 Let's pray, and then we'll start. Let's just come at this day into God's mighty hands, come at ourselves into His hands. And we just pray and ask the Lord to give us inspiration to fill us with His Spirit once again. The Scripture declares the instruction is to be filled with the Spirit. And every day we have the opportunity to go before Him and ask Him to fill us with His Spirit. So let's do that this morning. Father, we come before you. Lord, we come before you with gratitude. We thank you for another new day that you've given us, Lord. We thank you for this day. And we thank you for everything that this day holds for us, all the things that you have prepared for us, Father God. And yes, Master, that we can discover all the things that you've prepared for us, the work that you've already prepared for us, Lord, that we should walk in it. And Master, we just ask, Father God, that you would fill us this morning with your Holy Spirit. Fill us again with your Spirit, Lord. Anoint us a fresh, Father God. Yes, Master, we pray that, Lord, even as you fill us, Lord, maybe be mindful of receiving, mindful of just holding on to all the things that you're revealing to us, Lord. Let's just believe the Lord to show us, believe the Lord to believe that the Lord will reveal new things, believe that the Lord will give new directions, believe that the Lord will give us that steps to take, et cetera. Let's believe that God will do that even right now, even today. And we can just believe the Lord, believe that the Lord will prepare our hearts, do what is necessary in us, in our spirit. Do what is necessary in our mind. Maybe there's a changed perspective and thinking that needs to come aligned with his thoughts. Let's just believe that the Lord will do that. Oh, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Father God. Thank you, Father God. Thank you for the unveiling. Thank you for opening our eyes, Lord. Thank you for Lord, the removing God. Thank you for refining. Thank you, Lord. We thank you. We bless your name, Lord. We bless your name. Yes, Lord, the things that you want to put in our hearts, Lord, the things that you want to be rooted in us, and Lord, the things that you want us to be deeply rooted in, Father God, I pray that you would show that you would lead this master, the things that you want to be removed out of us, Lord, uprooted out of us. Lord, may that happen as well, Father God. Thank you. Thank you, Lord. Thank you. We bless your name. We bless your name. We give you all the praise. We give you all the glory at this time. In Jesus' matchless name, we pray, amen, amen. OK. So this subject, this course, is something that there's not much of teaching involved here, but definitely we can discuss what you want to do with it. So this, as the name suggests, it's an independent research paper, which means each of you individually as students, each of you individually, will be doing a project, will be doing this assignment, and this will span for the next four months, Jan to April. And this assignment or project will be a research one, which means that you find out, you investigate about a particular topic. It could be about a particular topic. It could be something to do with a biblical topic, a biblical character even, or anything. The scope is very vast. What you want to do, a study on, what you want to do an investigation on. It can even be a social issue or a political issue or something like a religious issue that is happening, maybe in your immediate surroundings, in your neighborhood, maybe in your city, maybe in your town. So it could be something like that, or something that you notice that needs to change. Maybe it needs to change in society, maybe something that needs to change in the church. Maybe it can be something that is unique to the place that you are living in, which means that it may not be the same thing everywhere, but in your town or in your country or in your city, you notice that there is a challenge. There is a challenge. There is a problem. There's a difficulty, which needs a biblical solution, of course, which needs an answer, which needs to be addressed. So you could do a study on that, an investigation on that, and also come up with solutions, come up with suggestions, directions on how it, this is what the Bible says. This is what the Bible instructs about this particular challenge or this particular problem, and this is how it can be solved. So something on those lines. So it can be a biblical topic. It can be something on, let's say, you want to do something on faith or love. Now, topics like that, like maybe something doctrine, and now you need to be a little more careful because as per the guidelines of this course, what we are suggesting is that you do not take up something that you've already studied. Let's say the prophet egg or the apostolic. You've already done the course. You've done the course in the previous year. You've already finished it. So don't take a topic like that and also don't present material from the course material that you've already received from faith. Let's say you, right from the first semester, you already have the material and then you say, okay, this is how faith is developed. This is how faith happens. These are the hindrances of faith. These are the, now that's not a research, that's not a research or that your report should not be in that way, right? So it can be something, it has to be something unique. It has to be something different and it can be something original, right? Something that is very relevant to today's day and time, maybe as a Bible college student, you know, you experience something. So it can be anything, right? But we are going to be discussing that, right? So we are going to be, that's one of the things that you need to first come up with, right, a topic or what is your thesis? What is it going to be on? So we are going to, let's say, you know, you have two, three options and, you know, we can discuss it and then you can finalize on one thing and then start off, okay? So this is something that would be the first step and further, you know, whatever research, whatever material that you need to collect, whatever data that you need to collect, you know, about that particular topic, you know, you begin to start, you start to do that. Data collection, maybe it will involve maybe visiting a library, maybe going online, checking out various resources about that particular topic or issue. It could also mean talking to people, like interviewing people. Maybe, you know, you're doing something that is, let's say, you know, a citizen from Mysore and maybe he wants to do something about Mysore about how the missionaries came, how did Christianity spread in Mysore, something like that, right? How did what kind of outreaches happen? What kind of evangelistic efforts have happened? How did the church grow? What was the first church? Where was the first church planned? Who were the first, you know, pastors? Something like that. So he needs to like do a research, right? Go online, check, maybe talk to the pastors, maybe talk to the churches even, find out which is the earliest church, talk to the pastor, you know, how do they start, who came and all that? So it could also, one thing is data collection. It would also involve interviewing people, like talking to pastors, maybe sending them a questionnaire, I'm just saying pastors, but it could be, you know, anyone whom you choose, the target audience from whom you want the sample or you want the sample information, right? So you could, you know, it might involve data collection through interviews or maybe questionnaires, maybe for interviews or maybe, you know, even face-to-face interviews, whatever, right? You decide, you choose to do that. And then so once the data is collected, then you, you know, you analyze it and you come to certain conclusions, okay? And also certain recommendations, right? So we're going to be talking about all this, all these things in the future sessions, right? So I hope, you know, this is the broad scope of the subject. Okay, so it's something that you need to do. And my role here would be to maybe discuss, clarify, and also suggest certain things, but finally, you know, you make the decision, right? You make the choice, you decide, okay, this is what I'm going to do, this is how I'm going to do it, okay? So in terms of the course evaluation, what we're going to do is there is a report that needs to be submitted. In a few minutes, I'm just going to take you through the timeline of, you know, different phases and what are those dates for submissions? So at the end, there is a report that needs to be submitted and that is going to be evaluated for about 75%. So this is a full-fledged comprehensive report, you know, detailing the topic, the methods and the findings and analysis and the recommendations, et cetera, right? So that's, of course, we are not going in for a print kind of a thing, but a printed report, but it can be a soft copy. Now for the report, it has to be done in a certain format, okay? So which means that the line spacing, the font, and then this is how the headings should be, this is how the paragraphs should be. This is, if you're putting in, let's say, a picture in the report, then this is how it should be actually put, right? Or if you're going to put a table, this is how the table format should be, the table with rows and columns, this is how it should be. So all that, we are going to be following a set format called the MLA format, okay? It's a modern, I just get that, it's called the MLA format. It means Modern Language Association, you know, that's the full form, Modern Language Association format. So it lists certain things. This is how the line spacing should be, et cetera. So you just need to follow that. So we're going to follow that format, okay? So evaluation, it is based on the report, 75% of the marks come from that. Then the balanced 25% comes from your presentation, okay? So there we will have online presentations. So there are three base on which you will be presenting the report, okay? So in a concise manner, in 15 minutes, that you will present what you have about your work, okay? So that's at the right, right at the end of the semester, in the month of April, we will have three days on which you will present your findings, you will present your work done, the report, okay? So that's for 15 minutes. And then we will have about five minutes for question answers. If anybody has questions about, or doubts about the presentation that you've made, or other faculty, or it might be me, or maybe we could have an external faculty also, but it'll be mostly me. Asking questions about your work, and then doubts and clarifications. So five minutes for that. So it's about 20 minutes per person, okay? So for each person. So we have about, okay, eight people right now, but I think we have about, in this for independent research, we have nine students, okay? The one person is not there. Okay, so we will, yeah. So we will have for each person 20 minutes, and we will spread it across maybe three days, and we should be done in three days, okay? So that's the second part of the evaluation. So 25% from the presentation that you would, so it's online, so you will, so join your cameras, maybe you have a PowerPoint that you want to share on the screen, and you will do that, and make the presentation. And we will stick to time, right? And at the end of 15 minutes, I will just say the end of 15 minutes is done. So you have to time yourself and practice that presentation so that you can finish it in 15 minutes. So that's the other part of the evaluation, okay? Now, what I'll do is I'll just share the timeline, okay? So timeline, when I say timeline, I'm talking about, okay, what are the dates? Certain dates that are certain submissions, certain things that you need to be ready with. Yeah, so let me just share that. I've already put it on the stream in the class work section, but let me just share that with you here, right? Okay, you can see that now. Yeah, so, sorry, that's the objective of the course. You can read through it, right? To pursue an independent research, to explore an original thought, idea, topic, and cohesively present the findings in the form of a paper, and a verbal presentation. So of course, when I say paper, I'm talking about a report, it's not possible to print it out and share it. It is going to be online, a soft copy, right? Okay, then the topic, it can be a biblical topic, any topic, any issue, any new thought, concept, any idea, anything. But it should have a biblical perspective, right? So that's the connection. It should have a biblical perspective. You can talk about any social challenges, maybe about drug abuse, or maybe in New York City, that's a challenge among the teenagers, or that's a challenge among whoever working professionals, drug abuse, and stress, and so on. But it should be some topic which has potential for research and also analysis and recommendations. And we should always give a biblical base for it. The foundation is something that is biblical. It's a biblical perspective that you're suggesting, that you're recommending in the light of scripture. How does scripture talk about, is there anything in the word of God about this particular challenge or issue? And what is a biblical perspective? So I'm just talking specifically about, if there is a social issue or challenge and so on. Otherwise it can be, if it's going to be about a biblical topic, it can be something very, very, like even if you're talking about faith, maybe you've noticed how a certain group of people or maybe groups of people in different parts of the world, how do they apply their faith? Maybe that's something, how do they put the practice, this, the faith, the biblical faith in their daily lives? Maybe there's something unique, something different about that. And maybe you have some information on that or you can do a study on that and say, okay, in these people, these countries, and this is how they practically live out their faith or something like that. I'm just, top of my head, I'm just giving you these thoughts, but it can be anything, right? Okay, so that's about the topic. Okay, so here are, let's just go through the timeline or go through some of the things that we need to be aware of. So 25th January, okay, today is the 12th, right? So 25th of January, you, once you decide on the topic, you just need to give a one page summary, okay? One page summary of, in your word doc, minimum of three words, I mean, so 300 words, maximum of 500 words. Normally, one page is about 300 words. So one page summary of your research topic, okay? What is it that you're going to be doing a research on? Some information about that and also some details about how you're going to be carrying out that research, work, what kind of sources are you going to be studying, you know, all that, right? So it's going to be a one page summary. Very concise, okay? This is what my topic is. This is what I've noticed and this is what I would like to do. This is how I would like to go out finding out information or collecting information about this particular topic, right? So that you need to submit on or before Tuesday of the 25th. So what you can do is, you know, you can download this and keep it on your, you know, whatever device, laptop or phone, just download this word doc or note down these dates in your calendar, right? Maybe it's an online calendar or a physical calendar, just note down these days. So you are aware of it and you're working towards that, right? Because you have other subjects, other assignments, other things coming in and let it not get kind of, you know, missed out, okay? So that's the thing. Monday, so just one second. So this is, yeah. Okay, so 25th Jan, you, so you have about two weeks now. Yeah, to do this, maybe less than a week, less than two weeks, but you can do this. So it's just about deciding the topic and, you know, you present this. Okay, so what we will do, however, before that is in the next class, which is on the 19th, we will discuss about the topic. You know, if you have ideas, if you have, this is something about the kind of topic that you want to go ahead with, we will discuss it in the next class. So each one of you can just talk about it, share about the topic that you would like to do, that you'd like to do a research on and we can discuss that, okay? And you can also email me. You can email it to my official Bible college email ID and we can discuss over email as well. And the same goes for the e-learning students. You can either post it on the discussion or you can email me, my official email ID and we can discuss that, okay? Right, so the next submission is in the month of March. Okay, so this is, so you would have done some amount of work by then. So we'd like to see what kind of progress has been made. So first of March, okay? That's again another Tuesday, first of March. So the whole of Chan, whole of Feb, you are working on your research and so the first of March, you will, on or before first of March, you submit a draft of the progress, okay? What has happened? What is the data? What is the study that you've done? And again, you do a draft of the status of the work, okay? So you can just go through it and same goes for the online, sorry, the same goes for the e-learning students or the e-learning platform as well. You can mark, make a note of these dates, the first of March, you present your status of, the current status of your work, okay? Then the final draft, okay? So now you've done the work. This is the final presentation or the final report. Now that needs to be submitted on or before Monday, the 11th of April, okay? So you have another month to work on from the status of the draft and then you work on it and you finalize things and this is a 25-page or a 30-page report. So you finish that and you present that or you submit that on the 11th of April, okay? So for the online students, you could just upload in your classwork. So you could do that. For the e-learning students, you could do the same. You could upload on the discussions and so we can take a look at that. Okay, then we have a project presentation, right, we have the project presentation. Now, this is specifically for the online students, just a minute, please. Yeah, specifically for the online students, okay? So we have three dates, that is April 13th, the 20th of April and 27th of April, okay? So on these three dates, the presentation will take place. So you'll take 15 minutes, you'll present it. We will also decide the order in which who's presenting when, so that there's no confusion. But everyone comes prepared and you make your presentation. And so presentation, you are preparing your presentation for 15 minutes and followed by question answers. Okay, for the e-learning students, this is how it'll be. So you need to shoot a video of yourself, a presentation of yourself. You can either use your phone camera or if you have a digital camera, you can use that. Just make sure that there's no ambient noise or it's not noisy, so your voice is clear. And if you're using a phone, please keep it in the horizontal mode, right? So you're keeping your phone like this and you're shooting not like this, right? Horizontal mode. So you shoot a video and for about 15 minutes and there's some technical tips. We will, I will upload that also. So e-learning students also you can, you will go to your, the resource material page and you will a tab and you will have this, all these information uploaded there. So you shoot a 15 minute video, e-learning students and upload it on a Google Drive and then on the discussion page, you paste the link and give me access so that I can see the presentation and evaluate your presentation. Okay, so let me just stop this. Okay, so any doubts, any clarifications, any questions, please feel free to ask from what we have seen so far. Any doubts at all? Okay, you might have some doubts, questions as we progress in these sessions. Okay, there is another document that I just wanted to share. Let me just put it on the screen. Okay, so this is your format, like the model language association format for the file report. So this has, you can just go through this. This has paper section which is irrelevant so you don't have to worry about that. It has the heading format, format title, a whole lot of other details. How should the page numbers be, the margins, margin spacing, paragraphs, how do you put in a quotation? If you're giving a quotation from, let's say you're putting a scripture reference or a quotation from some person maybe like C.S. Lewis or someone, how do you actually put it there? How do you type it out there? What should be the spacing? All the information is there. What should be the font? What should be the font size, spacing, punctuation, abbreviation, right? And it also has a link so you can check that out. So I'll put the link and this word doc will be there. It's already uploaded for the online students, for the e-learning it will be uploaded along with the video that you will check. So yeah, so it has all this information. You need to go through that. You need to take some time to read that. Maybe this week you can do that. Okay, so yeah, paraphrasing, et cetera, okay. Okay, so this is just some basic information about the report. So you right now, you don't have to worry too much about it, right? You're right now, just focus on the topic that you need to work on. Okay, what is it that you want to work on? What is your heart really? What is it that you're passionate about? What is it that's on your mind? Or maybe there's nothing right now, but just pray about it. Think about it and then you come up with a good topic. A topic that has potential really. So you can work on it, research. Do some research on it, okay. So it's a very exciting course which kind of makes you think and even as you decide on the topic, even as you put in effort in investigating and you'd be so surprised that there is so much about this particular topic or this is something that you can do and maybe it can even become your life's calling. Maybe it can be something because it's something that's close to your heart. It's something that you want to really spend time on and effort on and it can even become your life's calling. It can take you on that direction. So the Lord can lead you in that way. So it's quite exciting, right? Like I remember, I think it was last semester, last time we did this, the last batch. There was some wonderful topics, somebody from South Africa about the pandemic, about the churches, how they dealt with it. What did they miss out on? Because the challenges were different over there compared to India. So how do they deal with the challenges of fellowship? How do they deal with all those things? So it was very interesting to see that to read through and check that out. And also somebody did a study on women in ministry in some of the rural areas in Karnataka. So it was, I think they picked one rural, I think it was a town or a village and then also compared it with some in the city, churches in the city. So they were doing a study like that. Like what were the challenges? Were still people accepting of women as pastors and leaders. So it was very interesting to find out, apart from the independent churches or the mainline churches, to see the different perspectives, how in certain places where women were still not regarded as pastors or some of the ministry areas were still shut, the doors were still shut. So it is quite interesting to find out. So this person actually, I think had interviews with people, interviewed people in ministry, interviewed pastors. So did that and then came up with some findings. So that was very interesting as well. So think about it, the scope is unlimited, the topics just take some time. It don't be in a rush to finalize the topic, take some time. So next class when we meet, we can have some more discussions and the same goes for e-learning students. If you're watching this video, take some time to think about it, take some time to see what is it. Don't be restricted by anything. You think creatively, think differently, think out of the box and say, okay, what is it that I can actually study and bring it up and maybe it can be a very interesting work, something that you can develop on, something that you can even publish. So yeah, so it depends the kind of effort, the kind of depth that you want to do. Of course, we have limited time, we have four months, but even after that, you can pursue, you can take this forward. So yeah, so I just wanted to put it out there. So do that. So any further questions? Any questions on, I know each of you coming from different backgrounds, different places, right? So, okay. Yeah, yeah, Dave. I'm not asking any questions, but can we see some samples from the business? Sample reports? Yeah. Those have been archived, Dave. So I don't have anything right now, all the previous, let me see if it is. But the thing is I don't want to also give a sample, then sometimes you get down into that. That's why I'm also not suggesting titles. I'm just giving very vague, different, yeah. Because what happens is like, suppose I give a title and then it's very specific areas, then you might want to just take that and do that, which is why I'm just giving the format for the report so you could follow that, but you can be creative and you can, yeah, you can just go all over that. That's the only thing. But let me see, as we go, I'll see if we can look at maybe one sample report. Yeah. So are there any kind of formats or we're free to do whatever we want? Sorry, sorry, just tell me. Are there any kind of formats to follow? Format to follow in the sense when it comes to the presentation, when it comes to the report. When it comes to the presentation report, like different kind of things to follow, like this goes in the front and this goes after that. Are we free to do whatever we want? How does it go on? Yeah, you can be, it's kind of flexible. You can, the thing, but this MLA format, once you go through the document, you will get an idea. So because the MLA format, that the Modern Language Association format, it's actually a format for a report. When you want to submit a report, this is the format. So which means that it, that gives you a structure. Okay, the title should be like this. The page number should be like this. The paragraph should be like this. So that gives you a structure for the report, right? So, yeah, so you can follow that structure. That needs to be followed. So that is something that we want to follow, that you use that format for your report. Okay, but in terms of content, in terms of the topics, then you're flexible, very flexible. Thank you. Right there, okay. Anyone else, any other questions? Okay, so I, okay, here are some things that, that you could have to maybe work on, you know, in this sense. See, maybe I know each of us could have different, each of us could be in different varying skill levels when it comes to presenting things, right? Maybe, you know, you're writing, you know, the way you're, sorry, I'm just little, so the way you present, you know, in writing, you know, written communication, right? So we might be good with verbal communication, but our written communication, you know, you could be in different skill levels, right? So that is something that you need to work on consciously. Okay, so for some of you, some of us, you might have to do it every day. So how do I, you know, how do I communicate it? How do I write this? Okay, I've, let's say you, you've seen something and you want to write about it. So that I'll just answer your question in a bit, okay? So, so, so let's say you want to write about a particular thing, you notice something, right? You watch something, you watch the, let's say you watch the program and you need to write about it. So you will have to, you know, whatever you're observing, you have to put it in writing, right? And it has to be in your own words. Now our skill levels could be very different. So you need to work on that, right? Because there's no copy paste. You can't copy paste from the internet. There can't be any plagiarism. So you need to work on your written communication skill in order to present it well, right? So that's something that you need to work on. So that's, that's something that, you know, I just wanted to tell you all your written communication, you know, maybe spelling, grammar, right? All that needs to be worked on. So while this report work, while there's submissions, you know, there is a lot of space in between, but there's, there are some things that you need to work on every day in order to be able to get to submit your report in a, in a good manner, right? So if your written communication is, you feel that it's a little weak, you know, maybe the spellings are not, not good. Maybe in the grammar, you know, the way you frame your sentences, maybe you, you find that challenge, then you need to work on that. Okay, you need to start working on that, okay? Okay, so the SIDS question is, is this, this MLA format, is that an app that we need to download? No, it's the MLA format, when I say format, it's the, it's a set of guidelines that your font should be like this, you know, in your Word doc, if you're typing in the report, your font should be like this, your paragraph should be like this, your margin should be, you know, the spacing. So that's the thing, that's the format. So it is this word Word doc. I've already uploaded the Word doc in your Classwork section. So you can, you know, it's, when you go to that course material, let me see if I can project that. Okay, so let's say, I think you can see this, right? In your course material section, this is the Classwork section, course material. So these guidelines are there, one has the timeline and this Word doc has a timeline and everything. And then the other one has the format, final report format. So it gives you information. So this is what it is. So it's not an app, it's just that, yeah, it just gives you the information. So this, yeah, current's question is, are these guidelines for Word document or is it for PPT? No, it is only for the report that you're submitting, the report that you're submitting. So it's only for the Word doc, right? And it's not for the PPT. So PPT can be, you know, you can use whatever, however you want it. But we can look at some best practices for PPT, you know, in terms of font, in terms of information, in terms of visuals, right? So for your PowerPoint presentation, we can look at that also, right? Okay. Okay, so we'll meet again next class and I can probably give you some exercises on spelling, some exercises on, you know, we can just go through that and maybe some online, you know, online, some resources online that you can use. Okay, straight away, one thing that comes to my mind is, let me just, I think, I don't know if I've shared this. There's a online help called Grammarly, Grammarly.com. I don't know if I shared it here, but, okay, let me just put the link. Okay, so this is Grammarly.com. So this is a free online writing tool. So you just need to download that, it's free, and you can use it for how you can log in and you can try it out, right? So it helps you to, you know, as you're typing out the document, if there are any grammatical errors, it helps you to correct that. Like the Word doc itself, the Word document itself, it gives you that underlying thing, you know, if there's a spelling mistake, there's a red squiggle which comes under that, or if there's a grammar error, there's a different color thing which comes under that. So you can actually check it out, and you can actually do a spell check in your simple Word doc itself. It has all these tools, but over and about that, you can use Grammarly.com, okay? So I put it on the chat, Grammarly.com, and you can check that out. So online e-learning platform students, that information also I will put it. Grammarly.com, you can check that out, you can use it. So get used to presenting things in English, get used to, I mean, sharpen your written communication skill and keep improving that, your spelling, et cetera. And yes, that is something that you need to work on side by side, okay? Okay, so I guess we'll stop here, and if there are any more questions, we will address it in the next class, okay? Okay, thank you, God bless. Work on the topic, work on the title, right? Okay, thank you best. Thank you sir. Right, see you, bye-bye.