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Class Prep
- Make sure you have your library bar code number (on the back of your ID card); your password is the first three letters of your last name (not case-sensitive).
- If you don't have your library bar code, email Lisa Janes (ljanes@upsem.edu) and she can help you.
- Download Zotero and install the app and the browser extension (they’re free) on your computer (https://www.zotero.org/). You can find a PowerPoint with step-by-step instruction on how to do this here: https://upsem.libguides.com/irc/zotero. If you need help installing it, contact Dora Rowe (drowe@upsem.edu).
- Download PowerNotes. You can download a PowerPoint with step-by-step instructions on how to do this here: https://upsem.libguides.com/irc/powernotes. If you need more help, contact Dora Rowe (drowe@upsem.edu).
- Read: All of your course syllabi for this semester. If you have a research assignment in one of your classes*, bring it with you to class – you can use that assignment as the basis for your research practice in this course, and get the research done for the assignment while getting feedback from me. If you don’t have a research assignment coming up, think of a topic that interests you enough to spend some time researching it in our class this semester. Imagine you need to write a 6- to 8-page paper (you won’t have to write an actual paper!). Brainstorm the central topic for a mind map, and at least two areas for further brainstorming that branch off from that central topic. (For example: If my central topic is “John Calvin,” two areas for further thought might be “his family background” and “his systematic theology.”) *You may have a research assignment if you’re taking a course in church history or theology, and possibly pastoral care. For the purposes of this research class, you should not plan to use an exegesis assignment for a biblical studies course, because you will learn the specific process of how to do exegesis from your professor.
