Unit 2 Semester Report Bibliography: External Factors of [Company Name]

Assignment 1: Company Research

Assignment 1 – Unit 2 Semester Report Bibliography. Using the name of the company you chose from the list.

Choose the “Databases” tab and select the letter “B” and select Business-Scholarly & Trade (formerly ABI/INFORM); enter your my.emich login and password to access the Database. Next enter your company’s name in the advanced search box and search. Many articles will appear; read through them searching for external factors that were important for the chosen company, whether negative or positive. If you have difficulty with your research, seek help from the online librarian as needed.

Identify 15 articles that are relevant external issues of interest to you for your Unit 2 bibliography assignment; at least 5 articles must be from the Wall Street Journal. Use the APA format for your bibliography. Review information (e.g., sample report/bibliography and APA format examples) before completing your bibliography for submission. If you still have questions, visit the Purdue OWL APA web site. Your product is a preliminary bibliography. Once your proposal (Unit 4) is approved, you may continue your research and change articles in the list to make your report the best it can be.

-Assignment 2– Unit 4 Semester Report Proposal. Review the proposal format discussed in Chapters 10/11. For this proposal memorandum, you will have 4 paragraphs. Paragraph 1 will explain the purpose of your proposal. Paragraph 2 will specify the 3 external factors you have chosen for your Semester Report and offer one or two sentences about what you found for each.Paragraph 3 will provide a bullet-point list of activities, along with completion dates for each activity you will do to meet the complete date for the Semester Report due in Unit 6. Your final paragraph will request my approval to proceed with your research. You may not continue your research without my approval. I will review your proposal and make changes or authorize you to proceed as proposed. You will UPLOAD both the Proposal and the corrected Bibliography from Unit 2 in a single WORD document at the web site.

-Assignment 3 – Unit 5 Oral Presentation. Choose one of the three factors identified in your proposal memorandum for your chosen company and complete your research for that factor. Prepare a 4-6 minute oral presentation, including no more than 4 PowerPoint slides (or 5 if you have a cover slide) on the topic, and deliver the presentation. Your presentation focus is to explain the highlights of information you found on the external factor chosen, the factor’s impact on your company and why you chose that factor over others you could have chosen. Have someone record you as you deliver the presentation or record it yourself. Review Chapter 12 for delivering appropriate formal presentations, including PowerPoint slides. 

Assignment 2: Semester Report Proposal

For the presentation, you may use no more than 4 notecards, which you will put at the bottom of each PowerPoint (not ON the PowerPoint). I urge you to practice until you can deliver the presentation without using any notes. Under no circumstances can you READ your notecards if you choose to use them. You must demonstrate proper eye contact, hand/head/body movement and energy levels that keep your audience (that’s your instructor) interested. Don’t be concerned about showing the PowerPoints in your presentation; I will have a copy from the class website when I view your presentation. Make your presentation while standing and wear business casual clothing.

You may transmit your recorded presentation by uploading it at the class website or post it at youtube.com. If you choose to post at YouTube, please provide the link at the class website so that I can view your presentation. If you have difficulty uploading at the canvas website because of the file size, you may forward the presentation to me at lcisenhour@ gmail.com attached to an email or contact the Canvas student help source for assistance.

-Assignment 4 – Unit 6 Semester Report. Review information from Chapters 10 and 11 regarding formal reports. Review the sample report available at the Unit 2 Readings, Instructions & Reminders tab. You may use this sample report format to fashion your own. You are required to include all sections shown in the sample report, except the synopsis, which is optional. The format shown in the sample report is exactly what you should use as you prepare your own materials, including 1” margins, Times New Roman 12 font and in-text citations in APA format, as well as appropriate primary and secondary headings. Your complete report should be no longer than 6 - 8 pages, excluding the coversheet, memorandum, table of contents and bibliography.

For the Semester Report, you will also include a visual relevant to one of your external factors, as well as in-text APA citations, giving credit to sources (which also appear in your reference list); you are required to have a minimum of 7 in-text citations (and, thus, 7 references in your Bibliography). Include only references used in the report for your bibliography. 

Citations enhance the reader’s confidence that your report is credible. I discourage the use of direct quotations in informational business reports. However, if you feel you must use a quotation, use the proper in-text APA citation format and limit the quotation to no more than 2 lines. Serious points can be lost if attention to detail is not apparent; you can fail if you omit in-text citations and references since the credibility of your report cannot be assessed. In business, if you cannot materially support your assertions, they will not be considered seriously.

Close an informational report by following the sample report, which includes an informal reminder to the reader that the report is ending at the beginning of the third factor discussion. If you choose to have a formal closing instead, you will simply reiterate the three factors discussed without drawing conclusions.