Conduct a research on the emerging trends of your industry and an issue of particular interest to you in one of those trends. While you may have practical knowledge of the field, think of this project as a means to find information that a manager would need to inform and shape strategic decisions. Where is the industry going? What are the new growth areas? A manager uses information about emerging trends to inform planning and shape the organization's future. You will profit from this research because knowing the trends in your field will enable you to make informed decisions about your own employment options, and perhaps to take advantage of future job opportunities.
Once you have identified new trends, pick an issue that you would like to explore more. Use the UMUC library and other productive sites to take a focused research approach that is based on a research question or statement of the problem. Once you have done some preliminary researching, you might want to craft a working hypothesis. You will continue to research and analyze the information that you have found to arrive at some conclusions, which may support your hypothesis; or, you may find that you have found a different answer than you expected. This is worthwhile science, not a failure! Remember that inquiry begins with a question or some anomaly that your observe: why does....? what does x mean? Did x event cause y action? Watch the video on creating a research question and take a look at the description of what a statement of the problem is. I give you both forms of inquiry: a question and a statement because you may find yourself more comfortable with one or the other. Sometimes, a question is the first step to a more refined statement of the problem.
This project will enable you to identify a problem or issue that causes you to want to solve or learn more about it. Getting really clear about what you are seeking helps you with your research strategy. Once you have a focused statement or question, you can search on the keywords and the conditions you set. You will then identify what information you need to answer that question, you will search out that information, and analyze the information to produce "findings", bringing you to information that helps you to make connections, analyze the facts, taking a balanced approach if the issue is disputed, and come to some conclusions. You will use this process in many ways, from writing grants or other proposals, to identifying a problem in your professional field. The process helps you to conduct effective research for relevant, timely information, and draw well-reasoned conclusions based on your analysis of the facts.
The sections of your paper will follow this order:
- Introduction (Introduce the industry and the top trends and then the issue that you have chosen and share the question or problem that prompted you to learn more.)
- FindingsTop Trends of the _____ Industry (You can provide the NAICS or SOC codes for the industry that you are researching to demonstrate that you have learned how to navigate the business databases. You will then write about the three top trends in your industry, providing concise explanation of the trend and how it is trending, and the influence on the industry.)
- An Important Emerging Issue in a trend and what it means in context to the industry (Here you will describe and discuss the issue you chose, why it is important to the industry, and what your research produced (both sides if the issue is disputed). You will then make well-reasoned arguments that answer the research question you asked at the start.)
- Conclusions (Here you will tie up the trends, the issue, and make some overall conclusions about what your research revealed to you, any gaps that still remain in your understanding of the issue, and your final summary.)
- References (Please refer to the APA examples to get these correct. You will submit draft References pages at the end of Week 2, I will look over and provide feedback so there is no reason to have to re-submit based on citations.Remember, these are double-spaced, hang-indented, and in alphabetical order.)
Remember to start at the beginning of the project and use the materials in the steps. I will provide some other materials that may be helpful, and post a good example of a paper.