TESU BSBA Capstone - Case Study

[kodiak61]

I also have Dr. Ness currently.

I received a 98/100 on the first case study. What you have described so far Merlin is exactly what i did.

Question and Answer format, made sure the paragraphs were complete. Supported my thoughts with referenced material.

Very factual in nature, it doesn't for make good reading in a writers mindset, but it presents the factual information and meets the rubric 100%.

I lost two points for minor APA citing errors. I hope to correct those with the 2nd Case study.

I will know more once the 2nd is graded as I went through this one a little quicker.

Good luck group and let me know if I can help.

[Supermind]

This might not be directly related to the theme of this thread. But it might help those who are looking for samples of case studies. Is anyone here using academia.edu? You will find many research papers, Harvard Business Review articles, case studies uploaded by students like us. I have been using it to find materials for my written assignments.

[Merlin]

I also have Dr. Ness currently.

I received a 98/100 on the first case study. What you have described so far Merlin is exactly what i did.

Question and Answer format, made sure the paragraphs were complete. Supported my thoughts with referenced material.

Very factual in nature, it doesn't for make good reading in a writers mindset, but it presents the factual information and meets the rubric 100%.

I lost two points for minor APA citing errors. I hope to correct those with the 2nd Case study.

I will know more once the 2nd is graded as I went through this one a little quicker.

Good luck group and let me know if I can help.

I finally got the results of my first case study analysis a bit ago and it looks like I ended up with a 98/100 as well.

I lost 2 points for something related to mechanics, though the feedback didn't include any details on what was wrong. Looking at it I don't see any mechanics issues. Too bad there isn't a marked-up version of the document to download and review.

The teacher didn't say boo about the format. So that confirms that a pure Q&A format is just fine and a proper essay format isn't required. I'm already done writing up cases 1-3, discussions 1-4, and I'm working on case 4 right now, so at least I don't have to go back to redo anything!

I guess we'll see how long it takes for the others to be graded.

[fork]

I'm glad you all are doing well but I am panicking because I don't know what's being asked for by this instructor I have. She has given specific questions to answer, says to make it an analysis with supporting facts and research. I do not have the time to write a 4 page research paper every week for 7 weeks. The first one due at the end of this week. I have zero confidence I can do well in this course. I think you all are far smarter and faster.

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And by the looks of things more than half the class has already dropped it, which I should have done before day one. I had no idea TESU put the courses up the friday before.

[Merlin]

I'm glad you all are doing well but I am panicking because I don't know what's being asked for by this instructor I have. She has given specific questions to answer, says to make it an analysis with supporting facts and research. I do not have the time to write a 4 page research paper every week for 7 weeks. The first one due at the end of this week. I have zero confidence I can do well in this course. I think you all are far smarter and faster.

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And by the looks of things more than half the class has already dropped it, which I should have done before day one. I had no idea TESU put the courses up the friday before.

You sound like I did last month. First off, take a breath and relax. It isn't as challenging as it sounds.

Yes, there are 7 case studies but they are spread out across 12 weeks, with one case study per module (except module 5 for some reason). This averages out to nearly one case study per two weeks. It seems daunting, but they're actually not that bad since they don't take that long to complete. The 4 pages is an average, some people do them in 3 pages, I tend toward 5 pages.

The "trick" to completing the case studies is to read through the cases with the questions in mind. Print them out or have them on your screen while you read through the case. That will help you narrow down the information needed. Supplement that with online research, which usually means, at the least, pulling their latest financial reports (10-K for example) to grab details from to see how the company has changed since the case study was published. You might also check the company website and/or competitors websites (and financial reports) if you're contrasting the company against others.

One other tip is that the case study analysis doesn't have to be in essay format. A Q&A format is perfectly fine, just make sure you're using APA citation format and references and grammar & spell check everything. The structure of the paper itself doesn't have to use APA formatting, but you can do so if you like.

Once you get the hang of it, they go pretty fast. I recommend working ahead as much as possible, so you will have extra time at the end to work on your final project.

[fork]

"The case should be a comprehensive case analysis, not a series of questions and answers" That's what it says in module 1. I'm not sure what "Please limit your analysis to 4 pages (1000 to 1100 words)" means, but I assume that's what is wanted. The first one due on Sunday, which is not even a week to work on it. Then the next one the next Sunday. Plus reading, discussion forums, study for a midterm, and write a final project. This is insane for one class. Even if I dropped everything in my life and focused only on this, which I would have to do, I have doubts. I'm not a fast reader, especially when it's expansive, bland and boring like this book. Who writes this garbage? Half of this is completely meaningless. It could be condensed to plainer language. Sorry for the rant I am exhausted.

[Merlin]

"The case should be a comprehensive case analysis, not a series of questions and answers" That's what it says in module 1. I'm not sure what "Please limit your analysis to 4 pages (1000 to 1100 words)" means, but I assume that's what is wanted. The first one due on Sunday, which is not even a week to work on it. Then the next one the next Sunday. Plus reading, discussion forums, study for a midterm, and write a final project. This is insane for one class. Even if I dropped everything in my life and focused only on this, which I would have to do, I have doubts. I'm not a fast reader, especially when it's expansive, bland and boring like this book. Who writes this garbage? Half of this is completely meaningless. It could be condensed to plainer language. Sorry for the rant I am exhausted.

When I say you can use Q&A format, I meant to say that a proper essay isn't required. However, each question can be answered on its own. Each case study builds on the information you learned in the chapter associated with that module. So you just need to synthesize what you learned and use it to answer each of the questions. It takes a bit of analysis, a bit of research (mainly just enough to reflect any recent company changes), and a little time.

The 4 pages bit is just a target (1000-1100 words is the average word count for 4 pages). I think the wording is to discourage you from writing too short or too long of a paper. If you can properly address each question in 3 pages then go for it. My papers have been running in the 1200-1700 word range, but I'm a bit wordy and tend to over illustrate. However, I agree that it feels like there is an awful lot of writing here for one course.

I'm pretty sure the first two-week schedule is intended to be a bit rough on purpose to weed out people who aren't ready for this type of course. You'll need to be able to invest at least 10-15 hours per week, possibly more if you're a slow reader or not a strong writer. However, it will take proper time management. It also gets a bit better balanced as you move through the course.

The discussion forums are pretty easy. You can generally get away with a paragraph or two per each topic, and you really only have to respond to two other students posts, and any posts to you by the teacher of course.

IMO, textbooks are all terrible. It feels like only like 25% of the material in any textbook is relevant and the rest is fluff, there to provide perspective, examples, and/or pad the word count. That is one of the reasons I like Study.com so much, they really focus on the core of what you need to know. I didn't enjoy Straighterline for much the same reason, because I thought it was a waste of time to read those huge textbooks when only a small part was relevant.

I can't offer any advice about the midterm of final paper since I'm not there yet, but from what I gather, as long as you study the areas indicated in the study guide, the midterm isn't too rough. I'm planning to start on the paper as soon as I finish the midterm, so I should be able to offer a better perspective after that.

Like you, I was really concerned about whether I'd be able to keep up with this course until after I knocked out the first couple of assignments and got my first grade back. Now that I know how things work a bit better, coming from a self-paced learning perspective, it now feels like the course is moving too slow. Or at least to me, it feels weird to be 4 weeks into a course and not be done yet.

All in all, this is definitely the hardest course I've taken, but compared to the amount of work I've had to put in to get through my degree at the pace I did it in, it isn't that bad. I suspect it should be the same for you.

Worst case, if you are sure you can't manage the time right now, you can still withdraw and get 75% of your tuition back if you do so by December 9th. You can then plan to come back to do it again when your schedule is a bit more conducive to the time requirements.

[fork]

Well I've got the first one mostly written. It's a little over 1100 words and I cut some out to get to that. I'll see how that works out I guess. The class is small so hopefully the mentor will be quick about grading.

[Merlin]

Well I've got the first one mostly written. It's a little over 1100 words and I cut some out to get to that. I'll see how that works out I guess. The class is small so hopefully the mentor will be quick about grading.

Yeah, that would be an advantage. There are 10 active students in my cohort and the instructor is two modules behind in grading and updates to the message forums at this point.

[sburch1991]

My first Case Study I got a 95/100 and it was 5 pages double spaced which included a cover page and reference page. I have the questions that go with the case study in numbered format and write my answer under each question (1. question. a) (indented) answer). That format seems to be working so far.