Your workplace research brief will report on the research available about a specific topic you have chosen (discussed below)

Your workplace research brief will report on the research available about a specific topic you have chosen (discussed below). Since one document can’t possibly contain all the research on a subject, it is your task to focus on the most relevant and important research for your writing context. While a research brief is a synthesis of information it also seeks to evaluate and clarify the research it reports.

For this assignment you will choose a topic from our term’s general theme institutional/organizational/corporate change. You will need to ensure the scope of your topic will work well for the length of this assignment. Your audience the “decision makers,” who have the power to make your vision into reality.  Your purpose is to inform your audience about research available on the idea that you are proposing. Your job is not to provide specific recommendations, but rather information and analysis that can help them make informed decisions about your topic. 

Think of your task this way, your audience has some knowledge about your idea and thinks it has some potential. They don’t want a long report, but a memo instead that conveys some of the most important research available on your chosen topic. Your memo is to be simple yet thorough and written in a style that makes sense.

Once you have a topic selected write a research brief according to the instructions below.

Instructions

Review the following list (much like a checklist) to assist you in completing this assignment:

Ensure your research brief assignment is between 800 and 1000 words, not including your reference list.

Use the memo format for your document design.

Address the memo to a supervisor at a workplace, or an administrator at UFV (these can be fictional if necessary).

Use the assignment due date as your memo date.

Create an appropriate subject line.

Incorporate appropriate headings to guide the reader through your brief.

Include an introduction, body, and conclusion – as per class lecture/PowerPoint.

Include summary and analysis. (Do the research findings agree or disagree? Are there gaps in the research?)

Incorporate a minimum of five scholarly sources of research (scholarly journal articles, books, etc.). In addition to these you can include some non-scholarly sources if appropriate to your specific topic.

 after the last paragraph of your memo (single-space your references). Place these references under the heading “References”.

Note that you do not need to use APA in-text citations, but credit sources more informally in the body of your memo – as discussed in class -as suits the workplace environment. For example, listing the source name, author, or title in the sentence where you report the research instead of using a formal APA in-text citation.