Objectives:
- Use formal business report format, in APA Style.
- Use secondary business research techniques (primary research optional)
- Use effective report writing techniques as outlined in lecture and textbook
Assignment: The purpose of this assignment is
to practice gathering information from reliable sources, analyzing the
information, and presenting your findings in writing. You will identify a
problem/issue to examine and recommend a course of action to solve the
problem. (Most) any business topic (so long as you are persuading the
audience of something) is acceptable. You may choose a topic from the
provided list or create your own topic.
The topic must be reasonably defensible, meaning there is no clear
right/wrong course of action. For example, convincing me that pollution
is bad is not defensive (can someone argue that pollution is good?).
You can, however, try to convince me that the most pressing issue for
the government is to lower the corporate tax rate.
You must provide ACTION STEPS as a part of your argumentation – things that your company or boss could do to implement the changes you suggest.
Just to get you thinking:
- Convince me of the greatest economic issue facing the world today
- Analyze two stocks and recommend which one is the better investment
- Recommend a course of action for your business in response to the current economic climate
- Recommend for or against digital currency investment
- Convince me that “experience” requirements as a basis for hiring are outdated
- Recommend that your business provide child or eldercare services
Examples of inappropriate topics (as they are informative, not persuasive) are:
- Best practices of job interviews
- Reasons why traveling is cool
Topics that I won’t allow (because of plagiarism temptation, past experience):
- Why you should start saving for retirement now
- Moving to the four day work week
- Why we should allow working from home
Contents:
- Title page
- Table of contents
- Introduction to report (overview of topic and need statement of issue/topic)
- Main arguments (with supporting evidence)
a. If controversial, provide counter argument and refutation
- Conclusions (summarize findings)
- Recommendations for audience
- References (APA Style)
Length: At least three pages (not including the reference page).
References: Use APA source citation for the references page and in-text citations throughout the body.
Sources: Evidence to support
your position is required. A variety of secondary and primary sources
are permitted to prepare this report. A minimum of five separate sources must be used in this report.
Arguments: Use your textbook as a
guide for creating logical arguments. Avoid faulty logic and logical
fallacies. Additionally, avoid using emotional appeals (ex: “If you
accept my recommendations, somewhere a puppy in need gets adopted”).
Formatting: You must use formal manuscript formatting for this report (title page, table of contents, etc.).
- Proposal must be typed using 12-point type size, Times New Roman or Arial font.
- Proposal should be double-spaced with no excessive spacing between paragraphs.
- Use 1” margins all around
- Number all pages except for the title page.
Audience: Is your audience going to be
skeptical of your position? Make sure you adapt your report according to
the reaction you expect from your audience members. Be sure to address
any concerns or points of contention they may have.