TUTOR-MARKED ASSIGNMENT (TMA02)

This assignment is worth 20% of the final mark for HBC251 Religion in Contemporary Societies.

The cut-off date for this assignment is Thursday, 06 March 2025, 11.55pm.

Note to Students:

You are to include the following particulars in your submission: Course Code, Title of the TMA (if applicable), SUSS PI No., Your Name, and Submission Date.
(Full marks: 100)

(a) Conduct a site visit of at least TWO different places related to religion. Some places of religion you can visit include:
• Hindu temples
• Mosques
• Churches
• Multi-religious sites such as the Loyang Tua Pek Kong Temple or Sri Muneswarar Peetam Temple located within the Sze Keng Cheng Taoist Temple
• Places of religious significance such as kramats and shrines
• Centres related to New Religious Movements such as the Arya Samaj Temple, Sri Sathya Sai Society

Reflect upon your visit and explain how the visit impacted upon your understanding of the practice of race and religion in Singapore. In doing so, your discussion should first critically demonstrate evaluation and comparison of the significance of rituals and practices of the religious practitioners (worshippers and religious leaders) being examined. Apply course concepts and include empirical examples where relevant.

Your report should include photos (and or videos) of what you found interesting (if photography and videography is allowed at the religious site).
(50 marks)

(b) Examine the concept and state of inter-faith tolerance and peaceful co-existence in Singapore. Sketch government efforts to promote inter-faith harmony sufficient in contemporary Singapore and question if more and/or different kinds of initiatives should be undertaken by government and members of society. Apply course concepts and include empirical examples where relevant. (50 marks)

Student’s Notes for (a)
• You may visit the site on your own, with a friend and/or classmate, or in small groups of three or four, but you will ultimately be responsible for producing your own essay based on your experience.

• Before the actual visit to the site, visit the temple website for some background knowledge and also inform yourself of temple-going etiquette such as dress codes.

• At your chosen site, observe the social rituals and behaviours that are connected to religious worship and seek permission before photography, videography or interviews.

• Although (a) is primarily field research and based on firsthand observations, you will need to refer to secondary sources, such as media articles, for background information on the temple. Ensure that you include references and a bibliography of the cited sources in your assignment.

Additional guidance/instructions

• The answer should be in the format of a well-structured essay.

• The word allowance for the answer is 1,800 words.

• This essay is about your ability to demonstrate that you have understood the
complexity of the issue and have a good grasp of different sides of the arguments around the issue. From a social science perspective there is no single correct or wrong answer, only better or worse answers. Weaker answers tend to fall back on preconceived and personal opinions and fail to engage with the course materials and literature. Better answers define the concepts used and reflect on their underlying assumptions, take an argumentative position that is coherent and consistently followed, and support their arguments with reference to course materials and the relevant academic literature.

• In your references you must use both course material (Study Guide, assigned readings, lecture notes) and at least FIVE other academic resources from your own research. Avoid over-relying on your sources by merely summarising or paraphrasing them, instead use them as sources of data or ideas to support your own interpretations and analyses.

• Ensure that you acknowledge all the sources through proper in-text citations and a list of references / Bibliography at the end of your discussion.

o Academic sources such as journals should include working hyperlinks and
DOI (digital object identifier) numbers.

o There should be robust in-text citations; paraphrasing material from
resources still requires in-text citations to acknowledge the source it was
paraphrased from.

Resources for Writing

• Purdue Online Writing Lab

• APA Style Guide

• See “Examples of Responsible Uses of Generative AI Tools” in Academic Integrity

Plagiarism & Generative AI

Copying text from a reference source (without putting it in quotation marks, or paraphrasing it) is considered plagiarism. Attribute all sources properly and consistently, including any AIgenerated text (see example below).

Example of a table detailing the name of the AI tool used, the approach to using the tool (e.g., what prompts were used), the full output provided by the tool, and which part of the output was adapted for the assignment.

Answers that merely regurgitate or reproduce information from any sources, including generative AI tools, will be heavily marked down. Students should refer to Section 5.2 and Section 3 of the Student Handbook. If there is ample reason to believe that the work is not entirely the student’s own, a viva voce may be held to determine authorship.