1. The Work Place Report 16 June 2017
Moving on from our initial thoughts…

2. Essential details: repeated!
Length of report is 5,000 words
Submission of draft work is Friday 30 June
Submission of final work is Friday 28 July
All submissions to both me and Robyn
Robyn: (bible p 21)
Susan: (p 21)

3. The aims The value of work experience on a BSc
The WPR should link in academic work with workplace… why?!
To use and relate your academic work
To develop your personal/professional qualities
To develop a more analytical understanding of how your organisation works… why?

4. WPR organisation focus
Principal products/services of the company and their characteristics (what are these?)
The main markets served… why this is important: analysing market characteristics
The main sources of competition
Types of technology involved
Historical development of the company
Mission statement and declared objectives…

5. … continued Financial structure Communication and information systems
Management style-values and priorities, responsiveness to external change and management succession (etc.)

6. The objectives
To present an outline of a company‘s organisation... And to focus on….
The place of particular department or section in which your work experience is/was undertaken… remember- the WPR is about YOU
To identify (perhaps special) opportunities… and problems faced, and the means taken to exploit/overcome these during the experience

7. … And then… analysis
To analyse the operations of the organisation in terms of such functions as its:
Logistics
Production and marketing
Approach to staffing
Financing
Approach to development of the business (e.g. to technological and staff developments…)

8. And… The Report may also be expected to show the impact of
Political changes
Government measures and policies
Changing social attitudes on the market – either in general or specifically that market supplied by the organisation
Changes in the industry to which the business belongs

9. Academic theories: essential
Your discussion may compare theory studied with operational practice
You will need to support arguments/ideas and suggestions by theory:
Primary authority… e.g. the law, organisational statements, company accounts, fact-sheets…
Secondary authority… published discussion, which contributes to a debate

10. The abstract... this is not the introduction
Why are we writing the report/what gap to fill/how did we do the research/what did we learn/what are the implications?
See p 4 of the report-writing guide from London Met (on the intranet)... The abstract summarises the entire discussion, in that it:
Outlines purpose of report and its research methods
Outlines the findings and recommendations

11. The introduction
Should introduce both the company and your role within the company
Needs to set out the specific objective of the report… which is- ?!
What are the key areas of focus of the report?
Should provide an overview of the report structure, contents and method of analysis
Needs to show how it will proceed to explore the topic/subject matter being discussed

12. Research and referencing
Use the Harvard referencing style… take time to proof and ensure that sources are correct
Citation… essential to substantiate research
A good range of literature is needed… and use Academic journals for top-class marks- why?
Link your own knowledge to the relevant theoretical underpinning to substantiate…
And to be able to give critical analysis.

13. Methodology Why and how? Essential questions
Use appropriate theoretical model(s)… and justify why you have used them… how to justify? Support from academic texts.
Examples of models for showing how/why you conducted your research: SWOT; Porter’s, PESTLE; fishbone; etc.
So – how you analysed your evidence!

14. Good luck!
Get writing and get that draft in!