REL109: Research Report Guidelines



Your presentation should be about ten minutes long, plus a few minutes to respond to questions.  Given our time constraints, we need to stick closely to our schedule; please time your presentation in advance so that you come out close to your allotted time.  I will interrupt you to ask you to finish up if your presentation continues on beyond your time slot.

As a general rule, presentations are more effective when given from notes instead of reading them word-for-word from a text.  If you do write your presentation out in advance, keep in mind that this is an oral presentation and you need to write in a style that your audience can follow.  This means you should avoid very long, complex, and dense sentences.  Careful attention to organization will improve the effectiveness of your presentation.  For example, it is a good idea to give your listeners an indication toward the beginning of your talk of what you will be telling them, i.e., the basic sections of your talk, so that they can follow where you are in your presentation.  At the end of your presentation, you should summarize very briefly the key points that you have made.  This means that you need to figure out in advance what the most important information is that you want to communicate and then organize your talk so that your audience can follow the logic of your presentation.  Since you are presenting on your research, you might very briefly describe how you hit upon your particular ritual and how you went about researching it (what sorts of material you found), and then go on to tell us what you learned.  Try to give specific details when they will help illustrate your points.  Don't be afraid to personalize your account.

Keep in mind that your audience will find your presentation more interesting and I will evaluate it more positively, if you tie it in with ideas or issues that we've talked about in class on the general theme of ritualization.  You should clearly state how your research sheds light on some text or interpretive approach that we've read this semester.  Do not merely give a detailed narrative of what you observed.  Instead, focus on specific aspects of your ritual and its setting that are relevant to your analysis.  This may include comments about what you learned about the activity of observing and analyzing a ritual from your research.  How did the actual experience of observing/analyzing differ from what you expected?  What insights into the theories did you gain from trying to apply them to an actual ritual?  What would you do differently if you studied this ritual again?

Consider using handouts, audio-visual aids, putting material on the blackboard, or any other resources that help to communicate your ideas and make your presentation more lively.  A map of the ritual space can be particularly helpful.  Don't be afraid to be creative.  If you have an idea that you'd like to run by me first, I'd be happy to help you with the logistics (if you need a slide projector, data projector, VCR, etc., please let me know in advance so I can have things set up properly.  If you want to use PowerPoint or other computer-based AV materials, I strongly recommend that you burn the material to a CD or bring it in on a flash drive.  The computer in the seminar room (a Dell running Windows) has USB ports for connecting flash drives and a CD ROM drive; it also has a link to the campus network.

Here are the criteria I will use to evaluate your presentation:

  • Clarity
  • Organization
  • Enthusiasm
  • Use of Supporting Materials/AV
  • Ritual analysis (including application of one or more ritual theories)
  • Response to questions
In addition, your grade for this assignment will be based on a 4-5-page essay in which you discuss the application of one or more ritual theories introduced in the course readings to the ritual you observed.  Your essay should demonstrate how this theory illuminates important aspects of that ritual, and also how your ritual raises questions about the adequacy of that theory (or theories) for understanding particular characteristics of the ritual.  This essay is due at the beginning of class on December 5th.


Report Schedule: 


Tuesday, November 14th:
 Lauren McGonagle-Akin

Jenn Galusha

Vanessa Brigham

Sophia Lloyd
Thursday, November 16th:
 Ben Beck

Danielle Bauman

Christina Flood
Tuesday, November 28th: Quinn Jason

Eric Brandom

Krissa Saldana
Thursday, November 30th: Rich Fahey

Samantha Glaser

Matt McLaughlin
Tuesday, December 5th:
 Sarah Kennedy

Bojan Puric


Some Examples of Past Research Projects:

  •  Analysis of Sunday service at Trinity Baptist Church on Williston Road
  •  Analysis of 4 Catholic masses at St. Joseph's RC Church
  •  Comparison of three different Catholic services, using N. Jay
  •  Analysis of Druid ritual
  •  Analysis of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings
  •  Analysis of Quaker meeting
  •  Creation of new ritual and its analysis (three students cooperated)
  •  Comparison of Roman Catholic and Congregational communion services
  •  Analysis of Burlington-area Circle Dances
  •  Analysis of Sabbath Day Festival at Island Pond Community
  •  Analysis of Mardi Gras in New Orleans
  •  Comparison of a Jewish sabbath service and "dating rituals" in local Burlington bar
  •  Analysis of meditation session at Shelburne Zen Center (two students collaborated)
  •  Analysis of a "Hungry Ghost" ceremony at the Shelburne Zen Center
  •  Analysis of Yoruba ritual in which the student performed as a dancer (with videotape)
  •  Analysis of two Catholic ceremonies at Weston Priory (a Benedictine monastery)
  •  Analysis of services at the Uniterian Universalist Church in Burlington
  •  Analysis of two local channeling sessions
  •  Analysis of a Bread and Puppets performance
Copyright 2006 Kevin Trainor                                                                             Last updated: 11/28/06