BA 374 Week 6 Discussion Planning and Secondary Research
BA 374 Week 6 Discussion Planning and Secondary Research
Applying your own thinking, experiences, and application and citation of information from at least three resources (your choice but need to be respected and reliable), respond to the following Discussion topic(s). Remember, the Discussions are a dialog (conversation) and an opportunity to build community. This is the only Discussion in Week 6. In this Planning and Secondary Research Discussion, post your main response on or before Day 4 (Thursday night). Post at least three additional responses (one-two paragraphs each) during Monday through Sunday, all on different days. It is a UIU requirement for Discussion participation to occur on at least four of the seven days in each Week. With the exception of Week 8, “Weeks” begin on Mondays and end on Sundays. It is assumed in this Business Communication class that all writing will have been thoroughly proofread, grammar and spell-checked and never represent the first draft. Writing is always a process, one which requires more than one draft prior to submitting a final, polished posting. Grading rubrics for the Planning and Secondary Research Discussion are included below the Directions.
The Planning and Secondary Research Discussion is a forum to share, and 1) to learn about planning (in this case, as related to analyzing a problem in report / proposal writing but generally applicable to many types of written documents, and 2) to learn about reasons and ways for conducting secondary research (in this case, as related to supporting problem resolution, but generally applicable to almost all academic writing and the vast majority of business problem-solving. Perhaps interestingly, we always (whether business or academic) first do secondary research before deciding if and what types of primary research are needed. See the second paragraph of page 403 of the textbook for a confirmation of this assertion.
Guffey and Loewy (2018) stated in Chapter 11, “As you analyze a report’s purpose and audience and prepare your research strategy, you will identify and assess the data you need to support your argument or explain your topic. As you do, you will answer questions about your objectives and audience” (p. 402).
Directions:
1. Think about, decide upon and describe a business-related problem you would like to resolve. If you wish, you may use this same problem-topic in your Week 6 “Write a Proposal” Assignment paper. Both this Week 6 Discussion and the Week 6 Write a Proposal Assignment requires identification of a problem. The first step is to know and to clearly articulate a “Problem Statement” and a “Problem Question”. Page 398 of our textbook discusses this first step. I will share with you (as a person who has been forced as an academic to conduct research, complete a dissertation, and write journal articles), this first step can be challenging. The problem needs to be narrowed down to the extent resolution is possible. If problems are too general, you end up discovering all kinds of details and getting to a result, a solution, a resolution can be overwhelming. Keep it simple. We do not need to be overwhelmed in our class. For the Week 6 Discussion, you will define the problem, give consideration to analyzing the problem and the purpose and choose and conduct some secondary research. The “Week 6 Write a Proposal” assignment includes identification of a problem and purpose, too and you can use information from this Week 6 Discussion in your Week 6 “Write a Proposal” Assignment paper.
Step one: Statement of the Problem
2. Describe in detail information about this problem, who cares about the problem, what people/roles are involved (see page 399 regarding “Anticipating the Audience and Issues”, why this problem needs to be resolved, what is the purpose of giving effort, time, and resources to address the problem. In this section, also identify the scope and limitations (pages 397 – 402 in the textbook explain these requirements. Sometimes this process is referred to as a “Work Plan” although we will add the considerations regarding Anticipating the Audience and Issues in Step 2.
Step two: Identification of the Purpose, Participants, Scope, Limitations
3. Describe what you need to know and how you can find out the answers. In this section, you can use a list or paragraph to identify all of the information needed. Once you know what you need to know, then you decide to do secondary research to see if someone else has already answered your questions. If the secondary research effort does not provide all of the information you need, then you do primary research (which we are not addressing in this Business Communication class). You should know the definition, the methods, and the reasons for primary research but we will not implement a primary research project (because we have no budget and depending on what type of primary research, specific approvals are necessary (e.g, IRB approval).
Step three: Describe the secondary research strategy including a description of potential sources and methods of collecting information (i.e., “data”).
4. Access two secondary research resources, see what you learned, decide if relevant to assist in resolving the identified problem and share your findings with the class.
Step four: test the secondary research waters.
5. Give yourself the gift of allocating an appropriate amount of time to think, research, and write. Follow the directions. Run spell and grammar check and proofread your crafted response (reading aloud is highly recommended because it slows down the review, indicates where pauses are appropriate, and suggests where editing is beneficial). Discussion settings allow you to edit an already posted response without any change in date or time.
5. As noted above, postings should be made on four of seven days during the week. A main response plus three additional conversational responses to other postings is a requirement. Main postings should be present on or before Day 4 (Thursday night).
6. Enjoy the learning journey. If you have questions or need clarification, send an email to gunzelmanr35@uiu.edu.
Reference
Guffey, M., & Loewy, D. (2018). Business communication: Process and product (9th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Week 6 Planning and Secondary Research Discussion Grading Rubrics (possible 45 points)
– The discussion topic was fully covered within the main response demonstrating critical thinking and application of knowledge, resources, and experience (defined and analyzed a problem and identified secondary research examples) = possible 25 points
– The response included referenced information (at least two resources; your choice but need to be respected and reliable), and used APA formatting for in-text citation(s) and reference(s) listed at end of response = possible 5 points.
– All responses used accurate composition (grammar, punctuation, spelling) = possible 5 points.
– Posted one main response on or before Thursday plus three additional conversational responses to other postings. Responses were posted in the discussion forum on at least four of the seven days during the week = possible 10 points.
ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS
Discussion Questions (DQ)
Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Also Read: BA 374 Week 5 Discussion Influence and Persuasive Messages
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation
Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality
Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes
I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy
For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy
The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication
Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.