You start by looking for a good question to explore. Have a look at essay questions you have had previously. Consider what would be a helpful practical application of your study in that area. Make sure that your question will give you an opportunity to demonstrate your critical awareness of contemporary scholarship. Crucially, look at the Learning Outcomes for that unit and make sure that each of those five LOs are met by at least one of your assessment items.

Some students used something like this for their first assignment:

• Outline the overall approach and key texts that will be used for the major assignment, with appropriate evaluation and analysis of those texts
• For 10 or 20%
• Due after week 3 or 4 is helpful.
• Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3

That approach allows you good feedback and progress towards the final essay.

This list of words can help you see what are appropriate assessment questions at Bachelor and Postgraduate level:

Bachelor (focus on analysis of information and application) Why (do we do, did it happen, should it be done, etc.)

• How (can we do, can we avoid, can we ensure, would this work on your context, etc.)
• Relate (system, principles, philosophy, to a context)
• Compare and contrast (different ways of operating, courses of action, systems, approaches, interpretations, range of views in general)

Postgraduate (focus on evaluation and synthesis)

• Which is better (of alternative views, approaches, systems, etc.) and why?
• Who contributed most (to a movement, a system, an outcome)?
• How could (a different outcome) have been achieved Construct (a case, argument, portfolio, creative series)?
• Develop (a philosophy for a context, a structure for practical use, a set of lessons, etc.).

Once you have finalised your IGS contract, you can enrol in your IGS unit using the unit enrolment form. You can find it under "Forms" in the Moodle menu. 

Firstly, you talk to your Student Engagement Manager to ensure this fits in with your course plan. Then you talk to the relevant staff member for those units. Edwina Blair coordinates the Research Essays and Projects, while Stephen Parker does the IGS and Capstone units. They will each give you information to get you started, including forms (for Research and IGS) to complete which will help to shape your work. Once you have read those materials and completed the appropriate form, a supervisor will be found for you to help you progress this further.

Email Edwina Blair

Email Stephen Parker

Students in the Master of Leadership need to do at least one research unit, and an IGS satisfies that requirement. However, the Master of Leadership also specifically requires:

Therefore the majority of your assessment needs to be applied to (1) issues of leadership and (2) a specific context of work, ministry or mission. The purpose of this is to help you apply your Master of Leadership studies into a useful, practical, context.

In some courses, such as the Masters of Arts, Leadership and Divinity, you have to do at least one “research” unit. Any of the above options can satisfy that requirement.

However, IGS units are more about studying an area of interest in greater depth, where your research is reading and writing assignments. You can design a set plan of reading and then write 1, 2 or 3 assignments based on your learning. It is like a self-designed coursework unit.

A Research Project or Essay is just one assignment/essay. It is usually investigating something that is more original, and this may involve a survey, experiment or hypothesis testing to help you discover that something original. A research project or essay requires a clear research question and appropriate methodology. The unit ‘Research Methodology’ is a pre-requisite for a Research Project or Essay. If you are considering higher study, such as the MTh or Doctoral work, then the Research Project or especially the Research Essay will prepare you better. An 18 credit point Research Project or Essay is usually a pre-requisite for entry into Higher Degrees by Research (HDR). The Research Essay is the highest form of research unit, with markers external to ACOM and the top standards expected.

The Capstone unit is designed to be the last or near-last unit in a course of study. Students read 1050/1200 pages of self-selected readings and complete two assignments. In the first, students seek to summarise and synthesise their academic learning to date. In the second, students examine how they will further implement what they have learnt, often with the creation of a ministry tool.

Unlike most units, we need the details planned in detail well before the start of a trimester. This means you and the supervisor need to have your IGS contract approved, with all details of assessment, reading and direction, locked in BEFORE you enrol in your unit.

Once those details are locked in you can start work, i.e. you begin reading and taking notes on those books you have committed to read. Next, you start work on your assessments. You will normally have an assignment due around week 3-4, or about a third of the way through the study period. This is to make sure that you are making healthy progress, and allow you to get some feedback from your supervisor. From here it is basically the same as any other units – 2-3 pieces of assessment and readings spread through the trimester.