Disadvantages of Banning Devices during Meetings

Research Document 3: Write a final analytical report combining select research from the previous two documents along with a Recommendation section announcing your suggestion to your manager. Include information from your previous two reports; in other words, regardless of your recommendation, include information from different sides of the "to ban or not to ban" issue and different perspectives (managers, employees). Use at least five articles from library databases, including at least one you didn't use in the documents above. Two must be academic journal articles. Your report must be at least one and a half pages long followed by a Recommendation page and ending with your References page. Your manager will see this report since it's the final product that combines and analyzes all of your research to support your recommendation. Use source material and documentation only in the body of the report, not the Recommendation section. Important: All paragraphs must be fully informed by research, not by general ideas you may have about the topic.

Style: Write using most of the style principles you've studied all semester. Focus on conciseness, specific details, necessary content and positive emphasis. In each report, avoid using first person and second person pronouns, and also avoid imperative sentences, those that address/instruct readers directly. For example, you will not write To improve listening skills, you should... OR To improve listening skills, focus on... Instead, write in third person: Improving listening skills requires... OR People who want to improve their listening skills can... In the memo, you can use pronouns.

Source use: You must briefly quote and/or paraphrase all sources as well as include in-text documentation. Use multiple sources within paragraphs to show how ideas from different sources relate.

Submission Methods:

You will submit Research Document 1 to the DG 11 item on Moodle for a daily grade. The feedback will help you see which (if any) research writing skills you need to work on.

Submitting Research Document 2 is optional, but if you do submit it, you will upload it to the Research 2 item on Moodle and get detailed feedback.

Research Document 3 is required and combines elements of the first two reports. It's worth 25% of your grade in this course and must be uploaded to the Research Report item on Moodle. See the Course Calendar for deadlines.

Grading Rubric: Below is the grading rubric for all reports. Please use it as a checklist when planning and reviewing your documents.

5=excellent 4.5=very good 4=good 3.5=average 3=below average 2.5=failing

Report Appearance (10%)

___ All parts of each document are present and arranged as assigned/shown in template; effective and consistent use of formatting (headings, subheadings, white space, pagination, etc.) throughout; headings (if required) are parallel (grammatically similar) and forecast content of paragraphs beneath them

Report Content, Development, Organization and Sources (60%)

___ All required parts are present, written correctly, and clearly focused on the correct audience and situation; each part is detailed, distinct, focused, clear, accurate, logical and substantive; each paragraph contains specific, sufficient details, including clear evidence of research and analysis (20%)

___ Paragraphs are logically arranged; each one has a clear topic sentence and singular focus; paragraphs are thorough and fully developed; transitions are used effectively within paragraphs (25%)

___ Sources are used and documented correctly; each source listed in the References page is cited in the report text; quotations and paraphrases are relevant and placed effectively; References page is formatted correctly, number of sources is correct and source quality is stellar (15%)

General Business Communication Elements (30%)

___ Audience awareness, "you" attitude but no use of second-person pronouns, no writer focus, positive emphasis and appropriate formality and tone; clear, concise, easy-to-read writing; effective sentence style (various sentence beginnings, patterns and lengths) (20%)

___ Correct grammar, usage and mechanics (punctuation, spelling, possessives, etc.); effective, appropriate and correct word choice (10%)