Mini Research Paper
Article Summary and Reflection
I. Pick a topic relating to hospitality and tourism you are interested in finding out more.
• Examples include information technology, marketing, human resource management, finance/revenue management, hospitality and tourism management, lodging management, restaurant management, event management, and food and beverage management.
II. Identify three articles related to the research question/topic.
• One article must be from scholarly journal. If you are not sure about journals or how to search/find scholarly papers, consult with the instructor.
• Suggested journals
o Tourism Management
o Tourism Management Perspectives
o Current Issues in Tourism
o Annals of Tourism Research
o Journal of Travel Research
o Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing
o Journal of Destination Marketing and Management
o Journal of Sustainable Tourism
o International Journal of Hospitality Management
o International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
o Cornell Hospitality Quarterly
o Harvard Business Review
o Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management
o Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research
o Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research
o Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality and Tourism
• Two articles should be from trade journals/magazines.
o Internet magazines are fine.
o Suggested websites and magazines
• https://skift.com/
• https://www.hotelnewsnow.com/
• https://www.hotelbusiness.com/
• Make sure the articles are related to your research question.
III. Develop a main argument (thesis statement).
“A thesis statement is one sentence that expresses the main idea of a research paper or essay.” (adopted from https://examples.yourdictionary.com/thesis-statement-examples.html)
• Email your topic, article title and links, and thesis statement to the instructor by February 13 (before writing summaries and reflection).
IV. Article Summary
Summarize each of three articles (about one page for each article). The purpose of these summaries is to give a clear overview of the articles’ main points.
V. Synthesized Reflection
Describe the importance of the research objectives you have selected (not each article, but the topic that connects the articles). State what impact or importance this topic has on managers and the tourism and hospitality industry. All three articles must be used to support your argument and in-text citations must be provided for the cited contents/information from the articles.
“Synthesis means putting ideas from many sources together in one essay or presentation. After reading several books, watching movies and participating in a variety of class activities, your task is to organize some of the information around a theme or a question, make generalizations, and then present information (statistics, quotes, examples) in a logical way to support your argument. Remind yourself that a synthesis is NOT a summary, a comparison, or a review. Rather a synthesis is a result of an integration of what you heard/read and your ability to use this learning to develop and support a key thesis or argument. Learning to write a synthesis paper is a critical skill, crucial to organizing and presenting information is academic and non-academic settings.” (adopted from http://archives.evergreen.edu/webpages/curricular/2001-2002/poliecon2001/synthesis.htm)
VI. You must have the writing center review the paper (each draft) and revise it accordingly. Your submission must have two versions, one with comments from the writing center and the revised version according to the writing center comments. Submitting a draft without the revision will receive 50% deduction.
• Writing and Learning Commons (WaLC)
The Writing and Learning Commons (WaLC), located in Belk 207, provides free course tutoring, writing tutoring, supplemental instruction (SI) sessions, academic skills consultations, international student consultations, and online writing and learning resources for all students. To view schedules and make appointments for any of these services, visit http://tutoring.wcu.edu/ or call 828-227-2274.
VII. Paper Structure
1) First Draft (25 points)
• Double spaced
• 12-font size Times New Roman
• At least 5 pages excluding the cover page
• Must written in Word format
• A paper must follow the layout (for each draft)
Cover page with a proper title
Heading – Article Summary
Title of 1st article, author’s name, and URL to the article.
Title of 2nd article, author’s name, and URL to the article.
Title of 3rd article, author’s name, and URL to the article.
Heading – Synthesized Reflection
• Email the first draft to the instructor by March 6.
2) Second Draft (25 points)
• You are expected to revise your first draft according to the instructor’s comments/feedback.
• If you do not agree with a certain comment, you must write a note in the assignment to let the instructor know. Otherwise, not revising the paper accordingly will result in losing some points.
• Email the second draft to the instructor by April 3.
• Your second draft will be graded based on the quantity and quality of the revision you did according to the instructor’s comments/feedback.
3) Final Draft (50 points)
• Revise the second draft according to the instructor’s feedback.
• Email the final draft to the instructor by April 24.
• You will receive a C if a paper is submitted without strong evidence of revision.
VIII. Style in Business Writing
• The paper must be written in a business writing style.
• To develop an effective business writing style (adopted from http://pages.uoregon.edu/ddusseau/101/199/style.html)
• Use shorter sentences.
• Use simpler sentence structures.
• Use active voice.
• Write from the point of view of the company/manager.
• Avoid nominalizing verbs. (changing verbs into nouns, i.e. “decide” into “decision.”)
• Recommend action rather than refer to individual mental states (i.e. I think, I feel like, etc.).
• Avoid personalizing pronouns such as “they,” “it,” “those,” “you,” and “these.”
• For example, change “You need to….” to “Managers need to…” “They need to…” to “Employees need to…”
IX. Most common mistakes student make
• Do not cite the articles to support the main argument.
• Forget to put the citation information.
• Argue importance of each article instead of the topic of choice
• Abused use of “you,” “it,” “they,” “that,” “this,” etc.
X. Minimize direct quotes
Minimize the direct quotes to only unique ideas or phrases. Do not use direct quotes more than five in the entire paper. You should paraphrase the ideas, sentences, phrases, etc. to fit in your context. Direct quotations usually do not help the writing, and they often break the flows. Each direct quotation more than five will receive 2 points deduction.
XI. In-text Citation
• Include an in-text citation when you refer to, summarize, paraphrase, or quote from another source. For every in-text citation in your paper, there must be a corresponding entry in your reference list.
• APA in-text citation style uses the author’s last name and the year of publication, for example: (Field, 2005). For direct quotations, include the page number as well, for example: (Field, 2005, p. 14). For sources such as websites and e-books that have no page numbers, use a paragraph number. More information on citing sources without pagination is given on the APA Style web page.
• Example paragraph with in-text citations
A few researchers in the linguistics field have developed training programs designed to improve native speakers’ ability to understand accented speech (Derwing, Rossiter, & Munro, 2002; Thomas, 2004). Their training techniques are based on the research described above indicating that comprehension improves with exposure to non-native speech. Derwing et al. (2002) conducted their training with students preparing to be social workers, but note that other professionals who work with non-native speakers could benefit from a similar program.
XII. References
• Derwing, T. M., Rossiter, M. J., & Munro, M. J. (2002). Teaching native speakers to listen to foreign-accented speech. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 23(4), 245-259.
• Thomas, H. K. (2004). Training strategies for improving listeners’ comprehension of foreign-accented speech (Doctoral dissertation). University of Colorado, Boulder.
XIII. Grading
Article Summary
The purpose of the summaries is to give a manager a clear overview of the article’s main points.
• The criteria for the summaries are
o Conciseness and accuracy
o Comprehensiveness and balance
o Follow the heading instruction
• Heading – Article Summary
• Article 1: Title, Author, and URL
• Article 2: Title, Author, and URL
• Article 3: Title, Author, and URL
o This section should be 2-3 pages.
Synthesized Reflection
The criteria for this section are
• Clearly stated the impact or importance the topic has on managers
o State WHY the topic is important
o Using examples is a good way to explain why the topic is important
• Organization should be logical
• Paragraphs should be developed with pertinent examples or citations from the articles used for the summary
• Writing style will be suited to the intended readers
• Citing all three articles to support the main argument
o Read the in-text citation info
o In-text citation is different than reference list
o Citations must follow APA style
o For more information about APA style, go to https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
• Heading – Synthesized Reflection
• This section should be 2-3 pages long
Clarity, Readability, Grammatical Correctness, Format
• The paper must be typed, double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font.
• Expected length is at least 5 pages.
• Cover page – include a title of your topic and student number
• Include copies or links of articles that you read from the sources
• Put articles’ title and authors’ name and URL to the article on top of each summary.
• Use headings and subheadings
Grading Rubric
• Content and Development: 50%
• Organization and Structure: 30%
• Format: 10%
• Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling: 10%