Subject: Certification in Project Management – e.g., standards for PM professionals, per the Project Management Institute (PMI)
Research Paper –
Assignment Overview
This assignment fulfills the library research component of the course. Since you are required to do so much writing in this course, this paper will be of shorter length and organized differently than traditional research papers.
Submission
Submit your paper in a Word document.
Contents
In your paper, discuss, evaluate, and apply your textbook AND at least four (4) articles/professional sources that pertain to your topic. See the outline below for information on how to organize your paper.
General Guidelines
Length of paper – The body of your paper must be a minimum of five (5) typewritten pages [in addition to your cover page and reference page]. That gives you one page per each of four research sources and an additional page for expressing your opinion.
Boldface headings – To ensure full credit, include the boldface headings shown in the outline below in the body of your paper.
APA format – Include a cover sheet. Follow APA format for margins (1”), page numbers (upper right hand corner), in-text citations, and references. If you are unfamiliar with APA, go to Writing Help on the left-side menu. In addition, visit the OWL at Purdue website for examples.
Research sources – In addition to your textbook, a minimum of four (4) high-quality sources is required.
At least one source must be peer-reviewed journal articles from one of the EU academic databases. When searching the databases, check the box for “peer-reviewed articles” or “scholarly articles.”
All sources must have authors or must be accessed through a professional organization, such as Project Management Institute, which is an excellent place to search for sources.
In some cases, you may not be able to locate sources that specifically address a specific industry. In that case, use your judgment to apply generalized content to your customized topic.
Avoid low-quality sources such as Wikipedia, encyclopedias, and dictionaries.
Outline of Paper:
Introduction
Gain the reader’s interest by asking an intriguing question or providing an attention-grabbing example of a problem associated with your topic.
Make it clear to the reader why—as a project management professional—you are interested in this topic.
Include one or more topic sentences that explain how your paper is organized. For example: “This paper presents research on articles that address X, Y, and Z.”
Body of the Paper: See suggested outline below
Organize your paper by dividing the content into five (5) major sections. Each of the first four sections will summarize and evaluate what the author of one of your research sources has to say about your topic. Ideally, each of these sections will cover a different facet of the topic.
The fifth section will be an “Application/My Opinion” section in which you apply the concepts to your experience and/or critically evaluate the research content of your paper as it applies to real world project. Begin this section with a boldface heading: My Opinion.
Conclusion
Briefly summarize the highlights or bottom-line of what you have discussed.
You might draw an overall conclusion about the importance of the topic to project team effectiveness.
Example outline:
Introduction (no heading)
See above for suggested content.
Author of source #1
Briefly summarize and analyze what this project management expert author/source has to say about the topic of your paper. Include “state-of-the art” thinking about your current topic.
Author of source #2 – See instructions for source #1.
Author of source #3 – See instructions for source #1.
Author of source #4 – See instructions for source #1.
My Opinion
Bring your paper together in this section by referring what you have learned to a real-world example of a project. Apply and evaluate concepts cited in prior sections.
Conclusion [no heading]
See above for suggested content.