Reference no: EM132926104

Research Project: An Introduction

The Role of API and fraud management in payment gateway portals - Case Study of Checkout

You are to select any of the topics outlined in the syllabus or the book contents (or another one given prior approval from me) and use that topic to investigate a real-life case study from an existing company where you will show how the chosen company is using MIS and how it utilizes IT and how it benefited the overall organization. You can discuss how IS/IT affected the overall management of the organization (e.g. customer retention, better sales, competitive advantage, KPI...etc.) You will produce a paper describing the topic you selected, your specific research question, how you went about answering that question, and your conclusion/recommendation for the case. You are expected to use academic resource (book, journal article etc...).

Outline of Paper:
1- Introduction
2- Research objectives/questions(why and what)
3- Literature Review
4- Methodology
5- Analysis and discussion
6- Conclusion
The Writing Process:
1- Choose a topic.
2- Think (brainstorm).
3- Research.
4- Discover your thesis statement.
5- Plan (outline).
6- Write.
7- Revise.
8- Edit
9- Proofread

How to Choose a Topic

Think about the things related to the course that you are interested in. If there's nothing which interests you look through the textbook, course slides, and journal articles to inspire you.

Now narrow your ideas from subjects to topics.
Narrow these subjects by looking at its smaller parts or choosing a specific problem, time period or place to cover. Always ask yourself "Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?" For example, if you choose organizational culture ask yourself these questions: what about organizational culture? In what area or industry or geographic region? Current trends? Why is this topic useful? How can it be used to address a problem or opportunity?

Writing Your Topic as a Question

Turn your topic now into a question that your paper will answer. This helps you narrow your focus so that whatever the topic selected you have a specific objective that your paper will achieve. Your paper might be argumentative; where your question has a yes/no answer. An analytical paper has a why/how question, while an informative one asks a what/how/why question.

Characteristics of a Good Topic Paper

1- Your question does not have a simple answer: there is no one best answer but rather a variety of arguments. Your paper will present and make a case for your own best answer.
2- Your question is worth answering: your readers should care about your answer. Particularly in business your question needs to have real implications for practice or theory!

Brainstorming
When you have a topic, start brainstorming. Write down all the possible answers to your question, and write down all the information, opinions, and questions you have about your topic. Brainstorming will help you see what you already know, what you think, what you think you know, and what else you need to find out about your topic.
Doing Research
What you must remember is that "doing good research takes time." Do not expect to do research once and find everything that you need for your paper. Research is an on-going part of the writing process. You will start now, doing general research to learn more about your topic, but you will continue doing research throughout the writing process, as you discover a thesis, make a basic outline and then a detailed outline, write your paper, and revise your paper. Also, do not be afraid to change your topic a little (or a lot) if your research leads you in a different direction.
The Thesis Statement
The thesis statement is the most important sentence in your paper. If someone asked you, "What does your paper say?" your answer would be your thesis statement. Everything you write will support this statement.

A good thesis statement usually includes the main idea of the paper. ONE idea. The entire paper is based on this statement.

Your opinion or point of view. The thesis statement is not a fact nor a question, but your view of the topic and what you want to say about it.

Purpose of the paper. From the thesis, it should be clear what the paper will do.

Answer to the research question. Ask yourself the question and then answer it with your thesis. Is it truly an answer?

Clarity. It should be understandable after one reading and have no mistakes.

When should you write your thesis statement? It depends on when you know the answer to your research question. You may have an idea before you begin researching, you may discover it as you research, or you may not know it until you have almost finished writing your paper. It's useful to have a thesis idea at the beginning to help you focus, but it's also OK to change your thesis statement as you go through the writing process and learn and think more about your topic.
Basic Outline

Choosing and ordering points:

1. Write your question and answer (preliminary thesis statement). Don't worry about writing a beautiful, memorable, strong thesis statement yet; just a simple answer to your question is enough to start the basic outline.
2. Write down all the reasons/arguments/effects/solutions (each type of paper is different) you have to answer your question and support your thesis. Do not look at your sources - use your own brain.
3. Look at your list and organize the ideas. Some may be combined as one larger idea; some may just repeat others in different words. You may decide to delete some too.
4. The remaining ideas will be the main points of your paper. These ideas are the sections of your paper.
5. Decide how to order these points. What order will you follow - chronological, cause to effect, problem to solution, most important to least important, weakest to strongest? Which order will make your paper the strongest and most interesting?

Introduction

The introduction of an academic paper is usually 1-2 paragraphs long - longer for longer papers with more background information. In general, your introduction should do the following things:
Gain the immediate attention of the audience
Here are some (but not all) of the ways to start an interesting and relevant introduction:
• Short anecdote that leads to your topic
• Surprising statement/fact that relates to your topic
• Quotation from a famous person or expert that introduces your topic
• Brief and INTERESTING historical review of your topic
• Statement which stresses the importance of your topic
• Contradiction - someone else's opinion (opposite of yours) about your topic

Provide any necessary background information or definition of any terms.
• Give only the history, facts, or definitions that readers will need to understand your topic and thesis. Keep in mind what the audience already knows.
• Use facts/statistics to show the problem if necessary.
• Avoid dictionary and encyclopedia definitions if possible and explain in your own words what the important concepts in your paper mean.
• Use source information to provide background information, but not to answer the research question or give your opinion.

Make sure that the readers now know enough to follow your paper, but not too much that they have lost the focus of your paper.

Briefly introduce the main points (sections) of the paper
In academic writing, the writer lets the reader know what to expect. Provide a brief overview of your paper's main points.
Do NOT support or try to prove these points. Do not go into depth. Do NOT just write a one-sentence list of your points. You can't summarize a great idea in one word.
Have a thesis statement (often the last sentence)
This guide has covered the thesis statement already, but because it's the most important sentence of your paper, we'll go over it again. In the thesis,
• Answer the research question in a clear, straightforward statement.
• Make sure the purpose and point of view of your paper are clear.
• Do NOT write a long, wordy, confusing thesis statement (especially do not try to include all of your main points).
• Do NOT announce your intentions. Avoid "This paper will prove..." or "I'm going to do". Just do it!

Literature Review
A literature review discusses published information in a particular subject area, and sometimes information in a particular subject area within a certain time period.
A literature review can be just a simple summary of the sources, but it usually has an organizational pattern and combines both summary and synthesis. A summary is a recap of the important information of the source, but a synthesis is a re-organization, or a reshuffling, of that information. It might give a new interpretation of old material or combine new with old interpretations. Or it might trace the intellectual progression of the field, including major debates. And depending on the situation, the literature review may evaluate the sources and advise the reader on the most pertinent or relevant.
In a research paper, you use the literature as a foundation and as support for a new insight that you contribute. The focus of a literature review, however, is to summarize and synthesize the arguments and ideas of others without adding new contributions.
Literature reviews provide you with a handy guide to a particular topic. If you have limited time to conduct research, literature reviews can give you an overview or act as a stepping stone. Literature reviews also provide a solid background for a research paper's investigation. Comprehensive knowledge of the literature of the field is essential to most research papers.
Body Paragraphs
Body paragraphs can be written in many ways, depending on your purpose. However, each paragraph should have ONE point which supports the thesis statement. Most body paragraphs will have:

Topic Sentence
Usually, but not always, the first sentence of the paragraph. If it's not the first sentence, it should be very clear which sentence is the topic sentence.
It introduces the paragraph's main idea, makes your point about this idea, and relates to the thesis statement. The topic sentence connects to the previous paragraph.
The topic sentence is NOT a fact. It has a point of view. The topic sentence is NOT something from a source. It is your idea. Every sentence in the paragraph will support this topic sentence.

Explanation of topic sentence
The sentence(s) after the topic sentence often further describe the main idea of the paragraph. The topic sentence is supported by supporting points, details, and explanations, often presented in sandwiches. A body paragraph could have one to several sandwiches, depending on how long and in-depth the detail is.
Supporting points are the ideas that support the main point of the paragraph. These can be written in your own words and then supported by details.
Specific details are very important to show the readers that your ideas are valid.
• When using facts, examples, studies, experts' opinions, etc. be as specific as possible. Use the expert's names and professions. Use names, places, dates and other specific information about examples. Include numbers and dates. For scientific studies, explain a little about how the study was done. Use vivid descriptions to make the details clear to the readers.
• Make sure the details are relevant to your point. A common mistake is including misunderstood source information that does not actually support the student's point.
• Remember that one example does not prove something. Use more than one example or source in a paragraph.
• Check with your instructor if you can also include your own personal experience as a detail.
• Clear and complete explanations are very important because the readers are expecting you to explain everything to them. The readers do not expect to have to think too hard. So explain why/how the details support the topic sentence, and thus the thesis.
• Your explanation should not just repeat the source material, but rather interpret and analyze it.
• Your explanation should not simply repeat your thesis or topic sentence, but rather explain how the source material supports those ideas.
Do NOT rely on sources too much. It's YOUR paragraph, so it should contain your ideas about the topic as well. Make sure all your support has a logical order and good connections.

Concluding sentence
The last sentence should review the body paragraph, emphasize the point and/or thesis again, or prepare the reader for the next body paragraph.
A final, important guideline about body paragraphs: No long body paragraphs!
It is difficult for readers to stay focused on long blocks of text. ¾ of a page is generally as long as a paragraph should be. If your paragraph is much longer, find a logical way to divide it into two body paragraphs.

Methodology
For this paper you will be conducting your own research. Your thesis statement, grounded in the literature review, will lead you to specific research questions that your paper is trying to answer. For each paper you should have between 3 and 5 research questions.
Your methodology outlines the way in which you answered the question. You as a researcher choose the most appropriate method. This could be quantitative where you use surveys and questionnaires or qualitative where you would use interviews, observations or simulations. We will work together to find the best way for you to answer your research question.
The methodology section is one where you discuss your chosen method in such detail that anyone reading this section would be able to replicate your research. It is also the section where you justify your choice of methodology (quantitative vs. qualitative) and the sample you chose to focus on. If this is a case study on a specific organization or group of people you should dedicate a paragraph to explain whatever details you think are relevant to the readers understanding.
Results
In this section you simply state your results; no more no less! You will detail the results of your survey or your interviews arranged into themes or in the ways in which it answers your question. You only need to state your results here. In this section it's always helpful to use figures, tables, charts etc...to organize your results in a clear and concise manner.
Discussion
This is the section where you shine! While the previous section only stated things, in the discussion you give meaning to the results. Here you connect your results to the literature review:
1. Is this consistent with the literature you reviewed?
2. If not then why do you think you got these results?
You also explain how your results answered your research questions. If they did not do not panic you can now explain why your results were not what you expected by looking at such areas as:
1. The sample selected.
2. Time constraint.
3. The methodology.
4. Anything else that may have affected your results.
In the end you will tell us what your research has achieved and how it contributed to ongoing discussion. It will also give possible clues into what future research could look like!

The Conclusion
The conclusion may be the shortest paragraph, but it's also the most important because this is what the reader will remember. A conclusion usually does these things:
1. Connect to the last sentence of the previous paragraph.
2. Summarize the findings of your paper. You will restate the thesis in different words/phrases, summarize the main points of your paper in a different way.
3. Use your own thoughts NOT your sources. The place for the source support was in the body paragraphs not the conclusion.
4. Do NOT write any new information, points, or support in the conclusion.
5. Show the significance of your paper. Explain why your paper is important - What does it mean? What does it solve? What does it say about your topic? What does it show about the future of your topic? What should the readers take away from your paper?

Attachment:- Research Project.rar