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RES 490 K - Research & Academic Writing: Syllabus and Assignments

This is the site for a one-credit course in the Worldview Studies (Korean) program at Associated Canadian Theological Schools.

RES 490 Course Syllabus


Associated Canadian Theological Schools
of Trinity Western University

RES 490 Introduction to Research

 

William Badke

Fall 2018

1 credit hour

Online at http://libguides.twu.ca/res490K

E-mail: badke@twu.ca

Phone: 604-888-7511, ext. 3906

Class Dates: September – November 2018

 

I. Course Description

RES 490 (Introduction to Research) is intended to provide international students with the skills needed to find books and articles in North American academic libraries as well as to introduce them to the basics of Western education and research paper writing. Students must complete the assignments in order to fulfil the requirements for the course.  The grade will be pass/fail but students must achieve 75% to pass.  Students must pass RES 490 in order to take RES 500K.  The grade for 490 (P or F) will go on student transcripts.  NOTE: The follow-up online course, RES 500K (Research Strategies), to be taken in Spring 2019, is located at https://libguides.twu.ca/RES502.

II. Objectives

By the end of this course, each student should:

  1. Be able to do basic research within an academic library.
  2. Be able to explain the Western approach to education.
  3. Show ability to plan a research paper in the Canadian setting

III. Course Textbooks

  The textbook for the course is:

William B. Badke. Research Strategies: Finding your Way through the Information Fog, 6th   edition.  Bloomington IN: iUniverse.com, 2017.  This textbook will also be used for RES 500K.  More information available at http://williambadke.com/textbook.htm.

Students must also read: “Writing Research Essays: A Guide for Students of All Nations” (Parts One and Two): http://williambadke.com/Research_Essays.htm.

IV. Course Assignments

Please complete the assignments found at http://williambadke.com/RES490KAssignmentSet.rtf  and send this portion of the syllabus to William Badke at badke@twu.ca as an e-mail attachment.  Be sure to save the document in Rich Text (.rtf).

Assignments Due Date: November 28, 2018

V. Grading Scale

This is a pass/fail course.  Students will have to achieve a score of 75% to pass.

VI. Course Outline

The live part of the course on library operations will be taught on September 6, 2018, 2:00-5:00 pm in the library orientation room, library top floor.

The rest of the course is online at https://libguides.twu.ca/res490K
 

 

Supplement: Important Academic Notes from ACTS

Web Support – Student Portal https://www1.twu.ca/services

All students at TWU have a TWUPass username and password. This is determined at the time of an online application or can be managed through the computing services help desk or the link on the student portal. Your student email account is also available through this student portal and is vital for communication about grades, account statements, lost passwords, sign-up instructions, etc. If you do not know your account or password, there is a link at the login area called “I forgot my password.”  When you click on that link, you will be walked through the process of retrieving your account information.

Campus Closure

In the event of deteriorating weather conditions or other emergency situations, every effort will be made to communicate information regarding the cancellation of classes to the following radio stations: CKNW (980 AM), CKWX (1130 AM), STAR FM (107.1 FM), PRAISE (106.5 FM) and KARI (550 AM). As well, an announcement will be placed on the University’s campus closure notification message box (604.513.2147) and on the front page of the University’s website (http://www.twu.ca – also see http://www.twu.ca/campus/campus-notification.html  for more details).

An initial announcement regarding the status of the campus and cancellation of classes will be made at 6:00 a.m. and will cover all classes that begin before 1:00 p.m. A second announcement pertaining to classes that begin between 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. will be made at 11:00 a.m. A third announcement pertaining to classes that begin after 5:00 p.m. will be made at 3:00 p.m.

Paper Formatting

Students need to adhere to Turabian Notes (Bibliography) format except in counselling courses, for which APA format is used, and in CanIL courses.

Students are strongly encouraged to use EndNote Basic/Web (to create an account or log in, go to: http://libguides.twu.ca/EndNote/) as their bibliographical manager and as a tool for formatting bibliographies. It is free. The link to EndNote from the library home page provides detailed instructions. Students will need to be aware that it is necessary to “clean up” most bibliographies generated by this program. Students are encouraged to view the documents on the following websites for format samples: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/turabian/turabian_citationguide.html. In EndNote Basic/Web the available formatting styles are those of Turabian 8th Footnote, and APA 6th edition. For Turabian, there are two formats – Footnote and Author-Date (a short format citation style). ACTS uses the Footnote format, not Author-Date.

Counselling students are expected to purchase the APA Publications Manual. More information may be found at the following website: http://www.apastyle.org/pubmanual.html.

For free online programs that will enable students to create properly formatted bibliography citations, go to http://www.eturabian.com/turabian/index.html or http://www.calvin.edu/library/knightcite/ (“Chicago” stands for “Turabian”).

CANIL students should consult with their own faculty on specific requirements.

Please check with your professor to find out which style he/she recommends you use!!

Course Evaluations

Course evaluations are important for improving teaching outcomes, faculty professional development, and the student learning context. Completion of course evaluations is, therefore, considered to be a course expectation. Professors will schedule time for students to fill out online course evaluations (20-30 minutes) on their personal laptops or a collegium computer during the last scheduled class of the semester. Students who are absent that day or who are otherwise unable to complete the online course evaluation during the last class will be expected to make every effort to do so by the last day of exams. Information about how to access online evaluation forms will be provided to the faculty and students prior to the last week of classes by the ACTS Administration.

Research Ethics

Please note that all research projects involving human participants undertaken by members of the TWU university community (including projects done by ACTS students to satisfy course or degree requirements) MUST be approved by the Trinity Western University Research Ethics Board. Information and forms may be found at http://www.twu.ca/research/research/research-ethics/default.html. Those needing additional clarification may contact the ACTS Academic Dean’s office. Please allow at least three (3) weeks from the date of submission for a review of the application.

Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism at ACTS

As Christian scholars pursuing higher education, academic integrity is a core value of the entire TWU community. Students are invited into this scholarly culture and required to abide by the principles of sound academic scholarship at TWU. This includes, but is not limited to, avoiding all forms of plagiarism and cheating in scholarly work. TWU has a strict policy on plagiarism (see academic calendar 2015-16, pp. 38-39).

Learning what constitutes plagiarism and avoiding it is the student's responsibility. Two resources describing plagiarism and how to avoid it have been prepared by ACTS Librarian William Badke and are freely available for viewing at the URLs below:

https://prezi.com/od62fxnkbmxh/plagiarism-how-to-get-it-out-of-your-life/ (Prezi presentation)
http://bit.ly/1p00KX3   (Google Slide presentation offering more comprehensive information)

Equity of Access

Students with disabilities who need assistance are encouraged to contact the Equity of Access Office upon admission to TWU to discuss their specific needs. All disabilities must be recently documented by an appropriately certified professional and such documentation should include a statement regarding the educational impact of the disability along with recommended accommodations. Within the first two weeks of the semester, students must meet with their professors to agree on accommodations appropriate to each class. Students should follow the steps detailed by the Equity of Access Office outlined on the TWU website at http://twu.ca/life/wellness/learningresources/disabilities-and-equity-of-access/steps-to-attaining-disability-services.html.

Policy Information and Student Concerns

Information on academic and community life policies and procedures that affect students can be found in the ACTS Academic Catalogue, which is available on the ACTS website (www.actsseminaries.com) under the Academics tab. Students who wish to communicate concerns or to lodge academic appeals are welcome to contact the appropriate faculty or staff member directly, or to fill out and submit the relevant Concerns & Grievances or Appeals form found on the Files & Forms page of the Current Students section of the ACTS Website.

 

Assignments

Click on the box below to get a document with the assignments on it.  This will load into your downloads file or the bottom of the screen.