Assignment Purpose: The intention of this research paper is for you to investigate a topic in Information Systems / Information Technology.We on the faculty have spoken at length with many MIS recruiters. We have asked them "What is the most important qualities you look for in our MIS graduates?" Their responses are generally "We look for good commuinication skills first. This includes writing and speaking, especially in public. We expect that anyone who graduates with an MIS degree understands how to program and all about databases. Those are givens. The next thing we look for is the ability to look at a problem that someone has, and investigate whether a particular technology is reasonable, or even feasible for attacking it." Finally, this is a chance for you to explore a topic area of special significance to you. It provides an opportunity for you to go beyond the conventional course coverage and gain some expertise in some area.

Writing: This Executive Summary Assignment involves writing. For a successful career, you must learn to write and learn to write well. If you have not yet learned how to spell and use proper grammar, now is the time to do so. Get your capitalization right. Learn how to cite references properly. This is important for your future career, whether or not you have only had multiple choice / true false exams up until now. Nothing makes a person look unprofessional more than consistently poor spelling and grammar.

What to Do: Select a topic to investigate in the area of Information Systems / Information Technology (preferably involving computer programming or systems analysis, design and development). Get it approved in advance by your Instructor (ESa). Write a brief (2 pages of text plus references) executive summary on the state-of-the-art and future of the topic (ESb). The required deliverables are:

ESa: Topic Approval.  This is to get you started. It consists of two sentences that indicate the topic and why it is appropriate for this course. If in doubt about a topic, you may want to verbally ask your Instructor if a particular topic is appropriate, but you must submit a formal topic approval to earn credit. This is to be typed and submitted in hard copy only.

ESb: Executive Summary Report: The required typed format is 2 pages of text plus references: 2/3 page on an introduction and necessary definitions; 2/3 page on the current state-of-the-art; 2/3 page on the future of the area; and 1/3 page or so on references. The required format is: 12 point font, double spaced, 1 inch margins all around. Do not exceed the maximum length; do not use a different format. Otherwise points will be deducted. Hard copy must be turned in. You must have at least 5 references aside from the textbook. Web Site references are all right, but not all references may come from the Web. Not all your references may be Web Sites (at most 40%). Some must be journal or trade press articles (at least 60%). Many of these may be found through ABI Inform via Galileo using the UGA Library access system (from the TCB labs). (Note that an article found in Galileo is NOT a Web-based article. It was really published.) Encyclopedia articles, while useful for background, may be quoted, but cannot count toward the 5 required references. Many of these may be found through ABI Inform/ProQuest or other online journal search engines (via Galileo using the UGA Library access system from the TCB labs). (Note: if you use Galileo or another online source to find articles, cite them in your reference list as hard copy publications. Do NOT list the search information or Web address information delivered by the online source as part of the citation. It is messy and improper.) ABI Inform / ProQuest are available at the UGA Libraries. Encyclopedia articles, while useful for background, may be quoted, but, cannot count toward the 5 references. Do be careful with your citations.

Note: some magazines also have online versions of their text versions (e.g. CIO magazine). If you use source material from one of these sites, make sure you are quoting a published article. In many cases, additional material is on the publisher's Web site, but it did not appear in the hard copy publication.

Be careful with the format of citations of books, journals and magazines. Do include page numbers (only if available - some Web sources don't list them) for journal and magazine articles. For articles, include authors (in the correct order), article title in quotes, journal name (in italics), volume, number, date, page numbers. For books, include authors (in the correct order), book title (in italics), publisher, city, state (or city, province, country; or  city, country), date. OK, here's how they should look (note the capitalization):

Magazine and Journal Articles:

H.L. Schwarz and R.B. Mencken, "How to Write an Executive Summary for Fun and Profit," Journal of How to Make Money, Vol. 15, No. 12, December 2, 2002, pp. 45-64.

Books:

Turban, E., J.E. Aronson, with T-P. Liang, Decision Support Systems and Intelligent Systems, 7th edition, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 2005.

Smith, J.X., B.R. Wesson and J.L. Yelvington, Everything You Always Wanted to Know about DSS, But Were Afraid to Ask, All States Publishing Company, New York, NY, 2002.

Web Sites:

H.L. Schwarz and R.B. Mencken, "How to Create a Web Site for Fun and Profit," Mencken Enterprise Web Site: www.mencken.com, October 4, 2002.

Note - This is the author(s) of the page, title of the page, Organization name, the Web URL, and date either created or revised.

If there is no author, cite the Web site like this:

Mencken Enterprise, "How to Create a Web Site for Fun and Profit," Mencken Enterprise Web Site: www.mencken.com, October 4, 2002.

Do cite references properly in the paper. Generally you cite references in the text as:

Turban, Aronson, with Liang (2005) indicate that ...
The following, expressed first by Smith, Wesson and Yelvington (2002), ...
"This is a quote from a reference." (Turban, Aronson, with Liang, 2005; Smith et al., 2002).
When you put a citation in parenthesis, you use commas and semicolons as is shown above. When you have three or more authors, you can use the first one and say et al. (note - no period after "et" - it's a Latin word. al. is a Latin abbreviation).

Assignment and Exam Files are to be uploaded to the WebCT site in the Assignments area (instructions below).

File Naming Conventions
(Note - please put your name inside the worksheet, somewhere near the top left of the first sheet with major work in it):

LastFirstXY.xls

   Where
       Last = Lastname
       First = Firstname, and
       X = The Assignment Letter or Number (01, 02,... or A-G), or Quiz Number (1-4), or Exam Problem Number
       Y = The Second Assignment Letter (if there is one) (01, 02,... A, B, ...), or Quiz Problem Number or Letter (1,2...; A,B,...).

So, Joe Gorganzola’s solution to Assignment B Problem A initially is named GorganzolaJoeBA.xls.

• For each BlueJ (or other) project you are going to submit, zip the files into a single zip file for each project.
• MORE TO COME WHEN I LEARN HOW TO DO THIS.
• Go to >>>>> 
• Choose the appropriate .
• Upload your file by browsing to it, and selecting it.
• !
  

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Last Modified: January 3, 2008