Reference no: EM133097185 , Length: word count:4200

Paper Milestones and Requirements

Topic - Incorporate a major challenge, opportunity, new methodology, or problem facing innovation in technology and what project management have been used to address such issues

It should be related to software (IT), Project Management (Innovation) driving Technology

Assignment: Write an original seminar paper consisting of a comprehensive literature review that addresses innovation in technology via project management. This assignment is distributed among several other smaller assignments (as described below) and will be posted to Blackboard. There are also some additional assignments that will be posted and announced only on Blackboard. Successful completion of the seminar paper is required to pass TCM 740. The topic must incorporate a major challenge, opportunity, new methodology, or problem facing innovation in technology and what project management have been used to address such issues. Typically, students focus on a particular industry (automotive, aerospace, medical, software, electronics, etc.), then identify innovative technologies that need to be developed in those industries and then address what project management methods (waterfall, agile, lean, etc.) are used to support their development. Note the topic should be about how project management can help develop innovation but not about how innovation can help project management. The scope of the paper includes your analysis, discussion, conclusion, and recommendations based on your review of the corresponding topic's literature (aka a review paper).

General:
All submitted documents must be created using or converted to Microsoft Word. Your documents must be submitted via our Blackboard by clicking the course menu button labeled Assignments and then attaching it to the appropriate item's link provided. Grading and feedback on your submitted documents can be viewed by clicking the My Grades menu button and then click the appropriate item. Unless otherwise specified below, I will try to grade and provide feedback within a week after the due date of an assignment.

Research Questions

Prior to submission, e-mail to me a very brief description of the general topic you want to explore. Two to three sentences should suffice. I will try to respond within 24 hours of your e-mail. I may approve your general topic, ask for clarification, or require you to seek another general topic. This means your general topic has to be approved by me, a couple days prior to March 14th, not just starting to communicate with me on the 14th. Certainly, I encourage you to share with me your ideas for a topic any time after the semester begins. However, I suggest to you to choose a topic only after you have read a few chapters of the Tidd and Bessant textbook. It might take several short e-mails between us before I approve it. After I approve your topic, you may submit your research questions on Blackboard. Your research questions must be narrow in scope and pertain to project management. A research question must include several related questions with respect to the topic.

Topic Proposal

The topic proposal must be one to two pages in length. Use 12-point Times New Roman font in double-spaced sentences and have all margins be between 1.000 and 1.125 inches. It must identify and discuss your topic and how you intend to conduct your research. The following items must be included:
• Title of your seminar paper
• Your name
• Some background on how and/or why the topic of your paper is important to the project management community.
• Your research questions and how answering them will contribute to the knowledge base of project management.
• Your personal interest and/or connection to the topic and research questions (e.g. work experience, academic experience, career goals, etc.).
• What search tools and other information resources you will be using?

Week 11: Reference List

Scholarly journals, books, and textbooks are excellent sources of information and viewpoints for specialized topics. Articles appearing in scholarly journals typically have undergone a rigorous peer-review process before being accepted for publication and are considered to have a high level of credibility. Various internet postings that do not provide evidence of a peer-review process or the support of a respected organization or institution often do not have a high level of credibility and are not appropriate references for this paper. In addition, consider the date of the reference material. Classic writings in a particular field may be relevant and valued for decades; however, the majority of references for this paper must not be more than ten years old.

Use APA format. An example of a reference list is given in the APA manual. Be aware that some search tools will claim to give you references in APA format, but they are not always accurate, so you must verify the format of your reference list with the APA manual. In fact, even references within peer-reviewed papers, which were submitted as APA formatted manuscripts, might not be in APA format when published. The point is that you are submitting a manuscript in APA format, not a document that will be directly published.

You must have a minimum of 8 scholarly (from peer-reviewed journals) references and 2 books/textbooks, for a minimum of 10 references. Choosing your references will minimally entail searching, finding, and skimming the papers that seem to support your research questions. The majority of these 10 references must be the references in the final submission of your paper. This doesn't mean you can't add or subtract some references in the final submission. For example, sometimes while outlining and/or writing a paper, you might discover other applicable papers are cited within the papers of your reference list. Sometimes you might realize some papers within your reference list don't contribute to supporting your research questions.

Week 13: Outline

After you submit your outline, you may not change the topic for your paper. Your outline will help you organize your paper to provide continuity in the presentation of your ideas. It will also help you identify information areas that need to be filled in prior to composing (wordsmithing) sentences. The outline should enable you to be confident that your topic can be successfully research, analyzed, and written to address research questions. Here is an example of the outline format you must use for the following sections:
I. Introduction
a. ...
i. ...
1. if needed
2. if needed
3. etc. if needed
ii. ...
1. if needed
2. if needed
3. etc. if needed
iii. etc. if needed
b. ...
i. ...
1. if needed
2. if needed
3. etc. if needed
ii. ...
1. if needed
2. if needed
3. etc. if needed
iii. etc. if needed
c. etc. if needed
II. Literature Review (subheadings similar to above)
III. Analysis (subheadings similar to above)
IV. Conclusions (subheadings similar to above)

Note that if you have an "a." subsection, you must at least have a "b." subsection. Similarly, using an "i." subsection requires an "ii." and a "1." requires a "2.". You may add more than two subsections at any level or add more (deeper) levels than above shown. A rule-of-thumb is to have "a., b., etc." item represent at most a paragraph by using a phrase like "industry needs to resolve scheduling problems" that might be addressed under "Introduction". You might find it useful to breakdown item "a." into deeper item levels that list types of scheduling problems. You might even go deeper into the itemization level to have a phrase which would represent and prompt you to write a specific sentence. I try to force myself to get all the "a., b., etc." levels in all sections done before drilling to deeper item levels. It all depends on the topic. Sometimes the higher item levels in one section prompt me to make deeper level items in other sections and vice-a-versa. Regardless, when you are done your outline, its quality of detail should enable me or one of your classmates to compose the sentences. I have co-authored several papers where the lead author has provided a detailed outline and it was my contribution to do the wordsmithing. Your outline must have correct spelling and usage of words and the itemization must show the continuity of your ideas.

Week 14: Draft of Introduction and Literature Review Sections

The American Psychological Association (APA) guidelines will be used for writing the research papers. In some respect below, I will be more specific than APA. Otherwise, it is very important that you follow the guidelines. Not following the guidelines could result in a lower grade in your final paper.

I strongly suggest you have a friend read your draft prior to submission. Even if the person has no knowledge of project management, you will likely find their comments and suggestions valuable to you.

Include at least 10 references for your paper and use parenthetical citing for all references. Don't justify the margins. The 12-point Times New Roman font must be used and all margins must be between 1.000 and 1.125 inches.

The structure of the draft Intro & Review sections is as follows (all double-space). The minimum lengths do not include figures and tables):

Introduction (1 pages minimum):
o Provide background information and details concerning this topic that convey the importance and challenges of the issue.
o Explain your reasoning for the methods (databases, search engines, etc.) you used to obtain literature.
o Explain your reasoning for the methods (statistical, graphical, qualitative, etc.) you will use to analyze the results of the review.
Literature Review (7 pages minimum):
o Provide a detailed review of literature concerning the topic.
o When discussing the literature, try to group similar concepts together and then compare and contrast them with papers approaching the issue differently (e.g. financial versus human resources).
o Include a variety of perspectives and viewpoints that thoroughly cover all aspects of the topic.
References (at least 10):
o List all references using the parenthetical citing method.
o Every reference within the body of the paper must have a corresponding entry in the reference list at the end of the paper and vice-a-versa.

Your draft Intro & Review sections must also have correct grammar, spelling, and must be written clearly and concisely with continuity in the presentation of your ideas. I will return your revision to those sections and supporting references (graded with feedback) between one to two weeks after its due date. My feedback will include citing examples of where you made certain types of errors such as spelling, grammar, format and structure. I will also include example suggestions on how to rewrite parts of your paper to be clearer and more concise with better continuity. It will be your responsibility to find and correct other similar instances of these types of errors and opportunities for improvement that must be incorporated into your final paper. In other words, just because I don't point out a mistake in your draft, it doesn't mean it will be acceptable in the final paper. You should have someone (friend, colleague, relative, classmate, etc.), that you think has good writing skills, read your paper to comment and make suggestions on it. The person does not need to know about project management. Actually, it will be a good indication that your paper is clearly written if such a person understands it.

Week 16: Final Paper
Include at least 10 references for this paper and use parenthetical citing for all references. The paper must be double spaced and 12 - 15 pages in length (excluding, abstract, the title page, tables, figures, equations, and references) and cover the topic thoroughly. Don't justify the margins. The 12-point Times New Roman font must be used and all margins must be between 1.000 and 1.125 inches.

The structure of your final paper must include at a minimum the following:

Title Page (see APA):
o The recommended length for a title is no more than 12 words.
o The APA manual has an example of a title page
Abstract (approximately one-half page) (see APA):
o Provide a brief overview of the topic and introduce why it is a challenging and important project management issue.
o Briefly discuss the content of your paper and general conclusions you made from the results of the review.
Introduction (approximately 2 pages):
o Provide background information and details concerning this topic that convey the importance and challenges of the issue.
o Explain your reasoning for the methods (databases, search engines, etc.) you used to obtain literature.
o Explain your reasoning for the methods (statistical, graphical, qualitative, etc.) you used to analyze the results of the review.
Literature Review (approximately 6 to 10 pages):
o Provide a detailed review of literature concerning the topic.
o When discussing the literature, try to group similar concepts together and then compare and contrast them with papers approaching the issue differently (e.g. financial versus human resources).
o Include a variety of perspectives and viewpoints that thoroughly cover all aspects of the topic.
Analysis (approximately 2-3 pages):
o Evaluate how much is currently known about the topic based on your literature review.
o Discuss the quality of the literature found.
o Present and explain the findings.
o Evaluate the need and significance of new research.
Conclusions (approximately 1-2 pages):
o Provide insight and recommendations concerning the topic based on your literature review and analysis
o Here often authors will identify areas for future research based on information discovered during development of the paper.
References (at least 10):
o List all references using the parenthetical citing method.
o Every reference within the body of the paper must have a corresponding entry in the reference list at the end of the paper and vice-a-versa.

Use my feedback of your draft Intro & Lit Review as a guide to modify your paper to its final form. You may modify those sections and the references to support your Analysis and Conclusion sections. Again, you should have someone read your paper. It must have the format, structure, length, and other components as above described. Your final paper must also have correct grammar, spelling, and must be written clearly and concisely with continuity in the presentation of your ideas.

Attachment:- Seminar_Paper_Milestones_Requirements.rar