Research Project Introduction:
This project will require you to show initiative, to work effectively in a group, and to do research on a chosen topic. It will require you to write an individual research paper, and do a group presentation on the topic.
Technology and Information Systems are constantly changing. It is important that you learn how to investigate and understand current and emerging trends throughout your career. This project will aid you in learning how to identify and synthesize multiple perspectives on important topics. It will also help you to appreciate and utilize the contributions of team members that will augment your own personal efforts.
The research project will involve two phases as described below.
1. Identify a topic and write an individual research paper on that topic.
2. Work with a group to do a group presentation in which one or more of you will highlight important findings from your research.
Part 1 Individual Paper:
If your paper is late, you will receive a 25% deduction per day.
Plagiarism detection will be enabled, you must put other source content into your own words. You will get zero points on the paper if too much (an excessive amount of) content is copied word for word from another source.
Topics that students can research on include but are not limited to:
Big Business Topics
· IT Outsourcing
· IT Security
· Business Intelligence/DSS
· App development
· NoSQL
· Data Warehousing
· Salesforce
· Investigate an Information System known as a CRM or an ERP
· Virtualization
· Software project management
· Software product management
Small Entrepreneurial Business Topics
· Search Engine Optimization
· Link Building
· Affiliate Marketing
· Email Brokering
If you are interested in choosing a topic that is not on this list, the only requirement is that you find at least one other person to do the presentation with you on this topic.
Write this paper as if you were writing a structured report/letter to another person in this class who would be interested in this topic and would appreciate an overview of it. In considering what to write about, consider addressing many of the questions that an uninformed but curious person would have about this topic, such as:
What does the phrase that describes this topic mean?
How is work in this field conducted?
What are the major components of this topic?
Who are the major vendors involved (if any) and what are their product lines and how are they differentiated from other vendors?
How much money is involved with this field/topic?
What are the trade offs (pros and cons/risks) to consider within this topic?
If you wrote a tutorial on this topic, how would explain to another person how you do it?
Why did this field/topic come about? What preceded it?
Which individuals with which type of training are best situated to take advantage of the opportunities in this space?
Any other questions that you would ask about this topic as you dive into it. The traditional questions of who/what/where/when/why may also be useful in organizing a description of this topic.
The available points in each category will be awarded as follows:
A. Followed all instructions (100% of possible points) B. Followed Most instructions (40% of possible points) C. Missed or did not follow the instructions (0% of possible points)
Plagiarism:
It is considered stealing to copy words from others and not give them credit for those words. It is also considered dishonest to copy other sources word for word (extensively) rather than using your own words. Copying and pasting from the internet to write your paper is not an acceptable way to write a paper. For some students it is unclear what it means to re-write something in your own words. I will provide an example.
On wikipedia it states the following about learning management systems: “A Learning Management System (LMS) is a software application for the administration, documentation, tracking, reporting and delivery of e-learning education courses or training programs.”
You could read that, understand it, and put it into your own words as follows:
“Learning management systems are software that help facilitate e-learning. Some features of learning management systems are the ability to administer, document, track, report, and deliver e-learning content.”
Example of proper citation and referencing:
Citation in text:
ERP importance is further illustrated by the significant investment organizations have been making in these systems for over a decade (Somers, Nelson, and Karimi 2003) and the market for small and midsize business ERP systems continues to grow (D’Aquila, M. et al., 2009).
References section at end of paper:
References
Somers, T., Nelson, K, & Karimi, J. (2003). Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the End-User Computing Satisfaction Instrument: Replication within an ERP Domain. Decision Sciences34(3), 595-621
Example of improper citation and referencing:
ERP importance is further illustrated by the significant investment organizations have been making in these systems for over a decade (Somers) and the market for small and midsize business ERP systems continues to grow (http://www.amrresearch.com).
Somers, T., Nelson, K, & Karimi, J. (2003). Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the End-User Computing Satisfaction Instrument: Replication within an ERP Domain. Decision Sciences.
Somers, T., Nelson, K., (2004) A taxonomy of players and activities across the ERP project life cycle, Information & Management, Volume 41, Issue 3, 257-278.
o What’s wrong?
§ There are 2 Somers articles and it is impossible to determine which was cited in the text.
§ The main web page is cited (AMRResearch.com) and referenced but not the specific article on the Web site that was read. Also no date is provided when the Web site was accessed.
§ No
Many students do not include citations in their papers
at all, and this is not the correct way to do things. After you paraphrase or directly quote the work of someone else, end the sentence with a citation.