BUSN10141 Business Report (Memo)

Java Python BUSN10141

Business Report (Memo) Assignment

(15% of final grade)

ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW

For this assignment, you will be writing a Business “Memo” .

Memos are brief printed documents traditionally used for routine, day-to-day communication within organizations. Memos have a twofold purpose: they bring attention to problems, and they solve problems. They accomplish their goals by informing the reader about new information.

MEMO TOPIC

The topic for your Business Memo will be based on the Week 2 In-Class Assignment. If you have not completed this, please speak with your instructor immediately!

Use the following steps to guide you in the development of your

Memo.  These steps will be reviewed in detail in a “Workshop” class in Week 3:

1. Choose one of the companies that you wrote about in your Week 2 In- Class Assignment. This company will be referred to as your “chosen company” throughout the instructions below.

2. Choose a “competitor company” to your “chosen” company.  For this assignment, you will pretend you work for a company that is a COMPETITOR to your “chosen company” .  You will pretend you’ve been asked by your manager to write a competitive review Report/Memo about your “chosen company” .  So, you will be writing   from the perspective of the competitor company, discussing strengths and weaknesses of your “chosen company” .

Ultimately, you will be answering the following research question:

Should your “chosen company” be considered a threat by the competition in the industry? Why or why not? (NOTE: this research question IS your “ Business Report Topic” for your APA Assignment)

3. Make a list of the strengths and weaknesses of your “chosen

company” . While you will likely use some of your personal opinion content that you wrote for your Week 2 In-Class Assignment, try to think more broadly here and tie in specific business issues and themes. These business issues and themes should guide you and serve as prompts when collecting research for your Memo.

4. Complete your APA Assignment! (this is a separate assignment that

focuses on finding resources and using proper citation, but it serves as the starting point or foundation for this Business Report/Memo assignment.

5. Write a draft of your Business Memo (Competitive Review), USING the  resources you identified in your APA Assignment. Your Memo should be YOUR OWN WORDS.  I want to read about YOUR ideas and thoughts.

Use research merely to SUPPORT your opinions, ideas and thought. Use critical thinking to evaluate the research you find.

6. Your Memo MUST include data and facts to support your arguments,

and therefore you must source and cite good references, following the 7th edition of APA formatting.  You cannot simply complete this assignment based on your opinion.  In addition, the website of the “chosen company” can NOT be the only reference used.

MEMO FORMAT

Your report should follow a simple Business “Memo” format.  An example can be found at the Purdue Writing Lab website.  Click here for the link: website.

Your Memo should begin with the following 4 lines (NOTE: these lines are NOT included in the required page length for this assignment).

1. For the “TO:” line, you can create a fictitious boss name and title.

2. For the “FROM:” line, use your own name and create a fictitious title for yourself.

3. For the “DATE” line, use the date you start working in  BUSN10141 Business Report (Memo) Assignment this assignment.

4. For the “SUBJECT” line, use a succinct, but intriguing short phrase.

Your Memo will include a short Introduction paragraph.  Your Introduction paragraph does not need a Heading, but will serve as an overview to the  Memo.  As such, your Introduction paragraph should provide a short overview of the purpose of the memo, the findings and your conclusion.

Next, you will write the “ body” of your Memo.  Use headings to organize the  content in this section.  This section should be 2-4 pages in length, but this   is based on single-line spacing, normal margins and 12-pt font.  You can use pictures, charts, etc. to supplement your content, but they will not count toward the page requirements.

Your Memo will finish with a short Conclusion paragraph at the end.

Do NOT attempt to use extra spacing, larger font, narrow margins, etc. to try to meet the page length requirement for this assignment! That will negatively impact the format of your Memo, which will result in a lower grade.

SPECIFIC ASSIGNMENT REQUIREMENTS

Your Business Memo must meet the following requirements:

•   This assignment should be completed individually.

•    Each student is required to submit their OWN work.

•    Completed in MS Word with the following technical specifications: single

spaced (NO spaces in between lines!); ONE space in between paragraphs;

12 pt font; normal margins; accurate page numbering

•   Your report should follow the “Memo” format covered in class (see the Purdue Writing Lab websitefor details).

•   Your actual Memo should be 2-4 pages in length, but this assignment must also include the following:

o Title Page

o Reference Page

o Appendices (optional; as required)

•   You must use the 7th  edition of APA style. of referencing.

•   This assignment must be submitted to the Dropbox on the course

website.  It is the student’s responsibility to ensure the file submitted is in the correct format and that it can be opened by the Professor.  Files can be submitted in .doc, .docx, or .pdf format. Submissions with file submission errors will be subject to a 10% per day grade deduction.

PLAGIARISM REMINDER!!

Proper citation is mandatory and must follow the APA style of

referencing. Your assignment must include BOTH of the following:

a) Reference Page – written using APA formatting

b) In-Text Citations – written using APA formatting

Use of the work of others, when properly cited, is appropriate only when a few words/a sentence are stated, not when multiple sentences and/or paragraphs are cited continuously.  Using the words OR IDEAS of others is meant to augment/support your work, not replace it.

Non-compliance with proper citation methods represents academic dishonesty and results in a grade of zero.

ASSESSMENT

This is an individual assignment and is worth 15% of your final grade.  This should be considered as an equivalent to a “midterm exam” for this course.

Please refer to the Grading Rubric for this assignment on MyCanvas for details about how your Business Report/Memo will be evaluated