A Guide to Writing Assignments

Home

Schedule

Syllabus

A Guide to Writing Assignments
by Drew Martin

Last updated: March 5, 2008

Do you want to do well on your final project in Promotion Strategy? The key is to follow the directions.

General Instructions

1.

The body of each homework assignment should have a maximum of 15 double-spaced pages of text. Charts and graphs should be put in appendices (not counted as part of the 15 pages). Appropriate citations and references are required.

2.

The paper should be stapled with a cover sheet that lists the author(s) of the report and information about its contents (e.g., company/product and country, or case name). Please include the class title and report's due date. Please do not put the paper in a folder.

3.

Assume that the target audience is senior management. These people know the product and company very well. Tell the readers something that they do not already know. Concentrate your efforts on the most important issues.

4.

Papers must be professionally written. The penalty for a sloppy paper will be severe. Assignments should be a spell-checked and written in formal English. Please use a size 11 or 12 font with a one-inch border. The written assignments for this course are expected to conform to the following standards.

a. Please write in formal English

Do not write in the first person (e.g., I or we).

Weak: "Below, we have outlined a number of proposals that you should consider."

Better: "Consider the proposals outlined below."

Never use contractions (e.g., won't )

Weak: "A push strategy won't be effective in this case."

Better: "A push strategy will not be effective in this case."

Do not leave the reader in suspense.

Weak: "This is not close to the amount of resources needed to accomplish the task."

Better: "This budget is inadequate for accomplishing the task."

Be as succinct as possible.

Weak: "The reason for this joint promotion would be to provide another resource to push the product further and to establish a relationship within the pet industry."

Better: "Joint promotion pushes the product further and establishes a relationship within the pet industry."

b. Be an ethical professional.

Remember, you are writing a professional business report. Apply what you have learned, do not copy materials from other sources and take credit for them. Impress the reader by demonstrating a competence of the theories that have been reviewed for this course.

c. Outside references/data are expected. Use the resources that our library provides. Please use the citation method that is found in the Journal of Marketing. A "Google" paper demonstrates minimal effort on your part.

Citations in text

According to the World Trade Organization (1999) world exports of commercial services totaled $1.3 trillion in 1998.

One major complaint is that foreign businesses do not take the trouble to find out what Japanese customers want (Inuzuka 1990).

A number of studies show that buyer dissatisfaction also affects purchase intention (Woodside, Wilson, and Milner 1992; Hansen, Powers, and Swan, 1997).

References

Book:

Single Author
Hall, Ivan P. (1998) Cartels of the Mind: Japan's Intellectual Closed Shop. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Two Authors

Schmitt, Bernd H. and Yigand Pan (1994), Marketing Aesthetics: The Strategic Management of Brands, Identity and Image. New York: The Free Press.

Chapter in a book

Brislin, Richard W. (1980). "Translation and content analysis of oral and written material, in Handbook of Cross-cultural Psychology: Methodology, Vol. 2, Triandis, H.C., Berry, J.W., eds. Allyn and Bacon: Boston, 389-444.

Journal or Magazine:

Clark, Terry, Daniel Rajaratnam, and Timothy Smith. (1996). Toward a theory of international services: Marketing intangibility in a world of nations. Journal of International Marketing, 4(2), 9-28.

Note, the "4" after the journal name is the volume and the "(2)" represents the issue number. Also, "9-28" list the page numbers.

Newspaper:

"Corporations take shine to legal action." (1999). Nikkei Weekly, (October 25), 5.

Note, the "5" at the end is the page number.
In this case, there is not author listed. The text citation would look like the following.

In Japan, both businesses and private individuals have a history of solving disputes outside of the legal system. In recent years, it appears that this trend is reversing for businesses (Corporations Take Shine 1999).

Internet:

World Trade Organization (WTO). (1999). "World exports of commercial services by category, 1999," (accessed January 26, 2004), [available at http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/j_e.htm].

d. What is the main point?

Cover the most important areas, but remember that executives do not want to read too many pages. Managers and decision-makers are busy; they want the information presented as succinctly as possible. Statistics or simple charts/graphs greatly improve the power of persuasion in written reports. This supporting information should be included in appendices at the end of the paper.

Questions and Comments to: drmartin@hawaii.edu

This document was last modified March 5, 2008

A Guide to Writing Assignments by Drew Martin
Last updated: March 5, 2008

General Instructions
1.	The body of each homework assignment should have a maximum of 15 double-spaced pages of text. Charts and graphs should be put in appendices (not counted as part of the 15 pages). Appropriate citations and references are required.
2.	The paper should be stapled with a cover sheet that lists the author(s) of the report and information about its contents (e.g., company/product and country, or case name). Please include the class title and report's due date. Please do not put the paper in a folder.
3.	Assume that the target audience is senior management. These people know the product and company very well. Tell the readers something that they do not already know. Concentrate your efforts on the most important issues.
4.	Papers must be professionally written. The penalty for a sloppy paper will be severe. Assignments should be a spell-checked and written in formal English. Please use a size 11 or 12 font with a one-inch border. The written assignments for this course are expected to conform to the following standards.
	a. Please write in formal English
		Do not write in the first person (e.g., I or we).
			Weak: "Below, we have outlined a number of proposals that you should consider." Better: "Consider the proposals outlined below."
		Never use contractions (e.g., won't )
			Weak: "A push strategy won't be effective in this case." Better: "A push strategy will not be effective in this case."
		Do not leave the reader in suspense.
			Weak: "This is not close to the amount of resources needed to accomplish the task." Better: "This budget is inadequate for accomplishing the task."
		Be as succinct as possible.
			Weak: "The reason for this joint promotion would be to provide another resource to push the product further and to establish a relationship within the pet industry." Better: "Joint promotion pushes the product further and establishes a relationship within the pet industry."
	b. Be an ethical professional.
			Remember, you are writing a professional business report. Apply what you have learned, do not copy materials from other sources and take credit for them. Impress the reader by demonstrating a competence of the theories that have been reviewed for this course.
	c. Outside references/data are expected. Use the resources that our library provides. Please use the citation method that is found in the Journal of Marketing. A "Google" paper demonstrates minimal effort on your part.
		Citations in text
			According to the World Trade Organization (1999) world exports of commercial services totaled $1.3 trillion in 1998. One major complaint is that foreign businesses do not take the trouble to find out what Japanese customers want (Inuzuka 1990). A number of studies show that buyer dissatisfaction also affects purchase intention (Woodside, Wilson, and Milner 1992; Hansen, Powers, and Swan, 1997).
		References
			Book: Single Author Hall, Ivan P. (1998) Cartels of the Mind: Japan's Intellectual Closed Shop. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. Two Authors Schmitt, Bernd H. and Yigand Pan (1994), Marketing Aesthetics: The Strategic Management of Brands, Identity and Image. New York: The Free Press. Chapter in a book Brislin, Richard W. (1980). "Translation and content analysis of oral and written material, in Handbook of Cross-cultural Psychology: Methodology, Vol. 2, Triandis, H.C., Berry, J.W., eds. Allyn and Bacon: Boston, 389-444. Journal or Magazine: Clark, Terry, Daniel Rajaratnam, and Timothy Smith. (1996). Toward a theory of international services: Marketing intangibility in a world of nations. Journal of International Marketing, 4(2), 9-28. Note, the "4" after the journal name is the volume and the "(2)" represents the issue number. Also, "9-28" list the page numbers. Newspaper: "Corporations take shine to legal action." (1999). Nikkei Weekly, (October 25), 5. Note, the "5" at the end is the page number. In this case, there is not author listed. The text citation would look like the following. In Japan, both businesses and private individuals have a history of solving disputes outside of the legal system. In recent years, it appears that this trend is reversing for businesses (Corporations Take Shine 1999). Internet: World Trade Organization (WTO). (1999). "World exports of commercial services by category, 1999," (accessed January 26, 2004), [available at http://www.wto.org/english/res_e/statis_e/j_e.htm].
	d. What is the main point?
			Cover the most important areas, but remember that executives do not want to read too many pages. Managers and decision-makers are busy; they want the information presented as succinctly as possible. Statistics or simple charts/graphs greatly improve the power of persuasion in written reports. This supporting information should be included in appendices at the end of the paper.