Notice that this question is formulated in the language that Feeney uses in his book:  this paper is the natural extenstion of the work you did in your two book reviews.  (In fact, Feeney relies heavily on Veyne's book, so the second book review is in the same way an extension of the first review.) 

The week before Thanksgiving, I am asking you to give me a summary, or outline, and/or working bibliography of your final paper.  This gives me an idea where you are in working on your paper, and will allow me to plan our last two classes to maximize the benefit to you.  You won't be graded on this summary per se, but the more effort you put into it, the better off you will be when the time comes to write your final paper. 

One requirement for this paper is that you refer to primary sources that help support your thesis, as well as any secondary sources that you need.  Many of the sources you will need for your paper will be assigned readings from the course, so this is not strictly speaking a research paper.  But you are encouraged to find additional primary sources, and to write a really good paper you probably will have to go beyond the assigned readings.  It is less important for you to find additional secondary sources, but of course you can make as much use of the scholarly literature as you need and want.  The optional textbook is a good, accessible place to find additional primary sources, and we will discuss others in class.  As always, feel free to ask me if you have any questions or need help or advice on how to proceed. 

Putting the same idea in different terms:  this paper is your opportunity to take a stand on the main theme that underlies this course.  What you want to present is your educated opinion:  yours, because you can get an A by disagreeing with me as much as you like, and educated because it will contain enough evidence and valid or persuasive argumentation that I will be convinced that it is a reasonable position to hold.  But you don't have to convince me that you're right to get an A; all you need is a plausible interpretation of the evidence.  Your selection and use of evidence is just as important as the argument you make, since an argument founded on insufficient evidence won't convince anyone. 

Evidence for religion in the ancient world is very limited compared to evidence from the modern period, but it is far more extensive than you could study in one semester.  In fact, most scholars never refer to more than a fragment of the evidence they could cite.  The difference between the scholar and the amateur is that they are familiar with (more or less) all the evidence; they therefore select the evidence that best supports their arguments, which in are based on a large sample of the available evidence, plus ideosyncratic biases, previous scholarship, and other factors. 

What you need to do in this course is act like a scholar, though I will not hold you to the high standards that a Ph.D. in the field would have to meet.  The idea is that as an undergraduate in a research university, you should be learning how scholarship develops, though you will not be responsible for creating original scholarship.  In other words, you should have an idea of current trends in scholarship on ancient religion, and you should study as much primary evidence as you can.  Your final paper will then present an argument based on all of the evidence you've seen, citing precisely enough to support your case.  When I  grade your paper I will keep in mind how well it explains evidence I know about even if you don't cite it.  I won't expect necessarily that your argument will account for all possible evidence, but the more it accounts for the better. 

The course is designed to introduce you to enough primary and recent secondary works that you could write this paper entirely from assigned readings.  But I strongly encourage you to look at additional primary sources, and refer to them in your paper.  If you have time, and want to, look at other secondary work --- the resources page and class discussion should both be helpful here. 

I also strongly encourage you to bring your knowledge to class, from assigned and outside readings.  The class will work on a cooperative basis:  your final paper grade will not be higher for citing evidence that no one else cites.  My hope is that we can talk about your papers in class more and more as the term progresses, so that you can get help and feedback from one another as well as from me.  And there's no Wharton Curve:  if everyone writes good papers, everyone will get A's.  So share your knowledge with your peers, so that they might share theirs with you.  Only be respectful and acknowledge the help of others when you receive it.