Description: The project requires some creativity and the application of concepts and findings you have learned in class. It is expected that you will need to show your own judgment, ingenuity, and analytical skills.

General Information:

(not both). (Topic one)

submitted.

submissions will not be accepted.

Citations: All sources and references that you use must be cited, including books, web pages, class lectures, etc.

o M. McBride. “Lecture Title Here,” Economics/Religious Studies 17, Class Lecture, UC Irvine, Date of lecture.

o M. McBride. UC Irvine Economics/Religious Studies 17 Class Survey, Fall 2020 Quarter.”

(See attachment for data)

o Name of Church/congregation. Title of service (if any). Date of service.

(No need for topic 2)

Accessed via URL (give URL) on (give date).

TOPIC 1: The Religiosity of UCI’s Econ 17 Students

Use the responses from the Week 1, in-class survey for this topic. Download a csv file of the survey responses from UCI Canvas. The csv file can be opened in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or any other statistical software.

Your paper must have the following six sections:

1. Introduction. (About 1 page, 2 points.) Your introduction should introduce the reader to

your topic and provide a short summary of your findings and conclusions.

2. Econ 17 Student’s Religiosity. (About 4-5 pages, 6 points.) This section should

summarize the key religiosity patterns that you discover from your analysis of the class

survey data. Use tables and figures to supplement and support what you explain in your

text.

3. Comparison with the American Population. (About 4-5 pages, 6 points.) This section

should identify key similarities and differences between the UCI students and the American population as a whole. Again, you may want to use tables and figures to help your argument. I suggest you use the ARDA website as a starting place to obtain information about the religiosity of the American population, but you may also look at the Pew Research Center (see links on the class web site).

4. Explanation and Assessment. (About 4-5 pages, 8 points.) This section should explain, assess, and evaluate the key similarities and differences described in Section 3. Give the most convincing argument you can for why these similarities and differences exist. Use course readings (e.g., blog posts, books), ideas from the class (e.g., opportunity cost, religious capital formation), and other things you learn through your individual research (e.g., from the Pew Research Center).

5. Conclusion. (About 1 page, 1 point.) This section briefly summarizes the key findings. A single paragraph should suffice.

6. References. (2 points). You must cite every source you use for your paper, including the class survey (see below).

Tables and figures will likely be an important part of your research paper, however, a paper that has only tables and figures and very little text will not receive a high grade. For example, if your Section 2 is 5 pages long but with 4 pages of figures and 1 page of text, then you will receive a low grade for that section. Use tables and figures selectively to support your text. A good rule of thumb for this paper is that your tables and figures should not combine for more than 4 or 5 total pages, so make your figures and tables large enough to easily read but not so large that they take up too much space.

Please use your own words. If you reference please cite correctly. If paraphrased please cite also. Do not plagiarize!!!

See attachment for class lecture materials, survey data.