Research a topic within Mindfulness, and write an essay analyzing your topic. The topic can be one we’ve already covered in class, or one of your own: Mindfulness in Sports, Mindfulness in Corporations, Mindfulness as a Business, Mindfulness in a Religious Tradition, etc.. It may also be partly experiential: visit a museum or cultural institution that displays art in a mindfulness tradition; participate in a yoga or meditation class and compare it to our practices, or something similar. If you’re not sure what to write about, ask me, or talk to your fellow students. In order to complete this assignment, you need to do the following:
1. Pick a topic, as explained above, and check with me to confirm that it’s a good topic for this assignment.
2. Find at least three academic, journalistic or institutional sources that discuss the topic. I’ll explain more what I mean about sources in class, but the basic idea is to find articles, videos, or other media by a scholar, a journalist, or someone writing from within a business, religious, or health care institution. No private social media accounts, blog posts, or conversations with friends unless you can demonstrate that it makes sense for your topic!
3. Write an essay of between at least 1200 words on your topic. This is an original essay in your own words. If you copy or paraphrase any sources you must put them in quotes or use citation to show where they came from. You may not resubmit any part of an assignment that has been previously submitted for another class. Your paper should have a very low similarity classification from TurnItIn. The paper must be submitted to the TurnItIn dropbox on Canvas. Paper copies or electronic files sent by e-mail will NOT be accepted. If you have any questions, or run into problems finishing your essay, PLEASE let me know before the paper is due.
You do not need a long introduction or thesis statement, but your essay should have a short introduction, body, and a short conclusion. In your introduction, you should clearly state your topic, and what particular questions or issues you will be discussing. In the body, you should explain what your sources say about your topic and questions, and then critique them: do you agree or disagree with them and why. In your conclusion, you should clearly state what answers you found to your questions, and/or what you’ve learned from analyzing your sources.
***Please remember to double space you essay and proofread it before you hand it in!**
