What You Really Need to Do to Complete the Course

The following needs to be accomplished to complete the course.

First, find the document titled overview. This is in the Syllabus Section, cleverly listed under "Overview". This will allow you figure out what day each component is due. For example, if the assignment says "Due Week 1, Day 3" this will tell you (in our hypothetical example) that date is February 8.

Second, participate in the Discussion Area each week (worth 50 points per week, or 350 per term). Do this by:

BY DAY 3 EACH WEEK

1) Provide two articles (with links) that are germane to the topic given. Use APA format as appropriate, throughout.

2) For each of the articles, provide a short (100 words or so) paragraph as to what your articles say, why you selected them, and what fundamental question they address regarding the issue posed in the Forum Question.

3) Explain why the articles you chosen are appropriate, that is, on what basis you think they represent authoritative and reliable sources, that is, how do they show that they represent an informed and intellectually trustworthy source. Peer-reviewed and scholarly articles need less explanation; those from other sources may need further discussion as to why this is a good source to use. This does not have to be a long explanation, but let us know why you think the articles can be relied upon.

4) Provide two questions that the articles raise in your mind, that is, something you that was unclear to you, a view of the problem you had not seen before that you would like to explore further, their conflict with other viewpoints, etc.

5) After having read your peer's offerings, discuss their posting in relationship to theirs. The primary way to do this would be to compare or contrast the views in your articles to theirs. You also might discuss how your articles may answer the questions they have raised in their answer to question four, above, or to discuss the veracity of the sources chosen by your peer. There should be three of these responses, on three different days, consisting of at least 250 words, each. Up to 20% of your score for the week may be taken for postings that are all in one day, etc.

(This process is for every week except Week 4, information for that week is below).

Third, take the Weekly Quiz (worth 35 points each week, or 245 points per term). The weekly quiz consists of ten (10) multiple choice question from that week's reading. You have two opportunities to take the test, that is, you are able to retake it once and attempt to correct where you might have erred. This may happen any time before Day 7 of each week (or the last day of Week 7, whenever that may be. Because of the fact that you get two attempts, I will not be resetting the tests for mid-test problems with connectivity.

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