Tutor: Amy Kay Robinson amy.k.robinson@adelaide.edu.au 

Each week, there will be:

1 x 1 hour physical lecture. 
1 x 2 hour tutorial each week.

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:

1. Approach a major research area by exploring its explicit and implicit aspects, and by developing secondary research questions;
2. Identify a series of keywords to form a basis for research, and develop broader and narrower search terms in case of insufficient findings;
3. Effectively use the University Library, with a focus on electronic databases, to find sources which inform an approach to the broad area of research;
4. Use Firefox as an alternative browser to Internet Explorer, as well as Zotero or an alternative bibliographic management tool for collecting reference information
5. Read and critically analyse a large number of sources for credibility, reliability and relevance to the research question;
6. Develop a thesis argument comprised of a claim linked to evidence, and organise this argument using a plan or outline;
7. Compose an effective introduction and conclusion for an essay, as well as body paragraphs that fully develop a main point using evidence;
8. Complete a major Research Essay from conception to communication with a systematic and structured strategy for the process of research;
9. Assess thier own work and that of other students, and provide appropriately constructive feedback on how to develop each stage of the research process.

Required Texts

It is highly recommended that student purchase 'They Say / I Say: The Moves that Matter in Academic Writing' by Gerald Gaff & Cathy Birkenstein (2006).

This text is an extremely useful guide for identifying arguments and introducing sources
as well as integrating your own perspective in a written piece. 

This text will likely be very useful for other course assessments and essays. 

You can purchase this text from websites such as https://www.bookdepository.com/ or www.abebooks.com

It is also available through Dymocks; however, can take up to several weeks for it to arrive. 

During this University Research course, we will focusing on the 'I Say' component of
this text to help you establish and build your own ideas, argument and
understanding. 

A key activity of this course requires systematic and collaborative research methods using online resources. In particular, students will be required to use article databases to find high-quality, scholarly journal articles on a broad area of research and then a more defined research question.

This course has a strong focus on researching scholarly sources using online databases through the University of Adelaide Library. This will be covered in class, but success in this area depends on persistence, determination, and sound strategy, so it is strongly recommended that you familiarise yourself with the resources that are available to you. The databases are available at http://libguides.adelaide.edu.au/databases/  

For this course you may wish to use databases that have been tagged on the “Education” page: http://libguides.adelaide.edu.au/content.php?pid=316606&sid=2590774

The Library provides excellent support for the use of databases in scholarly research. Begin with the online training that is available: http://libguides.adelaide.edu.au/home. In particular try the “What is a database and how do I use one?” video.

If you require more one-to-one support, the Library has an excellent help contact form: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/help/fbquery.html There is a Research Librarian for the School of Education who can provide direct assistance with developing your article database research skills. This is one of the best support services available at this University, so make use of it.

MyUni will be used for essential communication including via email, so please check your University email regularly (at least three times a week). If you have a smartphone it is strongly recommended that you set up your email on it for easy and regular access to your University email. For guidance on how to do this, visit:

https://www.adelaide.edu.au/its/networks/mobile/support/config/#mobile

Remember, the most useful portal for all University online activities is Unified:
https://auth.adelaide.edu.au/login?service=https%3A%2F%2Funified.adelaide.edu.au%2Fc%2Fportal%2Flogin 

Lecturers in this Program will be largely online, meaning that your can do your own preparation for tutorials without having to come in at the specified lecture timeslot. The system to be used will be Articulate Storyline: this is an interactive system for online tutorials whichinvolves watching videos on the lecture material and completing activities. It is very important that you undertake the online lecture before the tutorial,as it gives you a baselineof knowledge and essential preparation foer the class that week.

The teaching and learning in this course provides a scaffolded, enabling approach to the development of research capacities using innovative technologies and collaboration. Lectures will be replaced with online lectures which can be completed at the student's own pace, at home or on campus, using an online delivery method. It is essential that these online lectures are completed, and monitring will be undertaken to ensure that students completed them. Classes will consist of workshops of 2 hours long, which require completion of the online lecture beforehand for students to get the most out of the class. Although there are no group-work assignments per se, students will work collaboratively and engage in ongoing peer review of work.

1 x 1 hour online lecture per week (x12) = 12 hours

1 x 1 hour physical lecture per weeek (x12) = 12 hours

1 x 2 hour tutorial per week (x12) = 24 hours

1 x 4 hours of reading per week and participation in online discussions (x12) = 48 hours

6 hours per week primary research and research writing activities (x12) = 72 hours

Total: 168 hours

Week 1: Course introduction; What is research?
Week 2: Scholarly reading, research types and self-efficacy
Week 3: Database Strategies
Week 4: Types of Research
Week 5: What is an argument?
Week 6: Planning and Mindmapping

Mid-semester break

Week 7: Writing for research purposes. 
Week 8: Essay Planning
Week 9: Integrating your argument and sources review 
Week 10: Redrafting, Editing and proofreading

Week 11: Exam Preparation

Week 12: Closure of course

For clarification on which dates correspond to which weeks, please visit: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/dates/ 

To pass this course, students must attend at least 75% of tutorials; in cases of absence for medical or compassionate reasons, documentation must be provided and students must still attend at least 50% of classes. If students fail to attend the minimum required number of tutorials, they will be considered to have not completed an assignment (see below).

The University of Adelaide has committed to a pedagogical approach termed the “Small Group Discovery Experience”, indicating that the SHDE will be a core component in a credit-bearing course of every undergraduate program, and that it will be part of every first-year level from 2014. Since the UPP is not an award-based program, it is not strictly required to include an SGDE in the UPP.

However, since the UPP is designed to prepare students for first-year study, and the SGDE will be a core component of all first-year study, it is important for the UPP to provide some preparation in Small Group Discovery. These should be of a scaffolded, preparatory nature as befits each course within the program, and the philosophy and program objectives of the UPP. The Program has been designed to include preparation for small group work and research activity in many of its courses.

More specifically, this course aims to prepare students for their small-group discovery experience by providing a scffolded inquiry learning experience which leads students towards greater autonomy. Importantly, students are led to explore factors around success and failure in higher education by an academic with expertise in this area, and who has extensive experience teaching in higher education contexts, including the UPP. Students learn to define and develop their own area of research interest and to critically engage with scholarly literature to inform their self-defined research question.

Assessment Task	Task Type	Due	Length	Weighting	Learning Outcome
Critical Review	Formative	Friday Week 3 5pm 11:59pm	500 words	5%	1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9
Research Portfolio	Formative	Friday Week 5 11:59pm	4 - 5 pages	15%	1,2,3,4,5,9
Essay Plan	Formative	Friday Week 8 11:59pm	3-4 pages	10%	6
Draft Introduction and Paragraph	Formative	Monday Week 10 11:59pm	Approx. 400 words	10%	7
Major Research Essay	Summative	Friday Week 13 5pm	2000 words	40%	5, 6, 7, 8
Exam	Summative	Examination Period	2 hours	10%	6,7
Viva Presentation	Formative	Week 7	5-10 minutes	10%	1,2,3,4,5,9

Students must attempt all assessment tasks to pass this course. Since the University Preparatory Program is designed to prepare students for success at University, completing and submitting all assignments is central to the intended learning outcomes of the program and each course within it. Often, at least attempting and submitting assignments in the face of difficulty or adversity is enough for success at University and the UPP encourages this resilience by employing this policy in select courses. Please note that the absolute last date for the submission of assignments in Semester 1 is the end of Swot Vac week, which is one week after the final assignment is due.

If a student fails to submit all assessment tasks and would otherwise have received a grade greater than 45, they will be given a nominal grade of 45 (Fail) for that course in that semester. This will permit them to undertake additional assessment (formerly called academic supplementary
assessment) at the Course Coordinator’s discretion, as per policy at http://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/exams/supps.html


It is not necessary to apply for additional assessment; this assessment will usually consist of the missed pieces of assessment, but the course coordinator may require more. As per policy, if the student passes the additional assessment to the Course Coordinator’s satisfaction, the maximum grade they can get for the course is 50 (Pass). If a student’s raw grade is below 45, regardless of whether all tasks have been attempted, this score will stand unless exceptional, documented circumstances apply as per the University’s Modified Arrangements for Coursework Assessment: https://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/exams/mod_arrange.html


Substantial non-engagement in this course (evidenced by repeated non-attendance at tutorials and failure to submit assessments) may result in students being withdrawn from the University Preparatory Program and being required to apply for reinstatement if they wish to continue.

Assessment information available on Canvas. 

All assignments will be electronically submitted via MyUni, although the Research Portfolio may be submitted via hard copy in class.

Students may be granted extensions to assignments on medical or compassionate grounds; documentation to support these ground will be required. Requests for extension must be made before the due date; requests for extension submitted after the due date will not be considered. All extension requests must be submitted to the Course Coordinator (Chad Habel: chad.habel@adelaide.edu.au); any extensions granted by the lecturer or tutor will not be considered valid.

All extension requests will be administered according to the
Modified Arrangements for Coursework Assessment Policy: http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/3303/

For a concise information sheet on this policy, please visit
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/student/exams/pdfs/maca_medical_compassionate_info.pdf
 
Penalties for Late Submission

Unless the Course Profile states otherwise when an assessment is submitted after the due date, and without an extension, 5% of the total mark possible will be deducted for every 24 hours or part thereof that it is late, including each day on a weekend. For example, an essay that is submitted after the due date and time but within the first 24 hour period, and that has been graded at 63%, will have 5% deducted, for a final grade of 58%. An essay that is more than 24 hours late will lose 10%, etc. Hard copy submissions made after 5.00pm on a Friday will be assumed to have been submitted on the next business day and will be penalised 5% per day for every day including weekend days and public holidays.  This penalty may be increased where the assignment is to be completed in
a period of less than a week.

This course aims to return assessed work within 2 weeks of its submission, although this cannot be guaranteed. The resubmission of assignments is not possible for this course, except in exceptional circumstances as approved by the Course Coordinator.

Please note: any result posted on MyUni or via return assignments are only provisional, so it is important that you check Access Adelaide for your final results after marks have been posted.

This course (and the UPP itself) is still quite new, and so there is not a lot of long-term data on which to base evaluations. However, SELTs so far have shown broad agreement with most of the important points. Open-ended responses have been very useful and deserve some comment, as
follows:

• All students commented that they would recommend the course to other students, indicating a perception of value;

• Some comments indicated that the expectations regarding assignments could be made clearer earlier on; this has been responded to in the Course Profile for “University Research” with much more detail on assignments, and rubrics to be made available on MyUni;

• Some general comments and anecdotal feedback indicate that some people would prefer more groupwork, and more time in class to work on assignments due to conflicting priorities in life. There are several aspects of a response to this:
  • Time to actually work on assignments in class is unlikely to be expanded; this is because much of the workload for University courses in general is comprised of independent study time (the statement on workload is available in course profiles to clarify this). In regular University courses no class time at all is given to working on assignments and it is expected that this will all be done independently; therefore the UPP will reflect this.
  • Having said this, we acknowledge that it is important to allow time for discussion of assessment requirements and questions to be answered in a face-to-face setting. This will be established at the beginning of the course and time given to it several (2-3) weeks before each assignment is due.

• Groupwork certainly is important for learning, and although “University Research” has no groupwork component itself, lots of opportunities for collaborative learning will be built in. In particular, feedback has suggested the value of critical discussionof journal articles, and there will be multiple opportunities for peer review and feedback on major assignments.