Writing Case Study
Purpose of the writing assignment:
Your synthesis of the facts and ideas, with citations, where the facts and ideas came from.
Your research paper then becomes a “new work” that you create by consulting several sources to answer a research question, or to meet specific requirements or both
Apply and develop critical thinking skills.
- Analytic skills – decomposing issues into component pieces to illustrate their nature, functionality, relationships, cause and effect and other characteristics.
- Application of standards, principles, practices – evaluate the situation the standards, practices, research and your opinion.
- Discriminate – recognize the similarities/differences between factors, issues and situations as a basis for making inferences, drawing conclusions, categories or ranking.
Research paper requirements:
Write a paper of at least 2,000 words (excluding citations and graphics) based on the Harvard Business School case study BAE Automated Systems (A): Denver International Airport Baggage-Handling System
APA Style Guide will be presented in Class 3
o Title Page
o Abstract and Key Words
o Double Spaced
o Citations
Research paper case study introduction:
Provide a brief summary/overview of the situation. Fact set: Who, What, When and Where and current state. Brief is the operative word. No more than a paragraph. The focus of the paper is the analysis and your solution.
o You may choose to use the BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) technique. Conclusion is included as the first paragraph.
Research paper case study design view:
Provide a high-level design view of how the desired end state. Use graphics. Provide brief notations sufficient to clearly describe the system.
Example:
Research paper case study analysis:
Analyze the case.
- Decompose. Break the situation into its component pieces.
- What were the major categories of problems? Describe the major issues (3 to 5) in order of severity
- What were the outcomes or results of the problems? E.g. There were multiple changes in scope that caused delays, rework and added cost.
Research paper case study: propose solution:
Assume you are taking over as the project manager from this point in time.
a. Describe the project management principles and best practices you would implement?
b. Explain how you will implement them
Be specific. Saying “Status reporting needs to be improved” is vague. Saying you will “Create a daily burn down report that identifies the current schedule and delays” is a start at being specific
Identify the step and the benefit. e.g. Implementing XYZ will result in being able to ABC”
The steps you implement should clearly map to the problems you identified your analysis,.
c. Include a risk mitigation plan.
d. What are your assumptions? e.g. All subcontractors will report to the Project Manager.
e. Close with a summary. Explain why you think your plan will work. Why should the city ‘buy’ your plan?
Research paper case study: Writing Rubric for evaluation
- Clarity - Make it easy to read.
- The structure is essential to readability. A well-developed outline with descriptive section headings/sub-headings not only makes it easy to read but to also find information quickly.
- Format – make use of graphics, tables charts, bullet points, numbered lists, etc.
- Rule of thumb. Every page should have a graphic, table, call outbox.
- Citations – In the paper and at the end. You should have at least 8 citations/references backing up your assessment, plan, and conclusions.
- Use acronyms but provide a legend mark this first time used. e.g. Denver International Airport (DIA)
- You may optionally use a table of definitions and acronyms for terminology.
- You may optionally use bookmark links within your document to connect forward and backward references or to the table of definitions. Hint, hint.