BS 3916 Thinking about Management – Assignment 1 (critique) (session 2005-2006)
Some guidelines and suggestions (not an exhaustive checklist!)
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Assignment Title |
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‘Take any recent journal article from the Business and Management field (preferably in the last two years) and write a critique of it as though you were writing for a professional journal or acting as a book reviewer.
In your critique, you should : (a)
evaluate the clarity of
exposition of the theme, the development of
(b)
argue what you consider to be the principal strengths and
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2. |
Preparation |
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· Read the paper Using Academic Journals by Dr. Loykie Lominé · First locate the Journals in the Library (current and stored in stacks) · Choose a journal or two · Select an article (or two) · Take two photocopies (one for day-glo, one to submit with the assignment)
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3. |
Evaluate the clarity of exposition |
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· Are the ideas set out clearly? · Is the language, terminology and style appropriate for the audience (fellow academics)? · Is the argument easy to follow? |
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(evaluate the) development of the argument |
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· Is the article well-constructed (flowing on naturally/logically from one point to the next?) · Does it build upon or extend the existing literature? · Do the conclusions follow from the body of the article? |
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(evaluate the) evidence base for the argument |
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· Is the argument theoretical (key word ‘model building’) · Are the results of a survey mentioned (Quantitative? Qualitative?) · Is the survey work well conducted ? (adequate sampling, good statistical analysis, well-drawn tables) |
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(evaluate the) type of argument deployed |
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· Is primarily theoretical/conceptual? · Empirical (e.g. reporting results of a survey, using existing data) · Summarising and/or evaluative of other contributions? · Pointing out new directions? |
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ARGUE what you consider to be the principal strengths and weaknesses of the article |
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· Do not just be opinionated but produce evidence for your statements (e.g. sample size too small, response rate too low to draw these conclusions etc.) |
8. |
Put the article into its wider context (perhaps challenging but earns extra marks!) |
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· Does it build upon classics in the field (e.g. in the case of ‘Motivation’ does it extend our knowledge derived from Maslow, Herzberg, McGregor etc.) · How does it relate to other material in the field (read some of the other references) · Does it have application to current or emerging business problems? |
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Assess its contribution to our understanding of the area |
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· Is it a major new development or conceptualisation? · Does it provide empirical (survey ) evidence to illustrate a theory? · Does it codify or provide a coherent summary of the rest of the literature? · How does it advance the discipline or understanding of the business area? |
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Final steps |
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· Have you checked your assignment fits the assessment brief? · Is it the right word-length (c. 2000 words)? · Is it carefully proof-read (on paper) before final corrections? · Is it page numbered and properly line spaced (1.5)? · Have you properly referenced any citations to the literature (Harvard style) that you yourself have made? · Have you included the assignment brief? · Have you included the Declaration of Academic Integrity? · Have you included a clean copy of the article being critiqued? · Is your name, student number, module code etc. included? · Have you kept a copy of it (electronically, on disk and on paper)? · Are you completely happy with the presentation and professionalism of your document? · To the best of your knowledge, have you chosen an article that no-one else has chosen? |
11. |
What lessons have you learnt? |
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· Were Time Management skills well learnt? · What lessons have you learnt for next time you write an assignment? |
mch