The Thesis Advisor must be appointed before setting up the Advanced Readings course. Ideally, the Thesis Committee will also be in place. The Advanced Readings course provides the content needed for conduct of the thesis research, and will be the foundation for the first chapters of the thesis (literature review and methods). A more focused question will support focused reading.

Each advanced readings course is tailored to the specific learning needs of the student. Typically the course involves: 1) conducting readings in specific areas to serve as a foundation for the proposed research and 2) disseminating the information.

In this course students will be provided with a structure to facilitate individualized learning and thesis development. Students will work with their thesis advisors to prepare a course outline that describes the overall purpose of the course, desired learning objectives, a tentative reading list, learning activities, contact schedule, and course requirements. The course will involve directed readings and normally will be evaluated through such requirements as major papers, or extensive annotated bibliographies. Public presentation may also be required.

The process is as follows:

1. Create a course syllabus – The Advanced Readings course is normally taught by the Thesis Advisor. A generic syllabus is available from Hayley Bedford for use as a template. If the course differs substantially from the template then approval for the course syllabus must be obtained from the Graduate Health Studies Steering Committee.
   1. Identify learning needs and learning objectives for the course. – The student will work with the Thesis Advisor to identify learning needs, and desired learning objectives for the readings course. Learning needs are specific content areas that will be critical to conduct of your thesis research. Likely content areas include the thesis topic, research method, and theoretical framework for the research. For example: For this specific delivery of the course, the topics will include, but are not limited to: youth suicide; suicide among Aboriginal people; Inuit perspectives on suicide; and indigenous research methods. Use these learning needs to describe the course content and identify course objectives.
   2. Establish remaining parameters. Identify start and end dates for the course, develop a plan for ongoing contact, and establish the proportion of marks allocated to the dissemination strategy. Finally, specify how the course will be evaluated. Start and end dates are unique to each offering, and do not necessarily correspond to terms as specified in the Graduate Calendar.
   3. Provide a copy of the syllabus for your student file – The course instructor will provide a copy of the finalized syllabus to Hayley Bedford for storage in the student file. In this course students will be provided with a structure to facilitate individualized learning and thesis development. Students will work with their thesis advisors to prepare a course outline that describes the overall purpose of the course, desired learning objectives, a tentative reading list, learning activities, contact schedule, and course requirements. The course will involve directed readings and normally will be evaluated through such requirements as major papers, or extensive annotated bibliographies. Public presentation may also be required.
2. Establish and register for the course – The thesis advisor will complete the Special Course Offering Form form and submit the form to Hayley Bedford, Program Assistant to obtain the appropriate signatures. After this form is completed and sent to Financial & Registration Services, the student will be registered in the course. If needed, the MPN Coordinator will request a contract for workload for the course.