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12 - Studies of Religion - Religion in Australia 1945- present: Academic writing : how to guide

Academic writing: how to guide


You'll quickly get used to writing in an academic style - try it!

 

  • Incorporate a mix of paraphrasing and short quotes from experts into your own arguments. Make sure you acknowledge/reference these experts in-text.

By 1963 the Australian Baha’i community had “established a small footprint in the Australian religious landscape, winning the allegiance of a few and attracting the attention of a wider circle” (Hassall, 2012, p. 576).  

The Pintupi people of the Western Desert Aboriginal community of Warlungurru practised nightly Gospel singing and a ban on gambling and displayed a distinctively Lutheran focus in their Christianity in the late 1980s (Myers, 2010, p. 11).  

On the one hand Crabbe argues that “[s]ince the 1950s Australians’ levels of religious affiliation and church attendance have steadily declined (2009, p. 259). On the other, however, is Calma’s view that the establishment of new Christian communities in Australia has brought about new, unique expressions of Christianity (2010, p. 335).

 

  • Try to use sentences which show that you are weighing (evaluating) pieces of evidence against each other and against your own opinions

Case's  (1987, p. 3) hypothesis that secularism became popular in the 1990s qas disputed by Reid (2013, p. 45) who argued that the two main Christian religions in Australia were still well supported by the majority of Australians....

The truth of Corcoran's (2003, p. 9) contention that the Bahai faith is in decline is questionable, in light of van Asperen's (1999, p. 59) assertion that ....

Some question the view of Hall  (2005, p. 10) that the Catholic Church's views are obsolete in twenty first century Australia …

After weighing up the views of Rout  (2011, p. 456) and Christian  (2009, p. 33) on the Uniting Church, it can only be concluded that ...

Priester believes that the Baptist Church needed to act decisively or disappear  (2005, p. 44) however others have criticised his viewpoint …

Scali’s belief that the Australian government's tolerance of the rise of new religions in post war Australia (2003, p. 55) was an important factor , however Cox disagrees (2913, p. 55).

McNaughton  and Jagger  (2005, p. 6) defended the criticism of their viewpoint, citing the views of the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney at the time, .....

The view that Catholicism had had its day  (Mulford, 2000, p. 99), was questioned by Hirst (2014, p. 56), who believed that moves for the ordination of women.....

 

  • Use a Reference List (end-of-text referencing : place this at the end of your essay)

Calma, T, 2010,’Respect, Tolerance and Reconciliation rather than Opposition and Denial: Indigenous Spirituality, Land, and the Future of Religion in Australia’, Pacifica. October, vol. 23, issue 3, p322-336.

Crabb, Anna. , 2009, ‘Invoking Religion in Australian Politics’, Australian Journal of Political Science, June, vol. 44, issue 2, p259-279.

Hassall, G, 2012, ‘The Baha’i Faith in Australia 1947-1963’, Journal of Religious History, December, vol. 36, pp.563-576.

Myers, F, 2010, ‘All around Australia and overseas: Christianity and indigenous identities in Central Australia 1988’, Australian Journal of Anthropology, April, vol. 21, issue 1, pp110-128.