Overview:
All students completing MRKT1001 should be able to apply marketing and research related skills and knowledge by reading, reviewing and presenting on a marketing issue identified in the news. This is a ‘hands on’ assessment where student will demonstrate that have identified, read and understood a current issue in the business field of marketing, and to demonstrate individual critical thinking abilities.
The purpose of the article review and presentation is to identify and analyse a marketing issue that can become the main business challenge or opportunity for a company or industry.
Students work alone for this assessment, the mark is individual.
Instructions:
This assessment consists of two parts and requires student to prepare and deliver one written Article Review and one short Article Presentation.
The assessment is valued at 15% of the overall course grade, and is graded as per below:
1) Article Review: well-written analysis of the marketing issue identified in the news (10%)
2) Article Presentation: brief presentation of the main points presented in the article (5%)
Important Deadlines:
Marketing in the News Article: review all types of print or online media, and select ONE article about ONE current issue in marketing (a story that can not be more than two weeks old).
- Deadline : Thursday, October 5, 2023
Article Analysis and Presentation: the article analysis document (with Cover Page) prepared and submitted BEFORE the classroom presentation, as scheduled by instructor.
Next Steps:
Below are listed the five steps needed to complete this assessment:
- Review all types of print and online media and select and select ONE article referring to one current marketing issue.
- Read carefully a few times the article and evaluate its content for relevance to the marketing course; it has to be also an interesting topic for you!
- Prepare a 1-2 page document with the article review, evaluate your analysis, and submit the document in D2l before the presentation in class.
- Prepare and present in class, as scheduled, most important finding from your analysis of this article.
Article Review:
The Article Review is a short business document that analyses the content and the marketing issues presented in the article. The findings of the article review should help students understand how to approach a specific business problem, challenge, or opportunity.
Each student prepares a well-written, Article Review of no more than 2 pages in length (minimum 500 words, or about 1 page).
Students work alone, only one Article Review is submitted for marking.
The Article Review should include the following five sections:
- Cover Page and Table of Contents (corresponding to your subtitles)
Course name, number, section number, semester (i.e. MRKT1001 Fall 2023, section1)
Student name and ID
Instructor’s name
- Article Introduction/Background
It introduces briefly the article title, main topic, the author and the source of the article. It also describes briefly the company (or the brand) and the product(s) discussed in the article.
This part also demonstrates the student’s motivation and interest in the article and the topic.
- Article Summary of the article’s main points
In this section the student will gather data and information from the article, and will summarize article’s main points, in a descriptive manner.
- Marketing Issue
Following points are important to be discussed and reflected upon in this section
- What problem/opportunity is the organization facing and has to address and/or to solve?
- What problem/opportunity is the product (good or service) meant to address and/or to solve?
- What is the evidence offered to support the author’s main point, and what are possible flaws in the argument made by the author?
- What is the management doing, what are the decisions to capitalize on the business opportunity or to recover?
- What is the significance of the article, its connection to concepts in the course, and/or its importance in the field of marketing or more specifically, digital marketing?
- Recommendations
Based on current marketing knowledge and expertise, students can formulate a set of recommendation on how the company could enhance its response to the identified marketing issue.
This part of the article review and the analysis of the marketing issue can be the starting point for the Marketing Plan to be prepared later in this course.
Article Presentation
Each student prepare a structured, but brief, presentation of main finding(s) after the analysis of the article and of the marketing issue. This is a presentation of no more than 5 minutes in length (minimum 2 minutes). Additional 5 minutes are allowed for taking questions from the audience, about the article’s findings.
Consider that primary audience for the presentation (and the article review) is your instructor and your colleagues. As such, student should keep in mind an academic audience interested in the topic. All business writing should be done with an eye toward professionalism. After all, outside of the university (and sometimes for academic courses), the audience for writing will be a colleague or client. In this assessment, the presentation and writing should not be overly formal, but rather should communicate with the reader in a respectful and efficient manner.
Resources:
You are encouraged to consult as many resources as possible such as:
- Reading your textbook and slides throughout the course: chapters 1 to 16
- Notes for activities completed in class time.
- Internet search for similar companies or industry information such as reports, articles, digital media sites (e.g. websites, social media), etc.
- The library to search for information and/or to get help with references. Passport is a great
- industry data website you can visit for free from the CNA-Q library website.
Formatting:
1) All sections in the Article Review must be written and answered in your own words and in complete sentences.
2) Bullets should only be used to present a list of items and should not be an answer on their own.
3) Body of the article should be: 1/5 or double-spaced; 12-point font (Arial is preferred); and a footer including page numbering.
Referencing:
Be sure to list all references at the end in a List of References page, a new page, at the end of your handout.
You must indicate your references both in-text, and at the end, in the List of References. You need to indicate your sources every time you use a book from the library, or the textbook, or webpages from the Internet.
You will use APA-style referencing. You can start with the APA folder on D2L. Here you will find a tutorial on APA, information on plagiarism, and other resources to help you practice APA. If self-study using D2L is not for you, the Writing Centre or the library will be a huge help to you while you learn to apply this.
