LibGuides: Religious Studies Guides: Exploring Meaning Essay T

Task Overview

Students are to write a 1000-word essay on the following question.

“What we do and believe reflect how we understand our place in the world”

Analyse how the beliefs, rituals, and practices of one of the following religious / spiritual traditions reflect an attempt to respond to the ‘big questions’ of meaning and purpose.

Aboriginal Spirituality
Sikhism
Mormonism
Taoism (also known as Daoism)

Or another in consultation with your teacher.

Your analysis should focus on:

Connecting the beliefs, rituals, and practices of the faith with the way followers answer the big questions
Analysing how the beliefs, rituals, and practices reflect the culture, environments, and history of the faith

A List of References is required for this task, rather than a Bibliography. This means that all resources listed must be in-text referenced within the essay. Do not include resources that you have not referred to explicitly.

Database - Infobase Online: World Religions

World Religions This link opens in a new window
World Religions explores religion and spirituality in an objective manner, from the ceremonies of the first practitioners to the elaborate rituals of today. The database’s Topic Centers feature specially selected content on 15 of the world’s religions and traditional spiritual practices, including information on important topics, spiritual leaders, sacred texts, and holy days and festivals.

Access through Infobase Online on the Portal.

Non Fiction Collection

Oliver Library Catalogue This link opens in a new window
Oliver is St Clare's Library Management System and has a comprehensive list of print and digital resources.

Access through the Portal

Books on World Religions can be found in the Learning Commons in 291.

Britannica Encyclopedia of World Religions by Encyclopaedia Britannica Publishers
Call Number: 291 BRI
ISBN: 9781593392666
Publication Date: 2006-05-01
The New Lion Handbook: The World Religions by Christopher Partridge
Call Number: NF 291 WOR
Publication Date: 2005
Australian Dreaming by Jennifer Isaacs Chapters include: History of Foundation Texts and Major Tenets Branches Practice Worldwide Rituals and Holidays Major Figures
Call Number: 298 ISA
ISBN: 1741102588
Publication Date: 2006-04-10

Clickview

ClickView This link opens in a new window
Clickview curates the best educational videos from the world’s leading content providers and produces their own original videos.

WorldBook

World Book This link opens in a new window
Designed to make online information easy for students to access and for teachers to integrate into lesson planning—boasts more than 40,000 encyclopedia articles, learning resources, and research tools.

Access through the Portal.

Aboriginal Spirituality

Australians Together: Aboriginal Spirituality
This website explains some of the core aspects of Aboriginal spirituality.
Creative Spirits: What is Aboriginal spirituality?
This resource unpacks Aboriginal spirituality.

Sikhism

Britanica:Sikhism
This resource provides information on the history of Sikhism, beliefs and practices.

BBC Religions: Sikhism
Website includes information on beliefs, customs, ethics, history, holy days, people and rites and rituals.

Mormonism

Latter-day Saints 101: What Church Members Believe
This resource provides the core beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Their core doctrines follow the Book of Mormon.
BBC Religions: Mormonism
Website contains information on beliefs, customs, history, holy days, organisation, rites, social values and texts.

Taoism (also known as Daoism)

World History: Taoism
This webpage outlines the origins, beliefs and rituals of Taoism.
BBC Religions: Taoism
This we4bsite contains information on beliefs, ethics, history, people, practices, rites, subdivisions and texts.

Researching, Writing and Presenting Information - A How To Guide

Researching, Writing and Presenting Information - A How To Guide
The 'Researching, Writing and Presenting Information - A How To Guide' provides you with scaffolds and instructions for a range of task types, including essay structure and features. Information on effective search strategies and tools is also provided.

St Clare's College Referencing Guide

St Clare's College Referencing Guide
This is a complete guide to the process of referencing a range of sources using the Harvard referencing system. It includes a page on referencing and in-text referencing social media sources. This guide can also be found on the College Portal through the Libguides link.