Requirement You are required to submit a 4,000 word critical evaluation of information and its various sources on your chosen topic. You should frame your project and report within the following scenario:You are a research assistant reporting to a finance director/partner in a large organisation. Your responsibility is to carry out special projects required by the finance director. The finance director wants to know more about the issues related to an article she has read. You have been asked to provide a report to brief the finance director on these issues. She has particularly asked you to focus on: • Other information sources on these issues that might inform the strategic direction of the organisation • The nature of these information sources ; their relevance and reliability You are not expected to make any recommendations on the strategic direction of the organization, just to provide information to enable the financial director to make a decision. Marking criteria Your critical evaluation of information sources will be marked according to the following criteria: • clarity of project question/issue; • a comprehensive identification and clear demonstration of familiarity with relevant information sources; • critical evaluation of the information sources; • quality and depth of analysis; • logical flow within the report ; • persuasiveness of conclusions as to the nature of the information sources; their availability, relevance and reliability ; • presentation: structure and balance and use of English. Presentation is important as it indicates the skill and care that you have invested into your work and a logical presentation implies an ordered and logical approach to the subject. You should follow the requirements below in terms of the structure of your report; • correct use of Harvard referencing; and • word count showing that the 4,000 words have not been exceeded. You are not allowed to exceed the word limit under any circumstances. 1 Clarity of project theme/issue to remit – a clear scenario 2 A comprehensive identification and clear demonstration of familiarity with relevant information sources – breadth of information accessed 3 Quality and depth of analysis and synthesis of information sources – analysis of information sources 4 Critical evaluation of information sources – relevance and reliability of information sources 5 Logical flow within the report 6 Persuasiveness of conclusions 7 Presentation of work in accordance with module requirements; structure, use of sensible headings, sentence construction and use of English 8 Correct Harvard style referencing 9 Word count maximum 4,000 words? Enter yes or no FAQ’s on the Topic ‘I don’t know how to apply my topic to the required ‘finance director’ scenario’ – think how knowledge of the topic will inform company policy. It may be that your boss is a partner in an accountancy firm and needs to know about the latest developments so that an audit policy can be written ‘If two articles come to opposite conclusions, what should I do’ – this shows that your topic is interesting – search for more articles and weight the balance of argument Should I talk about the relevance and reliability of each information source as I go or put all the information about relevance and reliability into one separate chapter’ – I think a separate section would be preferable but you might like to highlight important aspects as you go, e.g. you might say ‘in a seminal academic paper, Miller stated that….` • How crucial does the strategic perspective of the critical review have to be? Your topic should be of importance to your organisation – something big that will affect the organisation’s strategy i.e. have a lasting impact. The ‘critical’ aspect relates to your analysis of the literature. . • Do we need to put our personal opinion into the report? Yes, if it is a reasoned opinion based on the evidence you have presented. Opinions presented without any logical argument behind them are not very useful. • The structure of your report Glossary and list of abbreviations If necessary Main text Subdivided into relevant headings. Your word count starts here (you can write a maximum of 4,000words). Style of writing Your project should be written in a professional business style. You can choose whether to write in the ‘third’ person or not, but a formal style should be maintained. Your report should be capable of being understood by the finance director (an informed reader) at first reading. Aim for an easy style with precision. Try to avoid waffle! All pages must be numbered. Use Times New Roman font in 12-point single line spacing.