Report Marking Guide Autumn 2019

Word limits: 3000 words (excluding abstract and references)
Instructions:
Your report should be delivered in sections consisting of,
1. Abstract: Provide a short (150 words or so) description of the research and
finding. (2 mark)
2. Introduction: Provide an overview of the position taken, the data used to
support it, and analysis contained in the report and the conclusion. Be sure to
only provide an overview. Think of it as an advertisement to entice the reader
to read the rest of the report. (2 marks)
3. Data: Include all of the facts and data used in support of the analysis. Use the
data to characterize the current state of the business (for managerial decisions)
or economic (for policy decisions) activities and to provide support for the
eventual analysis and conclusion. The data should be derived from a number
of sources. All data included should serve a purpose within the report.
Properly cite all sources. (8 marks)
4. Analysis: Use analytical tools (economic/managerial models and
economic reasoning developed in class) to describe the state of the
business activities, make predictions, analyse events, and assess the
managerial or policy decisions. (14 marks)
5. Conclusion: Tie together the presented data and analysis to draw conclusions
regarding business/policy and decisions or recommendation. (2 marks)
6. References: Present, appropriately, correctly, and consistently structured (for
example, consistent use of the Harvard style), data sources and figures cited,
and all non-original materials cited. (2 marks)
Making Strategy:
Phase I: Read and assess each section in isolation
I will evaluate whether the section served its purpose in isolation, without reading the
rest of the paper. That is, for example, I will read all of the abstracts together. I will
evaluate each abstract on whether it serves its purpose to summarize the approach and
findings. I will do the same for each section.
Phase II
I will read each paper in its entirety to confirm that the report follows a natural and
coherent progression, provides appropriate data for the subsequent analysis, supports
any claims with appropriate data and analysis, and determine that the conclusions are
supported by the body of the paper. Unsupported claims will result in deductions.
Suggestions as you develop your report:
DO: Keep each section pure. The data section should only present data and not
contain analysis. The analysis section should contain all of the analysis within the
report and only analysis.
DO NOT: Write a summary of the others’ report on the same business/policy
decisions. Your job is to assess the case independently. You will want to access a
variety of data sources, conduct your own analysis, and make your own assessment.
Any reference to the others’ analysis is the starting point for your own analysis and
discussion, not the conclusion.
DO NOT: Rely on quotes from experts to provide support for an argument or position
you wish to advance. For this report, you are the expert. Make your case in support of
a position using data, models, and sound economic reasoning.
DO NOT: Make unsupported claims. Do not, for example, describe a new policy
initiative and then claim that it will be good for the economy without having provided
original analysis (and definitely not a quote from an expert) to support the claim