This section describes the case paper and final paper assignments. All student work is courtesy of the author and used with permission.
Case Paper
Assignment (PDF)
Proposal (PDF), Sample Paper 1 (PDF), and Feedback (PDF)
Sample Paper 2 (PDF)
Guidelines for Final Paper
The paper should be between 2,500 and 4,000 words total (main text, not including references or appendices). We don’t require a uniform structure, but generally, the parts will be: An introduction that introduces your research question and context clearly but briefly (establishing their importance), a brief discussion of the course concept(s) you plan to apply to your case, a brief outline of the case context (though this can be done as part of the analysis, next), the analysis in which you apply a course concept or two in as much depth as possible to your case material, and a conclusion that recaps your main arguments and suggests any puzzles or unanswered questions you wish to highlight.
Use proper citations (name and date format is fine) in text, and include your works cited (Reference) list at the back. Keep appendices, if any, to a minimum: We don’t need extensive detail on the case to assess your thinking, but if you want to place some reference material in appendices to save your main text for analysis, that’s fine.
Be sure to spell check your work and to observe the word limits. Place the word count at the end of your main text, above the reference list (e.g., “Word count=3,750”).
