Month: January 2018

This is an email from my instructor regarding my topic negligent supervision.
Just remember what you are doing for this capstone. The problem you would be attempting to solve is how to prevent negligent supervision from leading to poor moral and a toxic work culture, right?
You would research (in the Cleary Library) three possible ways to solve that problem, choose the solution you think is the best one, and develop a plan for a business to implement it.
I just want to make sure you understand your paper is not a research paper about what happens in a company in which there is negligent supervision. It is a persuasive paper about how to solve the problem.
The topic assigned to me is negligent supervision. I am required to write a persuasive paper about how to solve the problem. Below are all my requirements.
The capstone assignment, as its name indicates, is a critical course component because it demonstrates your ability to analyze, synthesize and utilize critical thinking skills. In addition, successful completion of the capstone must demonstrate your mastery and application of the course learning outcomes. This mandatory assignment must receive a passing grade (60% or better) for you to pass the course.
Overview
A Primary Research project investigates a specific problem through primary research (surveys, focus groups, interviews, key informant surveys, other data sets where statistical analysis can occur) and secondary research (library, marketplace, public databases).  Based upon the analysis of this data your final report will validate or invalidate a specific problem statement.  You will present recommendations that direct the next steps to be taken as a result of the study. This is the broadest type of research project.  It can address any problem that is not related to marketing, feasibility, or improving a process.
Capstone Objectives
•    Analyze the role of research in problem-solving.
•    Explore a  problem and make recommendations for solving it.
•    Integrate primary and secondary retrieved data, information, and original recommendations in a formal written report.
•    Apply critical thinking skills to evaluate sources of information and assess the credibility of sources.
•    Use NoodleTools to create correctly cited APA references.
Capstone Required Content and Format
When considering a primary research project, first look at either your own workplace or a local small business or non-profit organization that can benefit from a primary research project where issues are identified and solutions/recommendations are presented. Your capstone must clearly define a problem or weakness and you’ll need to document that with some preliminary, and adequate, background information that you will collect via primary or secondary research.
You will be identifying a problem and providing recommendations on how to correct the problem or improve the weakness. Your primary and secondary research must be complete enough to provide a detailed, critical analysis of the problem or weakness, and you must also have enough documentation to support the recommendation you present.
Every quality house is built on a solid foundation and your capstone is built upon the same logic. Your topic and identified problem/weakness must be clearly defined and narrow enough that you can adequately perform primary and secondary research throughout the course.
Type of report: You are writing a PERSUASIVE paper, not an informative one. What’s the difference? At the end of your presentation – written report and visual presentation – you want your audience to (ideally) agree with your recommendations outright, or at least accept your recommendations with some modifications.
Questions to Guide Your Research
•    What is the problem, issue, or weakness?
•    What kind of data supports your identification of the problem/issue/weakness?
•    What are some possible solutions or alternatives?
•    What is your analysis of these possible solutions/alternatives? Why will they work? What are the drawbacks or barriers? How will the solution/alternative benefit the company?
•    What is your recommendation (be clear and bold)?
•    What is the path forward? What are the next steps?
Suggested Organization Capstone Paper
BAC 3000 Capstone Outline
I.    Title Page
II.    Introduction
A.    Attention grabber – Hook me!
B.    Explanation of the problem you seek to address
C.    Example: “The following research is an investigation into the effect the Americans With Disabilities Act has had on small businesses. With primary research consisting of surveys of disabled individuals, and small business owners, it will demonstrate the importance of compliance with the laws and provide suggestions for financial incentives to assist small business owners.”
III.    Discussion of Primary Research -Frequently this helps prove the problem is a problem.
A.    What did you do?
B.    What did you find out?
IV.    Discussion of Secondary Research
V.    Exploration of Possible Solution – Use secondary research!!!!
A.    Analysis of solution -pros and cons
VI.    Exploration of a Second Possible Solution
A.    Analysis of solution – pros and cons
VII.    Exploration of a Third Possible Solution
1.    Analysis of solution – pros and cons
VIII.    Recommended Solution
A.    First what should happen
B.    What should happen next
C.    And next…
II.    How to Move Forward
A.    How can this happen? Who needs to get on board? How can it be implemented?
III.    Conclusion
A.    Restatement of the problem (thesis)
B.    Restatement of how to move forward
C.    Final statement is a BOOM!
IV.    References page
V.    Appendix
A.    Primary Research Questionnaire or Survey and results
Presentation PowerPoint
The PowerPoint or Prezi that accompanies your report should include the high-level information from each section of your written report. Keep in mind that the purpose of the presentation is to have a visual representation of the most important information. You are also required to include an audio introduction to your presentation.
Capstone Rubric
Students are encouraged to review the Capstone Rubric to clarify the expectations and grading criteria.  The BAC 3000 Capstone will use the following rubric(s):
•    BAC 3000 Capstone Rubric
•    BAC 3000 Capstone Presentation Rubric
Capstone Mechanics
•    Recommended 4-5 pages in length, including one title page and 1 reference page (Body is 2-3 pages).
•    Adhere to APA formatting standards, 12-font, double-spaced, and one-inch margins.
•    A minimum of three resources from the Cleary library.
•    Incorporate APA in-text citations and references.
•    Written in third person point of view.
•    Include your last name in the file name for your document.
•    Remember to submit your capstone draft to Turnitin (score must be 10% or less) before you submit it here for grading.
Capstone PowerPoint Presentation Mechanics
•    Minimum of 4-6 slides
•    Includes introductory slide that presents the name of your capstone, your name, and class info (similar to the title page of your paper) AND audio introduction.
•    Includes reference slide if needed
•    Proper use of grammar, punctuation, spelling
Last modified: Saturday, 30 December 2017, 8:35 PM
An annotation gives a list of sources on a selected topic and summarizes the contents of each source.  Writing an annotated bibliography may first seem to be busywork, but it helps students to keep track and evaluate their sources.
Write an annotated bibliography for a minimum of 4 resources for your capstone project.  Your bibliography should include the following information:
1.    Defines the scope of the source, lists the significant topics and tells what the source is about.
2.    Summarize the source.
3.    Weigh the strengths and weaknesses of the source to gauge its relevance and usefulness
4.    Write one or two sentences to summarize/describe the content and one or two sentences providing an evaluation.
Assessment Mechanics
•    Use proper APA formatting
•    Include your name and the date at the top of the page.
•    Include your last name in the file name of the assignment.
Primary Research Design
One requirement of this course is to conduct primary research related to your research question. For this week’s capstone milestone you are required to plan your research design for either a questionnaire or an interview you will conduct. Begin by asking yourself these questions:
•    What am I trying to find out?
•    How am I planning on finding it out?
•    Who am I going to talk/observe/study?
•    How am I going to gain access to these individuals?
•    What do I expect to discover?
Select whether you will be conducting an interview or questionnaire and submit the requested material. Remember, you do not need to conduct the research yet, but you do need to demonstrate that you know the best way to obtain the information needed. You will determine your sample in the coming week and will need to administer the questionnaire and analyze the results for your capstone.
1. Interview
a. Interview guide: a brief statement of who you plan to interview, your goals for the interview, and how those goals relate to your research questions. If you conduct an interview, you must interview at least two people.
b. Interview questions:  provide a list of the 15 questions you plan to ask in your interview and explain how each relates to your research goals.
2. Questionnaire
a. Research population: describe who they are and how many there are.
b. Sampling strategy: will you distribute the survey to your entire research population? If not, how will you determine who is in your sample (i.e., who is invited to complete the survey)?
c. Questionnaire of at least 25 questions (you must actually design the questionnaire).
d. A description of how each question relates to your research goals.
The purpose of this assignment is to help you evaluate an aspect of your research problem and demonstrate your clear understanding of surveying and/or interviewing techniques and analysis. Please keep the following questions in mind while writing your questions:
•    What are the goals of this research design?
•    What should be asked?
•    How should each question be asked?
•    In what sequence should the questions be arranged?
•    What questionnaire layout will best search the research objectives?
•    How should the questionnaire be pretested? Does the questionnaire need to be revised?
Assignment Mechanics
•    There is no identified format for this assignment; your format will differ depending on a number of variables. It’s your option whether to use a pencil/paper survey or an online survey.
•    Include your name and the date at the top of the page.
•    Include your last name in the file name of the assignment.
M4 – Assignment: Literature/Critical Review
The purpose of the assignment is two-fold: to give you the opportunity to review, summarize, and analyze a professional/scholarly research article, and to further develop your capstone report.
Overall, you will provide a critical literature review (maximum 2 pages) of a journal article. The article will be directly related to your own capstone research problem/question. This review will involve a summary of the journal article in 150 to 200 words. For this section, you are to summarize the reading by articulating the author’s main idea and key points as simply and briefly as possible, without sacrificing accuracy. Part of your challenge, of course, will be in deciding what not to include.
The second section will consist of your analysis of the article. You will write an analysis of the author’s central argument/point and explain how he/she backs it up with evidence. You should also highlight any controversial or interesting points made by the author. You will need to explain what the author is saying in your own words. Don’t just give me bullets of the author’s main points. This is an analysis of the article.
Some tips for summarizing the article:
•    In the opening paragraph, mention the title of the reading and the name of the author (or authors) and describe the author’s thesis and overall argumentative strategy. Then state your own thesis. Your thesis should sum up your evaluation of the author’s argument.
•    If the reading is aimed at a particular audience (not just readers in general), show how the author attempts to persuade this audience.
•    Use a neutral tone; be objective and fair. The goal of a summary is to report the author’s views as accurately as possible, without injecting your own opinions.
•    Show how the author presents the key arguments in support of his or her thesis. Comment, if you wish, on the way these arguments relate to the author’s main point.
•    Evaluate the evidence the author gives in support of his or her key lines of reasoning. If the author makes unproven assumptions or provides weak evidence, point out these flaws; if the author’s reasoning is largely sound, explain why you find it persuasive.
•    Write your analysis from the third-person point of view, and use the present tense: McGovern and Dole argue that . . . [not I thought that or You will see that or McGovern and Dole argued that].
•    Put most of the analysis in your own words, but include some quotations from the article to illustrate your points. Document these quotations using APA style.
•    Limit yourself to presenting the author’s key points.
•    In your conclusion, sum up your evaluation of the author’s argument; remember to edit your draft for wordiness.
•    Provide a reference page that includes the reading you analyzed.
Adapted from A Writer’s Reference, 6th ed., by Diana Hacker (Boston: Bedford/St.Martin’s, 2007).
Assignment Mechanics
•    Make sure you include your name, date, and assignment number on your assignment.
•    Your references should be in APA format. Consider using NoodleTools to format your references, it is also a great tool for compiling resources (room for annotations within the database).
Writing an Academic Title
A good academic title will control your writing. Submit a draft for your academic title for your capstone project.
Activity Rubric
•    10 points: Staying focused on topic, all questions successfully answered and presented.
•    9-7 points: Most questions answered and presented, mostly focused on topic.
•    6-4 points: Half questions answered fully.
•    3 or less: Less than half questions answered with minimal participation.
M5 – Assignment: Case Study Analysis
Throughout your coursework, you may be asked to write a case study analysis.  This type of analysis requires you to investigate a business problem, examine the solutions, and propose an effective solution using supporting evidence.
Read the Toyota Motors A Case Study in Conflicting Intercultural Communication (Hamilton, Kuwahara, Mezey and Sandlin, 2013) and write a case study analysis.
Use the Case Study Analysis Worksheet to help you plan your writing.  Your case study should contain the following sections:
•    Introduction – should include key problems and issues and a thesis statement summarizing your analysis outcome
•    Background – set the scene with background information, facts, and issues
•    Alternatives – outline possible alternatives
•    Proposed Solution – Provide a potential solution and support with solid evidence
•    Recommendations – Explain specific strategies for accomplishing proposed solution.
Assessment Mechanics
•    Adhere to APA formatting and citing standards.
•    1-2 pages, including one title page and 1 reference page.
•    A minimum of two sources using APA citing standards.
•    12-font, double-spaced, one-inch margins and include a title page, introduction, body, summary, and reference page.
•    Include your last name of the file name for your document and upload here.
Introduction
Submit a draft of your capstone’s introduction.  Your introduction should include some background, the problem, and the thesis.  You should include the following items:
a. Brief introduction to the topic
b. Purpose of the report
c. Identification of the problem/issue being investigation
d. Background of the problem
e. Explanation of why the problem is significant – why it needs to be addressed
f. Brief explanation of the specific problem identified, or research question being studied, and/or hypothesis being tested.
Milestone Mechanics
•    Adhere to APA formatting and citing standards.
•    The introduction section should be around 1 to 2 pages in length.
•    12-font, double-spaced, one-inch margins and include a title page and reference page.
•    Include your last name of the file name for your document and upload here.
Capstone Presentation Outline
Follow the Sample Capstone Presentation linked in the Course Introduction, and use your text reading for this week, to help you create your capstone presentation outline. Your outline can be in a Word document or in PowerPoint. Upload your document here AND, if you are taking a blended/lecture class, bring a copy for the instructor on the night of class.
Resources
•    Purdue Online Writing Lab:  Components of an Effective Outline
•    Purdue Online Writing Lab: Why and How to Create a Useful Outline
Assignment Mechanics
•    Include your name, and the date at the top of the page (or slide 1) and please include your last name in the file name of the assignment.
•    Upload your outline here, in a format of your choosing.
•    These milestones are intended to provide the opportunity for feedback throughout the course
Primary Data Plan
Upload a draft of your primary collection plan and results.  You should include the following:
a. Identify the audience for your data collection plan.
b. Explain the methodology used for collecting the data and the rationale for using it (survey, focus group, interviews, key informant survey).
c. Include the results of your primary research.
Milestone Mechanics
•    Adhere to APA formatting and citing standards.
•    The primary data collection section should be around 1 to 2 pages in length.
•    12-font, double-spaced, one-inch margins and include a title page and reference page.
•    Include your last name of the file name for your document and upload here.
Word Capstone in oval red ribbonBAC 3000 – Capstone Presentation
The capstone assignment, as its name indicates, is a critical course component because it demonstrates your ability to analyze, synthesize and utilize critical thinking skills. In addition, successful completion of the capstone must demonstrate your mastery and application of the course learning outcomes. This mandatory assignment must receive a passing grade (60% or better) for you to pass the course.
The PowerPoint or Prezi that accompanies your BAC 3000 Capstone report should include the high-level information from each section of your written report. Keep in mind that the purpose of the presentation is to have a visual representation of the most important.
Additional Resources
•10 PowerPoint tips for preparing a professional presentation
•What is a good PowerPoint design (Presentation Zen)
•Before you create your PowerPoint presentation – 3 rules
Capstone PowerPoint Presentation Mechanics
•Minimum of 4-6 slides
•Includes introductory slide that presents the name of your capstone, your name, and class info (similar to the title page of your paper)
•Includes reference slide if needed
•Proper use of grammar, punctuation, spelling
•Upload your presentation here
Capstone Rubric
•BAC 3000 Capstone Presentation Rubric