Guidelines for Term Project
(Due on April 23, 2008) FIN 630-02: Corporate Financial Policies Instructor: Ping Deng, Ph.D. The objective of the project is to write an article review on the topics of corporate finance. To do so, students are required to select 2-3 articles that are directly related to the topic. The objective of the project is to write an article review on the topics of corporate finance. To reach this goal, students are required to select 2-3 articles that are directly related to the field. Your final paper should be prepared consistent with the following guidelines. When submit the final paper, students must also submit the original articles; failure to do so will lead to at least 10% deduction from the project grade. In addition, each student is required to make an informal oral presentation of 3-5 minutes to highlight the essence of the project. Papers which do NOT conform to these guidelines may be returned to the students without grading. 1. Double-space, use Times New Roman, 12 point font, and one-inch margins throughout the entire manuscript, including endnotes, tables, figures, and references. The final paper must be 10-13 pages, all-inclusive. All pages, except for the title page, should include pagination. Page numbers should appear centered at the bottom of each page. 2. The first page of the final paper should include the title of the paper and your contact information. You may refer to one of the instructor’s submitted papers as an example. 3. The second page of the final paper should include the title of the paper, an abstract of approximately 150-175 words (which may be in 1.5 lines, approximately 13 lines), and four to six key words that accurately reflect the content of the paper. The text should begin on the third manuscript page. 4. Incorporate headings and sub-headings throughout the final paper to aid readability. First order headings should be all capital letters and bold. Second order headings should also be bold and use both upper and lower case letters. Headings should be descriptive and informative. You may also refer to one of the instructor’s submitted manuscripts for formatting your final paper. To write the article review, students must select the articles on the same topic. Each student will be assigned a specific topic in session 2. One article must be selected from Journal of Portfolio Management in the last ten years; the other one or two articles must be selected from other sources. If students choose articles from the academic journals such as Journal of Finance, Strategic Finance, Journal of Financial Management, Financial Review, FM: The Journal of the Financial Management Association, Journal of Applied Corporate Finance, Accounting & Finance, Journal of Economic Literature, Accounting Review, Financial Market Trends, and Financial Management (2000), one additional article (normally more than 10 pages) is enough. However, if select articles from such journals as Money, Fortune, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, and quality internet sources, students must choose two additional articles, which must have clear contents (at least 4 full pages long and normally cover articles) and cannot be newsclips. You can obtain the full articles via Maryville’s library’s online
databases and particularly via Business Source Premier (EBSCOHost). If the full articles are not available in the online databases, you can request them through the Interlibrary loan, which will take normally one-two weeks to get them. If a student has any other special request regarding the article choice, he or she must talk to the instructor in advance. Regarding the final paper, while you can certainly tailor it to best fit your particular situation, normally you must have the following parts: 1) Title Page – Put at the first page of the manuscript, including the title of the paper and your contact information. The second page of the manuscript should include the title of the manuscript, an abstract of 150 to 175 words, designed to provide a comprehensive overview of the final paper in a manner that draws the instructor’s attention; appearing on the second page, then followed by four to six key words that accurately reflect the content of the manuscript. Introduction – Normally two paragraphs; state the key reasons that you chose the articles and which topic they belong to; introduce the topic and overall information of your paper; try to attract the reader’s interests. Highlights of the Articles – Carefully and concisely summarize each of the articles; the highlights should be the most important issues discussed by the articles and they are most likely to constitute the basis for the upcoming analysis and argument. Analysis of the Articles – This is the most important and also most challenging part. In this part, normally, you must point out the similarities and differences of the articles when they deal with the same topic, indicate clearly how they are related to the corporate finance concepts, principles, and applications we have leant from the textbook and class lectures, and specify which page, which figure, or which exhibit (if available). More relevantly, you should focus on analyzing two or three critically important aspects you have found from the articles, and do NOT intend to cover everything. Here, the proverb is quite useful, “Do one thing and do it well”. Conclusion – Summarize the crucial elements of your paper, clearly state what you have learnt from the articles, apply to other relevant situations (if appropriate), and present your points of view by use of “argumentative statements”. References and Appendices (if applicable) – they should be on different pages, respectively.
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Finally, the paper will be graded mainly on the factors such as quality of the chosen articles, familiarity with the articles, integration of corporate finance concepts and principles with what you have learnt from the textbook and possibly with real life experiences/ examples/cases, logic of analysis, concise and clear writing styles, neat organization, and persuasive exposition (see the following grading criteria for details).
Standard Grading Criteria: Article Review
I. Executive Summary and Introduction Professional and concise writing style with the key points well addressed; ability to arouse the reader’s interest; evidences of the opening rational; with a focus statement (your position) at the end of first paragraph. II. Depth of Knowledge about the Articles Evidences of understanding the chosen articles; ability to identify key concepts involved, models used, and major arguments made; be well prepared with relevant facts and specific quotes/citations from the articles (either direct quotation or paraphrasing); adequate summary of the articles. III. Quality of Analysis Logical flow and coherence of the entire paper; good response to the observations/arguments of the articles; ability to tie-in other course materials and concepts (you must refer to the text appropriately); ability to integrate concepts; use specific content and theories as the basis of analysis; describe how you see the concepts applying to the situation – not just a statement of what the authors have said; analysis of various viewpoints; elements of creativeness and innovation. IV. Presentation (Oral) Quality of preparation; appropriate organization; group coordination; clear and convincing; effective use of time; professional and practical style; enthusiasm level; talking rather than reading; eye contact; ability to achieve class involvement; ability to answer questions; quality of visual aids (slides, etc.); elements of creativeness. V. Presentation (Written) Professionalism – both physical form as well as writing style; well organized; spelling and typos; paragraph and sentence structures; grammar and punctuation; appropriate format and use of subheadings; general neatness and overall coherence; identification of references; exhibits and appendices (if available). VI. Conclusion Summarize the most important findings in both concise and convincing ways; clear statement of why you arrived at your conclusion and your own view of the articles; consistence of your conclusion with your analysis. Total Achieved Points Total Possible Points 100
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