was the Adam Sandler film, Billy Madison (dir. Tamra Davis, 1995). To us it was a cult classic to be quoted chapter and verse. This movie made those awkward teenage years some how more bearable. For every situation, there was some line from the film available for application. And for whatever reason, when I think of ACE commentary, this film clip comes to mind….