The IA Layout

The Internal Assessment (A total of 2000 words)

Executive Summary (Abstract) (200 words --not included in the word count)

From this point onward everything should be written in the past tense. For example,
"First the owner was contacted to discuss possible areas of concern..." Also, include
page numbers

Include:

 Give a very quick (i.e. 1 or 2 sentence) background of the type of

company and it's situation

 Give the RQ

 State the tools used

 Explain major primary and secondary sources used

 Explain your major findings,

 Mention a limitation of the findings.

Introduction (approx. 200 words)

Include:

 State the company name and explain what the company does (make
sure this is really clear),

 Explain one of their current strategic priorities,

 Explain what you are going to research (your RQ),

 Explain the sections of the course which are involved.

 The word count for this section.

Method Employed (approx. 200 words)

Include:
  More detail about your procedure --what kinds of primary and
secondary sources you used to explore your RQ

 Explain some of the sources of information you used (i.e. 'an interview
with X and Y and a survey of Z').

 Make it clear you had more than one source of primary data.

 (Very briefly) the benefit of using these sources.

 The business techniques and tools you used, and

 (Very briefly) the purpose of your business tools. (Watch this YouTube
clip if you aren't sure about how to choose your tools, because using the
right tools is essential to scoring well in your IA.)

 Explain how valid and reliabile your data collection was. For example,
how there may have been room for bias or a limited scope to your
research.

 Explain how valid your methods of gathering data were.

 Mention any changes made to your IA approach as the work progressed.

There should be several.

Main Results and Findings (approx. 300 words)

Include:

 A graph of some kind is recommended,

 A summary of your research, perhaps as a list of a few of the key facts

uncovered and their primary or secondary sources.

Analysis and discussion (approx. 900 words)

 A clear justification of the use of the theory (how it will help answer the
RQ),

 Make sure you are using the JAM structure and that as much of your
infomation as possible is coming through the tools (rather than in
paragraph form).

 The analysis (i.e. the SWOT, etc), and then

 The mini-conclusion (linking the findings of the tool to the RQ).

 I recommend at least one financial tool, but this should come after your
qualitative tools. In general we like to see qualitative tools (such as
 SWOT and PEST) come before the quantitative ones (like ratio analysis
and decision trees), because the qualitative tools set the scene and
provide context for the financials.

Conclusions (200 words)

No new data

 Pull your mini-conclusions together (synthesize them), make some

interesting insights based on them (i.e. pros and cons, short-term vs
long-term effects, possible stakeholder conflicts).

 This is where you really get to shine. Take time with your conclusion, so
you can really emphasize everything you've discovered and how it all fits
together to answer your RQ.

 Mention some limitations to your research. There needs to be at least

one, probably two. Show you have really reflected on your work. You
could discuss other information would it be very valuable to have, but
which you couldn't access. You could discuss possible inaccuracies in
your work and the reasons for those. This is similar to how you write
your EE reflections. (Here are some tips for that).

Recommendations (approx. 200 words)

Include:

 At least 3 recommendations,

 At least one additional type of research (or another question to research

in the future) which would help ensure the reliability of your findings. To
get full marks for your recommendations section (2/2) you need to do
this. (A student needs to have identified "areas for further study" for full
marks here).

 Make sure everything you write here is supported by your conclusion.

The recommendations also don't include any new information.

Works Cited (No word limit)

Include:

 At least 2 books (one of these can be the textbook)

 At least 2 interviews. If you can only do interview, then you'll definitely

need another source of primary research --a survey, observation data,
focus group data, etc).

 At least 4 internet sources,

  At least one source which shows your willingness to work hard and go
beyond the minimum requirements (i.e. a trade journal, an advanced
academic paper, an interview with a competitor).

Appendices (No word limit)

Include:

 Transcripts from your interviews,

 Additional analysis you did which didn’t fit in the body of your IA.

 Questionnaire results, details of the calculations you did for your

financial tool,

 Any other interesting data which you would like to refer to in the body
of your work (i.e. a market map, which you mention in the main body of
your work.