OB: Increasing Self Awareness. Organizational Behavior

You must choose your own topic and any OB topic is acceptable except for topics covered in Chapters 1 and 2. In other words, the only OB topics you may not choose for your research paper are business ethics, discrimination, managing diversity, stereotyping, or women’s issues. Please do not choose an HRM topic and then write on one of the previously listed topics. These are all important topics, but they are the topics of student research papers far too often. Choose one of the other hundred or so topics found in the textbook. It is important for you to narrow your topic to one appropriate for a 10 page paper. The literature review paper must have some depth. If you choose a broad topic, then your paper will read like an introduction to the topic. The result is not a college level paper and your grade will suffer. Here are some reminders: The body of the paper must be 10 pages of double-spaced text (not counting the abstract or – outline if you choose to include them). You may not count the required reference pages or the coversheet as part of the 10 pages either. Your paper should not exceed 12 pages of text. Use MS word to prepare your paper. You may not recycle a paper from a previous course or from another college you attended and you may not use a friend’s paper or one that you bought. Do not cut and paste sentences from sources or from the internet and then change a few words. All of the previous examples are plagiarized papers. Plagiarism can result in anything from an F for the research paper to being dismissed from the program. This is a serious issue so write your own paper. I count off for excessive quotes and understand that quotes are not plagiarism. Quotes are not a part of this assignment. The only quotations allowed is a single brief quotation that is used by the author for extensive analysis and explanation. Quotations are not allowed as a convenience of the research paper author.
Literature Review Style Research Paper: There are different types of research papers. This assignment is a literature review style of paper. You choose a topic and then write what other researchers have concluded about your topic. You may bring in your own critique or ideas in the conclusions section (last two pages). This assignment is not a case study, nor a collection of your personal opinions about the topic, nor an internal business report from your company or from a governmental department, and it is not a broad introduction to a management topic. The assignment is a literature review of an OB topic narrowed enough for thorough coverage in a 10 page paper. For example, do not choose leadership or motivation as your topic. There are hundreds of books and thousands of articles written on leadership. Some people get their PhD in leadership. So, trying to cover this topic in 10 pages is impossible unless depth is sacrificed. If you are interested in leadership or motivation (as I am), then choose a sub-topic of a sub-topic of leadership. Then thoroughly search for articles on that sub-topic in the leadership area and write your paper.
References: Research papers are written using different citation and reference disclosing conventions. At Troy University, APA (American Psychological Association) style is the chosen convention for citations and references. A good rule thumb is that a 10 page paper should have about 10 references. A paper should average one citation per paragraph, as a minimum. So, if your paper has about 30 paragraphs, then there should be about 30 citations. There may be three citations in one paragraph and none in another, etc. This is an average. Introduction and conclusion paragraphs should also have citations. When in doubt, cite the material. Also, double check that all your references are used as citations somewhere in your paper. References are a list of sources cited in the paper and not a reading list.
Purpose of the Term Paper Assignment: The reason for the research paper assignment is not the creation of volumes of paper for me to read. I will read your papers and evaluate them, but that is not the purpose of the research paper assignment. The purpose of assigning research papers is for students to learn to be better writers; an important skill for every professional. If you think writing is difficult, well join the crowd. I understand writing is difficult and good writing is a lot of work. The only way to improve writing and research skills is through practice. Please note that I will not read a plagiarized paper. I only evaluate original papers.
Original Papers are Successful: I want to make it clear that I am not bluffing when it comes to plagiarism. (A few students test me each term). If you turn in a copied paper, you will make an F on the research paper assignment, and most likely an F in the course. I chose the topic Increasing self awareness. If you are comfortable with this and feel it fits what my professor is requesting than go ahead if you think there is a different topic we are using the book Understanding and managing organizational behavior by Jennifer George * Gareth Jones. chapters 3, 4, and 13.