Literature Review is a research paper about your topic.  Most Action Research (AR) topics are very specific, you will most likely need to generalize your topics.  For example, if your AR project involves collecting business requirements for a new system, you may not find academic research about collecting business requirements for a new system.  You will be able to find research about business requirements and process change, 3-4 pages, minimum of eight (8) professional references

• Proposal – this is your plan – review the template, which should provide you with some common ideasregarding how to document your proposal
• Briefly summarize (a paragraph or two for) each of the proposed (AR) iteration (at least 4 iterations)
• Include a visual representation – (example provided in template) 

Template attached 

Research Paper and Works Cited Page Draft Instructions

This writing assignment involves writing the first draft of your Research Paper and Works Cited Page. Once you draft your essay and revise, you may submit it for feedback. The feedback will help you write the final draft; your final draft will be graded.

During Topics 10 and 11 of the course, you will need to revise and edit the final draft of your research paper. Your will learn more about the revision and editing process in Topic 10.

Note: You will not submit the final draft of your research paper until Topic 12. 

Additional helpful resources:

Research Paper Rubric  | Research Paper Sample

For this assignment, you will need to submit:

• The first draft of your research paper, complete with properly-formatted parenthetical citations from at least four credible sources within the text. 
• The Works Cited page, which should be located at the end of your essay. The Works Cited page should be clearly labeled and follow MLA formatting requirements. 

You will need a good, comprehensive thesis statement that states your
claim (what will you prove? Keep in mind that the purpose of this assignment is to support a claim, which means you must do more than merely inform the reader. You must take a stance on your topic and make/support claims that go beyond mere facts) and at least three supporting details (how will you prove your point?). You might use this as a guideline in crafting your thesis: (Reason 1), (reason 2), and (reason 3) prove that (
add your claim). Example: (1. Children who play violent video games exert more aggression than their counterparts who are not exposed to these games) because (2. children often imitate their experiences as a natural learning process) and (3. the violence they see in video games desensitizes them to violence in the real world); however, (
your claim: increasing the ages allowed to play certain violent games may prove to decrease childhood aggression).

The guidelines and requirements for this assignment are as follows:

Remember to apply the concepts you’re learning in the course, including elements of grammar, punctuation, thesis development, and other skills. 

Length: This assignment should be a minimum of 800 words. However, you should aim for a minimum of 1,250 words. All length guidelines are excluding the Works Cited page.

Header: Include a header in the upper left-hand corner of your writing assignment with the following information:

• Your first and last name
• Course Title (Composition I)
• Assignment name (Research Paper)
• Current Date

Format:

• At least four credible sources used and documented in MLA style
• Double-spacing throughout
• Standard font (Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri)
• Title, centered after heading
• 1” margins on all sides
• Save the file using one of the following extensions: .docx, .doc, .rtf, or .txt

Underline your thesis statement in the introductory paragraph.

Last modified: Tuesday, May 17, 2016, 1:24 PM

MBA 521 – FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

RESEARCH PAPER TOPIC GUIDELINES

Components:

This project consists of three major activities:

1.Conduct secondary research (i.e. library, internet, etc)

2.Write research paper computing the financial ratios yourself.

3.Make presentation to class.

Due Date and Time:

Papers and presentation are due at the beginning the final class meeting and are to be submitted via the Week 8 Drop Box.

The Project to be addressed by the Paper:

You have just graduated from MBA program and have secured a position as a fund manager for a well known investment banking house.  You have been given $300 million to manage/invest. The fund is a pension/retirement fund so its perspective is long term with moderate risk of loss of capital and a required return of 9% per annum. In order to reduce the investment risk you are instructed to make 12 investments of $25 million dollars each. Your first assignment is to determine if the fund you are managing should invest $25 million dollars in the stock of the company you have selected for your first analysis/investment decision. Do not select a bank or financial intermediary. Your decision to invest or not invest will be supported by the research paper and a 12 to15 minute presentation to the Executive Committee of the Fund (your hardnosed capitalist classmates)

Your analysis, based on the concepts covered in this course, will address each of the following:

1.Business Strategy Analysis:  Develop an understanding of the business and 

               competitive strategies of the company. Which of the three generic competitive 

               strategies does it utilize (low cost provider, differentiation, or focus)?  This

               should be covered in not more than three paragraphs.  Do not spend time 

               writing a history of the company.  This is an analysis, not a history lesson.

2.Accounting Analysis:  Do the accounting practices adopted by the company 

generally reflect an accurate picture of the economic performance of the 

company? Did your research find any public announcements of restatement of earnings or other financial statements that would indicate that the financial statements may be of dubious value?  This can be done by reviewing the company’s 8K filings with the SEC (a mandatory requirement for this paper).  These filings can generally be found on the company’s website under Investor Relations – SEC filings.

3.Financial Analysis:  Analyze financial ratios and cash flow measures of the 

company relative to its historical performance.  For purposes of this research paper  a 2 year look back is sufficient and required. You must use at least 10 of the ratios noted on page 112 of the text including all four of the profitability ratios.

4.Prospective Analysis:  Develop forecasted performance measures and list the   

assumptions associated with your forecast.  List your assumptions and reasons for your forecast.  You may also cite the works of other analysts who have published forecasted earnings for the time frame you are addressing.  (Hint:  take a look at Yahoo/finance – analysts opinion

5.Conclusion: Will you or will you not invest $25 million in this particular

Company?  Support your conclusion?  Remember a negative conclusion is just as valid and valuable as a positive conclusion.  

Conducting Library Research:

1.Participate in a research orientation offered by the graduate librarian.

2.Conduct a search for sources that offer accurate information on your company. A minimum of six legitimate and valid relevant resources are required.

Note:  An excellent place to start is in library LIRN database.  Enter LIRN, go to INFOTRAC, in INFOTRAC enter “Business and Company Resource with PROMT and Newsletters.  Enter the name of your company.  Under your company you will find items such as “Historical”, “Investment Reports”, “Financial” and other data. You can find Industry Analysis in Standard & Poor’s.  Individual company information may be found in Value Line and Morningstar.  

Additional information can generally be found on the company’s website under “Investor Relations”.  Here you will find SEC 10-K, 10Q, 8K’s and other filings.

You may also wish to visit the website of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for filings by your company.

3.Avoid general Internet key word searches.  Wikipedia and other unauthorized 

sources are inappropriate for graduate work.  Articles noting up to date information is such sources as The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s or Business Week may be useful in addressing the appropriateness of current strategies, resource pricing, etc.  given market conditions or the status of competitors.

Writing the Paper:

The following are general guidelines for format and organization.

1.Format:

a.Minimum of ten pages (including self prepared exhibits), with numbered 

pages.  No binders please.

b.Typed, double spaced.

c.New Times Roman (i.e. business) font, 12 point.

d.Margins