1. WHY?
   1. Writing down our reactions to an event helps us to be more attentive to what we think and feel about it.
   2. The field trip involves a number of experiences which may evoke different feelings for different participants.
   3. Mulling over your feelings and thoughts will help you to sort out the religious, social, and cultural "rules" which you take for granted, or the ideas you thought "everyone knows."
   4. This makes it possible for you to evaluate critically those assumptions.
      
2. FOR WHOM?
   1. the process is to help you uncover your own assumptions about the Biblical text and the history of that era
   2. the product is for your classmates and instructor to share your discoveries
      
3. HOW?
   Go to #4. If you have trouble there, come back to this section and prepare to write by brainstorming on the following topics:
1. What did you expect to see & hear during the tour?
2. What did you actually see and notice?
3. What were your surprises and insights?
4. What unique features of the Ancient Near Eastern or Roman World did you discover (or re-discover) through this field trip?
5. What connections do you see between your discoveries and the course material so far (esp. the readings)?
6. What further questions did this experience raise for you?
   
4. WHAT?
   1. Choose one of the unique features or one of the connections you noted in #3.4-5.
   2. Decide why you think this is the most significant insight from this field experience.
   3. Then begin to organize the data from #3 to support your contention. 
   4. Your actual paper will follow the basic three-part formula:  Introduction, Body, Conclusion.
      1. the Introduction will include two things:
         1. Your thesis concerning the most significant insight from this tour, and
         2. The basic outline of how you will demonstrate this claim
      2. the Body is where you lay out your argument, step-by-step, showing your audience why your thesis should be upheld
         1. Include details from the experience and readings wherever possible
         2. Show why this one feature or insight is essential for understanding the content of this class
      3. the Conclusion contains two (or three) things:
         1. Your summary of how you have established your thesis, and
         2. At least one further question you would like to investigate.
         3. If you choose, you also can include a prediction of further effects of the experience on your thinking and/or behavior.
            
5. FORMAT?
   1. Footnote your sources (follow the Chicago Manual of Style, not MLA nor APA)
   2. When referring to text books, the author's name, short title, and page numbers will suffice
   3. For web sources, be sure to cite your access date and time. If you already have cited the main address in the prior note, you need only include the sub-address for subsequent notes (e.g., .../vjt/bread).
   4. Please use a 10-12 point font; a printout should have one-inch margins all around.
      
6. LENGTH?  If submitted via hard copy, two double-spaced pages maximum. If you submit an html file, your paper may be somewhat longer to allow for any images you use.
   
7. EVALUATION? See here for grading protocol.

NB: "Prepare" means just that, get your ideas together so you can organize them in a coherent paper as described in #4. It does NOT mean that you should be throwing all these things into the paper itself.