Term Paper Directions
Econ 203
Term Paper Guidelines
The course paper is an essential part of this course. The complete paper is due on the last day of
the course (Last Saturday) Dec. 18, 2021; however, you may submit it a day or two before the
due date. The course paper should be at least 8 pages in length and must have a good title which
is self-explanatory. Ideally, your paper should have five sections: Introduction and Objective,
Literature Review, Analysis, Conclusion and References. First, select any firm from the list
below:
Amazon, Boeing, Costco, Facebook, Gillette, Hachette, J.C. Penney, McDonalds, Priceline,
Schick, Virgin Atlantic, and Wal-Mart. These firms are mentioned in your textbook as business
cases, so you can read those sections to get some motivation for your paper. Additionally,
explore other resources including help from NU Library in “building” your paper.
Next, specify your objective clearly. The objective of your paper is related to the research
question you will be investigating and may include:
• The main characteristics of Demand and Supply of the firm
• The main characteristics of the market structure of the firm
• The strategy the firm adopted to maximize profit
Note: You are analyzing some microeconomic aspects of a particular firm. There may be other
aspects of this firm you are interested in investigation. If so, state that in your objective.
This is a four-week course, and you must get started on your paper from day one. With that in
mind, the following Table is provided as a Guideline to organize your Course Paper.
Week Activities Suggested Activity
Milestones
Week 1 Write the introduction
and objective of your
paper
Saturday, week 1
Week 2 Review articles, research
papers or book chapters
which are relevant for
your paper. Make sure to
compile the alphabetized
list of references as you
proceed. for the grading
rubric of
Saturday, week 2
(Optional)
Week 3 Complete the Analysis
Section.
Saturday, week 3
Week 4 Write the final paper and
submit it to tab under
Week Four
Saturday 12/18/2021
Detailed Instructions about the Course Paper and its Grading:
Your paper should be at least 8 pages long double-spaced. It should emphasize quality rather than
quantity, and its structure should contain five sections: Introduction and objective, Review of
Literature, Economic Analysis; and Summary and Conclusion and References.
a). The introduction should be 1-2 paragraphs long. In this section, specify the objective as clearly as
possible. It should set the relevance of the topic and finish with the main question or questions you
want to answer in this paper. The introduction must also state your main argument, idea or
hypothesis of your paper.
b). Review of Literature. In this section, review several studies similar to what you are writing on.
Make sure to give proper credit to each author(s) whose work you are quoting. Use the APA
guidelines in referencing each article, book, journal or the Internet source. In the final paragraph or
paragraphs of this section, explain how your paper will contribute to the body of knowledge. This
section should be 3-4 pages long.
c). The Economic Analysis section should be 2-3 pages long. In this section you should present the
empirical evidence and with the help of some microeconomic tools, you should explain rationally
what happens in reality. Include terms like demand, supply, variable and fixed costs, marginal or
incremental changes, marginal and average costs, price elasticity, income elasticity, maximization,
minimization, normal profit, competitive markets, product differentiation, market structure,
oligopoly, and other relevant terms.
d) The summary and conclusion should be directly related to the objective of your paper. This
section should be about one page long and it should answer the questions introduced in the
objective of the paper. Be sure there is a strong connection between the introduction and the
conclusion. You can also expand on the implications of your answer and predict something about
the future.
The Final page or pages of your paper must contain the “Reference” section. The references must
be drawn from the body of the paper. Use the APA style in listing the References. Your References
should include at least one scholarly article relevant to your paper, a relevant book (not a textbook)
and several Internet references.
Short papers are nice pieces of art. Your paper will be evaluated on the clarity of objective, rational
coherence, quality of argument and format, more specifically on the contribution to the body of
knowledge on the main subject. Below is the grading criteria of your paper.