Goal: The goal of this assignment is for the student to analyze a current affairs article about a religion and discuss its economic impact.

Learning Objectives: 2, 3, & 4

Description:

Throughout your studies in World Religions, you have been introduced to a variety of religious worldviews that are impacting a society and the marketplace in a variety of ways that can be both positive and negative for a community. The task for your Week #5 Project is to write a Current Affairs Worldview Essay that demonstrates the contemporary application as to how and in what ways a particular religion is impacting a society's economy and marketplace today. You will want to research articles that clearly reference specific financial data including special financial studies and reports, profit/loss reports, Gross National Products (GNP), and financial percentages that are being generated for a particular locale as the result of a religion that we have or will study only in this class.

An example of a possible title for such an article might be this: ("Study Finds Islamic Sholat Reducing Saudi Arabia GNP"). Here, the specific locale is Saudi Arabia – the religion impacted is Islam – the issue is that the time Muslims spend in daily prayer (Sholat) results in a financial loss of production for time away reducing Saudi Arabia's GNP by 2% annually. Your article should highlight clear financial data as opposed to generalizations. (Ex: in the above article it points out that lost production in Saudi Arabia resulted in a 2% loss to the Gross National Product (GNP) or a loss of 3 trillion US dollars over last year.)

The key to this assignment is to think outside of the box and use your critical thinking skills to practically apply the course materials on religion and transfer that thinking in such a way to consider how a religion might impact the economy? If you have trouble finding an article or resource, you can always "Contact a Librarian" from the APUS Trefry Library who will be able to assist you. 

Note that this is not a research essay where you seek out a variety of resources to highlight your topic. Here, you are to focus on just one (1) single article and offer your review of it in terms of a summary of the content and your personal application of it for your study of world religions. (See the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Book Review Handout for detailed information and examples.) There should only be one (1) resource listed in your Works Cited page.

Your essay should include the following and should have a publication date of 5 years or less:

• Seek out and read a Current Affairs article of interest that details a contemporary religious worldview from among those we will study in this class and the impact it is having on a particular marketplace and economy in society today.
• These types of articles can be found in a variety of resources including the Online Library, our Course Guide, journals, newspapers, magazines, documentaries, news and world financial reports, websites, and through online searches.
• Pick just one (1) article and write a 2-3 page review and analysis of just that one article. Your review should be in the form of a literary review or a movie review encouraging your audience to either read or ignore it.
• Provide all of the required bibliographical material and citations for locating the resource including title, date of publication, publisher, website, and all retrieval information.
• Your essay is best written in two parts:
  • Summarize the main content of the article written from a Third Person perspective.
  • Provide your personal analysis of the article from a First Person perspective including:
    • The main purpose why this author wrote the article?
    • What were the strengths and weaknesses of this article and why?
    • Evaluate the financial data and does it support the thesis?
    • How does the article relate to this course of study and a religious worldview impacting an economy?
    • Identify new insights gained from the article.
    • Offer your personal recommendation for the article and why?

Be sure to use good writing and mechanical techniques and include the use of academically approved Citation Formats with in-text citations and a resource page to identify your resource and avoid plagiarism.

You will need to upload your Current Affairs Worldview Essay as an attachment in the correct file for presentation and final grading by your instructor. It will automatically be reviewed by Turnitin.com for plagiarism and an Originality Report will be generated. Please be sure to review the Grading Rubric in advance so that you will have a good idea of the expectations for this Essay.