research-report-1-literature-review

Description

This assignment will serve to

• develop your academic research and information literacy skills,
• expand your knowledge of the essential components of the writing process and the importance of proper planning when preparing written documents, and
• write and revise both formal and informal business reports using appropriate professional writing standards.

In this assignment, you will research a Canadian company faced with communicating a catastrophic event within the past five years, develop a thesis regarding how the communications were handled, and present your findings.

The assignment includes two separate parts, the first being a literature review, and the second being a research report. Your literature review submitted in Unit 7 forms the basis of your Final Report.

Description for Part 1: Literature Review

This assignment is the first component for the Individual Research Assignment. It will serve to

• provide students with practical application of YU Library research skills
• demonstrate effective academic search and information literacy skills, by demonstrating student’s ability to conduct academic research on an assigned topic;
• develop critical thinking and writing skills;
• practice the review and synthesis of academic literature and the development of a literature review; and
• further develop APA referencing skills as outlined in Unit 3 readings, and
• further develop student’s basic research skills.

The student will research a Canadian company faced with communicating a catastrophic event within the past five years. The student will develop a literature review to explain the communication strategies used by the organization.

Instructions

Use the YU online library to perform a literature review. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Read

1. Review Unit 7 Readings and Tasks
2. Read the article and web resources on how to perform a literature review.

Step 2: Research

1. Identify a Canadian Company faced with having to communicate a catastrophic event in the past 5 years. (Try googling Canadian companies catastrophic events)
2. Research the communications strategy that your selected company used to inform the public about the event.
3. Conduct additional research in the YU library to find academic articles that present theories that would explain the communication strategy used by the company you identified.
4. Review at least five academic or peer reviewed sources.

Step 3: Write the Literature Review:

1. Summarize the communication strategy used by the organization to communicate the catastrophic event (maximum of 150 words).
2. Summarize the generic communications strategies researched in #3 above.
3. Prepare and submit a literature review (750 words), which incorporates the summary of the communication strategy and information about generic communications strategies, to the assignment forum on the assignment due date.
4. Review the submission details.

Submission Details

Your overall submission should include:

1. Title page (include title, name, date, course code/title, instructor name)
2. The main body of the essay (introduction, body, and conclusion) should be a maximum of 3 pages (750 words, double spaced, 12-point font).
   • Introduction (explain what is comprised within document – should include a clear purpose/thesis statement)
   • Body (for each article reviewed, 3-4 relevant points related to topic, supported in one paragraph supported by at least one reference).
   • Conclusion (summarize the articles main points and how they relate to your proposed paper’s thesis statement or main arguments, confirms what was said in body)
3. References Page (full references for all work cited in body)

Helpful Hints

1. Papers written with double-spacing allow easier review and editing.
2. Use APA referencing guidelines for citation and references. Click to review “APA Style”.
3. Do not write in first person (I) but rather the third (they, he, she).
4. Do not use Wikipedia as a reference – it is not an academic source.
5. Ensure all references are academic sources. If an article is found in an academic journal in one of the library databases, then you can assume it has been peer reviewed and thus acceptable. Many articles found readily online may not have been exposed to any editorial vetting process, and thus should not be used as a resource.

Evaluation

Individual Research Report 1 Literature Review will be marked in its entirety out of 100. The following rubric indicates the criteria students are to adhere to, and their relative weights to the assignment overall.

ACTIVITY/COMPETENCIES DEMONSTRATED % of Final Grade
Content (50%)
a. Presented an effective introduction that states the purpose of the paper.	/30
b. Presented logical summary of research on the topic.	/10
c. Presented an effective conclusion.	/10
Research (35%)
a. Identified a minimum of 5 appropriate references to support argument.	/20
b. Consistently applied APA referencing style.	/10
Format and Spelling (25%)
a. Included all components of report (title page, introduction, body, conclusion, reference page)	/10
b. Spelling and grammar	/10
Total	/100