BISM2201 Principles of Business Analytics

1.    Motivate the topic

2.    Summarise the literature

3.    Critically analyse the literature

4.    Develop guidelines for practice/policy

5.    Specify a question(s) of further interest

6.    Structure/sequence

7.    Language/mechanics/professionalism

8.    Research/referencing

A brief description of the criteria follows. Your ability to motivate the topic is just that – your ability to convince the reader that the topic is important and worth exploring. Use your own logic to help motivate the topic (perhaps drawn on past research and/or past papers where appropriate). I expect you to summarise the literature in an interesting way – not simply present one summary (of an article) after another.  That is acceptable and I encourage you to write summarise of each article  you read. But Iam challenging you to think of an interesting way to present the summarises. Can you develop and present an integrative view, can you synthesis the literature, identifying key discussion points and themes? Try to extend yourself.A brief description of the criteria follows. Your ability to motivate the topic is just that – your ability to convince the reader that the topic is important and worth exploring. Use your own logic to help motivate the topic (perhaps drawn on past research and/or past papers where appropriate). I expect you to summarise the literature in an interesting way – not simply present one summary (of an article) after another.  That is acceptable and I encourage you to write summarise of each article  you read. But Iam challenging you to think of an interesting way to present the summarises. Can you develop and present an integrative view, can you synthesis the literature, identifying key discussion points and themes? Try to extend yourself.

Further, I expect you to critically analyse the literature. I want to hear your voice and your opinions. A critical review can have positive and negative points of review. What do you like about the articles you have read? What do they contribute that is new, exciting, challenging for business, etc. What do you not like about the articles you have read?  Are there points of weakness you can identify?  If yes, what are they and how easily could they be overcome?

After reading and critically analysing the literature, I expect you to develop guidelines for practice and/or policy. Based on what you have read, what are the most important lessons that business should learn? Are there any lessons that business should “unlearn?” Further, you might start to see the benefits and/or costs associated with adopting the guidelines you are developing for practice and/or policy. What are the costs/benefits? (Develop implications for practice if your target audience is businesses, develop implications for policy if your target audience is public policymakers.)

You have probably noticed that the first five criteria map to the sections of the article review (e.g., in the background section you should motivate the topic, the review/synthesis section you should summarise the literature, etc.).  In the conclusion section of the article review you should specify a question(s) of further interest. This may be a question you wish to further explore in your case study.  Maybe you are notable to specify a question that would motivate the case study – but try.  In any case, I want you to – in the conclusion section – make the link between the article review and the case study that follows.  Specifying a question that warrants further thinking and research (a case study) can make the link for you.

As noted above, the final three criteria relate to your writing ability. Details of these criteria are offered below (per the briefing notes).

Sequence and structure – is your writing a logical sequence of ideas, organised into paragraphs that works to establish a clear line of argument for the reader?

Language/mechanics/professionalism – have you used the vocabulary and expression appropriate for formal academic/professional writing, have you edited your work for errors in spelling, grammar, or sentence construction?

Research/referencing – have you conducted a targeted review of the relevant business literature, in  order to achieve a synthesis of your own ideas and those of the literature, have you referenced your sources correctly both within your document and reference list?

Finally, the University uses criterion-referenced assessment. That implies that we will score the article reviews with reference to the criteria outlined in this document.  Further, we will attach meaningful descriptors to each of the criteria.  The following draft criteria sheet illustrate the use of these descriptors. Take this draft criteria sheet to be indictive of the criteria sheet to be used for assessing the article reviews.

Criteria Sheet