Business Writing Assignments That Build Students’ Information Skills

1. Business Writing Assignments That Build Students’ Information Skills Presenters: Mary Hayden, PhD Carolyn Johnson, MBA,MLS Arizona State University West

2. Electronic Business Databases • Access to more publications • Better indexing • Quicker access • Full text

3. Information Literacy • Recognize what kind of information is needed • Choose the most appropriate sources of information • Think critically about the information, no matter what the source • Build information skills

4. CONTEXT • Gateway to Global Business (GLB300) • 1st course in Professional Program • Acculturation and skills • university rigor • professional conduct • team processes • writing/research in culture of business (L1)

5. ASSUMPTIONS • Students have taken and passed: • ENG101-102 • Accounting Principles • Economics 101-102 • other business course(s)?? • Students therefore possess: • junior-level writing, thinking, research skills • basic understanding of the business enterprise

6. REALITIES • extremes in skill and maturity • variety of learning styles • ~ 30-50% lack basic writing skills • increasing numbers of ESL students • non- business majors • lack ability to recall apply concepts to new assignments • low tolerance for ambiguity

7. CREATING ASSIGNMENTS • Assignment development recursive process • Early assignments based on traditional model: • faculty work in isolation • library resource needs an after-thought • Evolved into collaborative effort of faculty, librarian, writing center • Input scheme: • faculty determine topic, content, basic structure • librarian determines resources, creates web site and hyperlinks • writing center recommends format, advises on skill levels • Based on curricular need and student response: • old assignments revised or retired • new assignments created and revised

8. ASSIGNMENTS • build on one another • increasingly more difficult • increasingly require higher levels of critical thinking and application skills • use Fortune 500 company/industry as common focal point

9. The Three Assignments • Company/Industry Information Sheet • International Business Study • S.W.O.T. Analysis

10. ASSIGNMENT #1 Company/Industry Information Sheet (Individual) • Select Fortune 500 company • Research factual information re: company & competitor • Perform simple analysis and comparison of financial performance • Gain knowledge and skill electronic database • Recognize appropriate use of company web sites • Present findings in “business culture” format • make use of computer “design” tools (headings, bolding, bullet points, tabs, tables) • Begin to use APA style • Emphasis on: • organizing and synthesizing • evaluating • analyzing • Work independently

11. Company / Industry Research • Introduce one group of databases • Change list of required items so that students need to use several sources • Compare companies so that students need to look up the information twice • Compare databases with company web site so students can see the difference

12. ASSIGNMENT #2 International Business Study(Team) • Through team process select: • company/industry (from Assignment #1) • products/services • targeted foreign country • Determine international involvement • Increase repertoire of databases; learn/use government reports • Research, describe and analyze: • social/cultural or political/legal, etc environments • product, consumers, marketing and competitors • Make recommendation • Present in memorandum style (incorporate design tools) • Show increased understanding and use of APA style • Emphasis on: • relative weight of data, analysis and recommendations • data abundant, but what is most relevant? • don’t “rehash” data, but support recommendation with analysis • Builds on Assignment #1

13. International Business Study • Government reports, periodical databases • Strategies and examples: • Selection of product/service and country • Group research

14. ASSIGNMENT #3 SWOT Analysis (Individual) • Research company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. • Identify describe company’s two most important S, W, O, T • Synthesize info, analyze how to: • maximize strengths • minimize weaknesses • leverage opportunities • mitigate threats • Make a recommendation • Present in fomat of choice • Exhibit facility in use of APA style • Emphasis on: • integrating info/ skills from previous assignments • building evidence to jusitify recommendation

15. S.W.O.T Analysis • New databases, review and repeat others • More analysis and synthesis • Strategies and examples

16. REMEDIES thru PROCESS • build-in redundancies • provide specific, detailed, written instructions • allow early perusal • review point-by-point • illustrate through class discussion • show examples

17. REMEDIES thru PROCESScont’d • supplement with relevant material • solicit feedback frequently • allow review of previous student work • specify grading criteria • work one-on-one with teams and individuals • build-in progress reviews

18. Remedies thru Process (cont’d) • illustrate through hands-on or demonstration • use library web page with hyperlinks • if no accommodations for hands-on, only demonstration—use overviews & examples • work from library web page created for class assignment • sample company/industry used for all reports

19. Conclusions • Start with one assignment • Think about information and research skills when creating new assignments • Keep revising each semester • Use rubrics to define expectations and simplify grading process • Refer to remedial resources