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Religious Studies Guides: World Religions - Religion and Popular Culture (A)

Task Overview

Task Type: Creative Interpretation

Conditions of the task: Creative task (artist interpretation) must be accompanied by a rationale (400-words) and bibliography.

Instructions regarding the nature of the task:

You are to create an artist interpretation that explores the statement:

Popular culture has the power to shape who we are and what we think.

Rationale should be submitted on the due date, prior to your presentation.(400 words)

Your rationale needs to explain:

The purpose and intention of the artwork.

Why you have created the artwork the way you have.

It should include at least 2 scripture references as a basis to evaluate how media could apply Christian morals and values.

In-text referencing and your reference list.

Database Search Tips

Databases can help you find academic sources on a variety of topics, but sometimes it can be tricky to know how to use them effectively. Some popular databases used by St Clare's Students are:

  • ANZRC (available on the Portal)
  • National Library of Australia eResources (Link below)

Always start with an 'Advanced Search' and tick 'Full Text.'

Use the following tips to help you effectively search the databases below to find the information you need:

Operation

Example

Explanation

""

"Popular Culture"

Quotation marks are used when you are searching for a specific word combination or an exact phrase. In Boolean search, use quotation marks whenever your keyword consists of more than a single word.
AND Media AND Religion AND combines search terms so that each search result contains all of the terms. For example, media AND religion finds articles that contain both media and religion. You can use AND more than once when searching databases.
OR Religion AND "Popular Culture" OR "Pop Culture" OR means you are searching for documents that contain either keyword (either the words popular culture or the words pop culture, or both). Use it for words with similar meanings.
NOT Religion AND Media NOT Social NOT excludes terms so that each search result does not contain any of the terms that follow it. For example, Religion AND Media NOT Social finds results that contain information on Religion AND Media but excludes articles where Social is mentioned, thus excluding Social Media.
* religio*

Truncation, also called stemming, is a technique that broadens your search to include various word endings and spellings. To use truncation, enter the root of a word and put the truncation symbol at the end. The database will return results that include any ending of that root word.

Eg. religio* will bring results including religion and religious

Accessing the Bible

NRSV is the preferred version of the Bible at St Clare's College (both in print and online)

The print version can be found at 220.520432BIB

The online version can be found below...

When accessing BibleGateway make sure you select the preferred version (New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)) from the drop down menu (shown below) before you search.

Religion and popular culture audio and visual links

Using Academic Sources

When researching a topic for assignments, academic sources are preferred over other types of sources. They carry more weight and authority, and are likely to be more convincing.

Academic sources are:

  • Authoritative: academic sources identify the qualifications and expertise of the writer. A source written by a recognised expert in a field is more likely to be trustworthy.
  • Sourced: academic writing is careful to credit the origins of information and ideas, usually by means of a reference list or bibliography.
  • Peer-reviewed: other academics have read the source and checked it for accuracy. Before publication in an academic journal, for example, an article is checked by a panel of referees. Academic books are checked by editors and other reviewers.
  • Objective: academic sources aim to examine a topic fairly. This does not mean that they never take a side, but that the source does not ignore alternative positions on the topic.
  • Written for academics

Types of Academic Sources include:

  • Books
  • Journal articles
  • Published reports

Use the databases in the right hand column of this guide to find academic sources on your chosen topic.

Researching, Writing and Presenting Information - A How To Guide

St Clare's College Referencing Guide

Database - ANZRC

Use the search bar to search for your topic and use the column on the left hand side to refine your results. You can narrow your results by publication date, type of resource (academic journal/newspaper/magazine), etc. Always tick 'full text' to ensure you get full articles, not just abstracts.

National Library eResources

Use your National Library membership to access the online collection of eBooks and journal articles. Use the database search tips to use correct search terms and refine your results.

You will need to be a National Library of Australia member to access the eResources. If you don't have a card, click on the link below...

ResearchGate

ResearchGate is the professional network for scientists and researchers. Over 20 million members from all over the world use it to share, discover, and discuss research. Many research papers on ResearchGate have PDFs freely available. Use the search bar to search a topic, or use the link provided below as a starting point.

Google Scholar