Style Use full sentences in paragraphs, begin to develop an idea, and provide evidence for your claims making close observations of the passage which are rooted in its language. Your ideas do not have to be fully developed, however, and in this an Exploratory lies somewhere between a journal entry and a formal essay. Experiment and be adventurous in your thinking. Try applying a new theory. Compare ideas with practices, pieces of art, important maps, or tomb findings. Test an assumption of your author against his or her history.  

You might begin to answer only one of the following questions, or another of 

your own: 

1.How is this expression or idea unique in its context? 

2.What does it assume? 

3.What might have led to this way of thinking? 

4.What might be the consequences (both intentional and inadvertent) of espousing or promoting this idea in this 

context? 

5.What does it say about the specific religious tradition from which it arose? 

6.What connections do you see between this passage and other material from the reading or course?