Instructions for RES 502, Fall 2024

1. This online course is located at: https://libguides.twu.ca/RES502. It is not password protected. You should not submit assignments through our Moodle course system. Send them to Professor Badke by email attachment. The syllabus and all assignments, as well as assignment submission information are available through this course website. 

2. The textbook is Research Strategies: Finding your Way through the Information Fog, 7th ed. (Lincoln, NE: iUniverse.com, 2021). For information on formats (including most e-book formats), see. http://williambadke.com/GetTheBook.htm. Earlier editions than the 7th should not be used.

3. To get into our databases for assignment #3 and #4 through our web page - https://www.twu.ca/library/ - you will need your TWU email address (Your Moodle login plus @mytwu.ca, e.g. Susie.Smith@mytwu.ca) and password that you use for TWUPass or Moodle. Read the registrar's information sheet, which you will have received by email. Further information is located at https://trinitywestern.teamdynamix.com/TDClient/1904/Portal/KB/ArticleDet?ID=152463. As you begin the course, be sure to test your access to our databases, by trying to log into one of them, for example: https://twu.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?authtype=ip,uid&profile=ehost&defaultdb=asn. It is extremely important that you ensure that your database login works. Contact Professor Badke by email if you have a problem with logging in.

4. When you begin the course, you will need to choose two topics upon which to base your assignments. These can be topics from the list provided on the "assignments" page of the course, topics of personal interest to you, or topics for which you are writing papers in other courses (preferred). All assignments will be based on those two topics, which you will keep throughout the 5 assignments.

5. You should first read the "Syllabus" in the course website, then move on to the "Intro" tab.

6. I have included an assignment template at the top of each assignment. Click on the link to download a rich text format outline of your assignment to open in the word processor of your choice. This will serve as your guide to make sure you complete all parts of each assignment as directed.

7. As you complete each of the five assignments, you need to submit it to me by email attachment.  You need to turn in each assignment as you complete it. I accept assignments only one at a time, not in groups of more than one. I need time to grade an assignment before your start the next (grading time is normally within 24 hours). Note that you must complete all assignments with a passing grade in order to pass the course.

8. Throughout the course, I am just as interested in how you got your results as the results themselves. Thus I constantly ask what sources you used, what terms you searched with, etc. Please take this seriously and provide the requested information. It is important to your grade.

9. You should contact me by email whenever you are having any problems with the course (badke@twu.ca).

10. Don't delay getting into the course. You'll probably find it more of a challenge than you thought, though most students actually survive it well.

11. If all assignments are not completed by the final due date, you will need to download an "incomplete" form from https://actsseminaries.com/assets/main/forms/Incomplete-Grade-Contract.pdf. There is a fee. Note that ACTS and TWU have tightened up on incompletes, which are not available for such things as underestimation of amount of time needed to do the course, time pressures due to other responsibilities, etc.

Have fun with the course. Research is exciting. If you do not think so, it is only because you have not been properly introduced to its joys. I hope to be doing that for you.