Written Assignment Guidelines

The written assignment or the Course Paper is due at the end of Week 3; however, the instructor may extend the deadline to the last day of the course. The objectives are twofold: improve writing, and demonstrate research skills. Your paper must have a clearly defined objective. The research component requires that you specify a methodology to accomplish your objective. You must provide a section on “literature review” where you can quote other works on the same topic. Provide a “Reference” section at the end of your paper with at least 3 references including reference to a scholarly book or a scholarly journal. Below are some suggested topics:

• “An Analysis of the Total Profits Reported by the Big Three Auto Maker during the past Year”. Note: You should be able to obtain data on costs and Revenues of the Big Three (General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler). Analyze the data for a meaningful conclusion.
• “A Comparative Analysis of two Wholesale Super Markets: Costco and Sam’s Club”. Note: You can analyze the total revenues of these two retailers for selected years; or you can analyze the sale of a particular type of product sold by these retailers.
• “An Analysis of the Smart Phone Market” Note: There are data on the Internet about the total sales and profits of major brands of smart phone. Choose the brands and a time period and analyze accordingly.

Pick any of the above topic that most interests you and write an essay using the following guidelines.

• The paper length is at least 10 pages of text. The focus is on your ability to analyze a microeconomic topic. Graphs and tables will enhance the quality of your paper and may be part of the minimum page limit; however, references and footnotes must go to the end of the essay.
• The structure of the paper is Introduction and Objective, Literature Review, Analysis, and Conclusions.
• The introduction should be just 1-2 paragraphs long and must contain the objective of your paper. It should explain why the topic is relevant and what is the research question.
• The literature review section is a review of similar works done by other authors. Here, you must quote references and link those references in alphabetic order at the end of your paper.
• The economic analysis section is your answer to the research question you set out to investigate. You should be able to use key microeconomic terms (TR, MR, MC, TP etc) to analyze the data and all information you have in the argument.
• Use APA style consistent with economic analysis. Visit the following sites for more information on APA style:
• To find the scholarly books or articles that you need for your paper (at least one), go to the following full text databases in NU Library: Business Source Premier (EBSCO), Emerald Management Xtra, LexisNexis Academic, ProQuest Databases and ProQuest Dissertations and Thesis. These databases are in
• The conclusion should be useful to the reader and a policy maker dealing with such a topic. Be sure there is a strong connection between the introduction and the conclusion. You can also expand on the implications of your answer and predict something about the future.
• Use font Times New Roman, size 11-12 and double space.
• When ready, submit your assignment as a word document using the dropbox.
• Short papers are nice pieces of art. Your paper will be evaluated according to the following criteria (points are subject to grading scale used for the entire course).

  Written Assignment Grading StandardsPointsGrammar, Punctuation, and Spelling10%APA style for citations and no sign of plagiarism*10%Clarity of objective, introduction, conclusion and strong connection between introduction and conclusion30%Economic analysis using economic principles30%Empirical evidence that supports economic analysis10%Overall quality of conclusion10%  Total100%

• If any plagiarism is detected in your paper, grade will be automatically zero. However, it may escalate to a more severe penalization. Consult the NU Catalog for more details on this topic.
• Maintain the deadline is in submitting your paper. Knowledgeable and helpful professionals at the Writing Centers can help you with your paper. The email contact is [email protected], or you can ask for the closest Writing Center to you by calling 1-866-NU-ACCESS.

Library Electronic Resources:

The NU Library System (NULS) purchases access to several databases of full text articles from scholarly journals. Go to http://library.nu.edu/ and click on “Electronic Resources.”

Click on the “Week Three Assignment” link above to submit your assignment, as well to get more information regarding the due date and grading rubric.