Description
Liberty RLGN 490 Research and Scholarly Capstone Entire Class
Course Description
This course is designed to allow students in an undergraduate program within the John W. Rawlings School of Divinity to utilize culminated skills and insights acquired during their course of study. The importance of personal, and spiritual formation will be explored. Emphasis is placed upon research and writing skills within the context of biblical theology as well as in the production of presentations that will contribute to the ministry contexts of each student. This helps ensure that key ideas from undergraduate School of Divinity programs are mastered and that opportunities are presented for the student to put these concepts into practice.
For information regarding prerequisites for this course, please refer to the Academic Course Catalog.
Rationale
As the research and scholarly capstone course for the online Bachelor of Science in Religion degree, RLGN 490 maintains a dual emphasis—research and scholarship. The student will cultivate scholarly excellence while completing a major biblical and theological research project.
Please consult Liberty University for details on the requirements for this course.
Measurable Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Produce a biblical theology research paper and correlating presentations that will be suitable for ministry settings.
- Demonstrate how to accomplish biblical and theological research.
- Reflect upon and apply principles related to one’s view of God.
- Evaluate scholarly and popular writings related to Christian theology and cultural practice.
Course Assignment
Textbook readings and lecture presentations
Course Requirements Checklist
After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.
Discussions (2)
Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student will create a 300-350-word thread in response to the provided prompt for each discussion. Each thread must demonstrate course-related knowledge and critically interact with relevant sources. In addition, students are required to submit one reply of 100-200 words to the threads of their classmates. (MLOs: B, D)
Reflective Reading Assignments (3)
The student will engage the textbook, With Reimagining the Way You Relate to God, as a means of facilitating personal reflection and application of principles as they relate to one’s view of God. The student will provide a minimum one-paragraph (4-6 sentence) response to each assigned question. (MLO: C)
Research Paper Assignments (6)
Research Paper: Bibliography Assignment
The student will submit a complete bibliography consisting of at least 10 academic, research-related sources. Of these sources, 3 must be reference works. The remaining sources must be a combination of books, published articles, and journal articles that are directly related to the paper’s thesis. General Internet articles are not permitted. The bibliography must be in the current Turabian format. (MLOs: A, B, D)
Research Paper: Foundational Elements Assignment
The student will submit a simple proposal that will serve as a guide and provide a framework for the research process. The assignment will identify the research topic, provide an opening introduction to the paper, articulate a clear thesis statement, and share a tentative outline of points. (MLOs: A, B, D)
Research Paper Assignment
The Research Paper must be written and formatted as a finished product. The body of the paper must be 10-12 pages in length, include at least 10 acceptable sources, and be formatted according to current Turabian specifications. (MLOs: A, B, C, D)
Research Paper: Conversion Assignment
The student will take the content from the research paper and convert it over to a popular article format by synthesizing the content down to three pages, so only the most important points remain. (MLOs: A, B, C, D)
Research Paper: Corrections Assignment
The student will take all professor feedback from the Research Paper into consideration and submit a corrected revision that fully incorporates all recommended changes. (MLOs: A, B, C, D)
Research Paper: PowerPoint Presentation Assignment
Utilizing the PowerPoint platform, the student will create a presentation composed of 10-20 slides that could potentially be used as a visual during a presentation of the research. Slide design features should be utilized in order to create a polished, professional, and compelling presentation. (MLO: A, B, C, D)
