I am giving you some idea for Item#1 and Item#3 which you will need to formulate answers. You may need to expand both of these items so it is adequate.

DISCUSSION BOARDS GUIDELINES 1

• Post a minimum of three posts per Discussion topic. One INITIAL response/post and two 2 replies to your classmates. 3 • Posting on a minimum of 3 different days, for example: Wednesday, Friday, and Monday 4 • The first post must be made by Saturday, 11:59 p.m. EST (example) 5 6 (My comment: it is an example. It may be Friday or Saturday or Sunday. Say we submit our 7 INITIAL on Friday, then I will be able to reply to classmate’s INITIAL replies on Saturday and 8 Sunday. 9 So, my question is to you: How often do you check your email? How do I communicate to you 10 since these happens within 3-4 days) 11 12 Participating in Discussion Boards 13

You will communicate with your professor and classmates using the Discussion Board areas. 14 This is where you post your responses to Discussion topics and share your experiences in 15

completing exercises and applying the content of the course. Your postings should be 16

appropriate and timely contributions that add value to the Discussion. Your instructor will 17

provide you more detailed information about requirements and grading related to participation 18

in Discussions. 19

(My Comment: 20 Sometimes my professor may ask a question based on my INITIAL post which we have to 21 reply) 22

Tips for INITIAL post: 23

Discussion posts must occur in the week they are due. 24 You cannot reply to your classmate's INITIAL posts if you haven't submitted your INITIAL 25 post. 26 (My comment: They are saying that I have to submit my INITIAL post before I reply to my 27 classmate’s post) 28 29 3 references. 30 References are to be from primary sources, peer-reviewed, and evidence-based. 31 Do not use references >5 years old (strongly prefer <3 years), unless landmark study. 32 DOT (.)com sites are not accepted in this course. 33 Up-to-date, e-Medicine, Medscape, ePocrates, Web-MD, hospital-based publications (Mayo, 34 John's Hopkins, etc.), the encyclopedia and the dictionary are not to be used as references. I add 35 to this section every term as someone always surprises me with something! 36 37 250 Words – INITIAL Post 38 Initial post (250 words) content must be substantive, qualitative and answer the Discussion 39 board questions. 40 Do not add sentences/paragraph which has no relevancy to your discussion board questions. 41 (Does not re-ask the questions and reference list doesn't count for word count) 42

APA in discussion, of course no title page for discussion board questions and references come 43 at the end- necessary citations included etc. 44 Answer to my question 45 (My comment: I am going to send you a sample where he is asking a question) 46 The minimalist approach will not be tolerated and I will not accept a sub-par post/replies. 47 You will receive a zero without an option to resubmit. 48 49

Tips For Replies To Classmate’s INITIAL Post 50 51 Need two replies and answer to professor’s question 52 150 words for each reply. 53 (Does not re-ask the questions and reference list doesn't count for word count) 54 At least one reference for each reply 55 1 reference - peer reviewed. 56 No WebMD, Wiki or dictionary.com 57 APA must be correct 58 No plagiarism - we run everything through Turninit! 59 60

Discussion Guidelines 61 62

To ensure your success as a contributor to Discussions and as a student in this class, we suggest 63 the following guidelines for posting: 64

• Be clear about which message you are responding to. Refer to specific passages or ideas 65 in the course or text that have sparked your interest. 66

• Make sure your contribution adds something new to the Discussion. 67

 Unacceptable: "I agree." 68

 Unacceptable: "I think the author is off her rocker on this point. I can't stand it when 69 techies try to write about education." 70

 Think about how you can take the conversation to the next level. 71 • Make your posting clear and easy to follow by dividing longer messages into 72

paragraphs. 73 • Use correct spelling, capitalization, grammar, syntax, and punctuation. 74 • If you plan to post a lengthy response, it is a good idea to type your response in Word 75

or Notepad™, then copy and paste it into the Discussion area. This way you will always 76 have a record of your communication if for some reason you lose your connection to the 77 course. 78

• A rubric is a tool utilized by your instructor to determine your performance on 79

assessments (Assignments, Discussions, Seminars, etc.) throughout your course. 80

• The rubric lists the criteria for the assessment on which you will be graded. You should 81

follow the rubric so you understand exactly what is expected of you in each assignment. 82

• Following the rubric will help make sure you do not lose points unnecessarily on any 83

graded item. The rubrics for this course are contained in the Grading Rubrics sections of 84

the Course Resources 85

86

87

Not all discussion concepts to be in the book. The reading in itself it is learning and is 88 assigned as such. The discussion posts should have peer reviewed information from journals 89 and this does not have to reflect the course readings, but can. Expand the borders on the 90 learning beyond the texts and look up content. Share what you find. You will see this course 91 promotes student exploration into health promotion, evidence based, and epidemiological 92 studies and guidelines. 93 94

APA 6th edition is the expectation and I do check references. Do not plagiarize. I 95 also use a web-based plagiarism tool if I suspect work that is not original. If I have a 96 high suspicion, I will use Turn It In account, which is then part of the nat ional 97 plagiarism database of thousands of documents. For this course, I expect a similarity 98 level of 0%-10% or less. 99

You may be asked to submit your research journal/documents which you have 100 used for reference. 101

102