Paper details:WALL STREET JOURNAL ARTICLE ASSIGNMENTS

An article assignment must discuss concepts such as exchange rate fluctuations, the international monetary system, and the global capital market, which are topics addressed in Chapters 10-12.

Assignment Description:

The purpose of these assignments is to demonstrate links between current events in the business world and the course material. Your goal is to demonstrate how specific course terms and concepts can be applied using the article’s content. In your article assignment, provide in your own words: 1) a one paragraph executive summary of the article’s content; and 2) a discussion and analysis of the specific course concepts illustrated in the article content. Your objective in the discussion and analysis section is to illustrate how the article’s content is related to ideas and concepts discussed in class and in the textbook. Your analysis of key concepts should demonstrate your mastery of advanced course concepts. Avoid merely defining a list of terms or providing simplistic and obvious applications that do not illustrate your understanding of relevant course concepts. Write your paper using an essay format and do not use lists of terms or highlight key terms in bold or italics. The target length for each article assignment is three double-spaced pages of content but there is no penalty for going over three pages, assuming you provide relevant, insightful content. The majority of your content should be in the discussion and analysis section rather than in your executive summary, which should only be approximately 150-200 words long.

Article Parameters:

Wall Street Journal articles that are comprehensive in scope and allow for broad-based applications of the course topics are most appropriate for these assignments. Generally, articles less than 550 words long do not have enough depth-of-coverage to be appropriate article selections for these assignments. Articles used for these assignments must have been published in the Wall Street Journal on or after January 10, 2016. The article you use for these assignments cannot be an article assigned in Blackboard to be used for in-class discussion. The articles I assign in Blackboard are posted on Friday afternoon for the upcoming week. I select articles from the previous Saturday through that day’s print edition of the paper. It is your responsibility to verify on the Friday afternoon before an assignment is due that the Wall Street Journal article you are considering reviewing has not been assigned for in-class discussion the following week.

The article you use for these assignments cannot be a blog post or a commentary piece, such as a letter to the editor, a book review, a remembrance, or an opinion piece. Commentary pieces are often written in the first person and contain opinion statements (e.g., I believe). In the print edition of the Wall Street Journal, articles published on the last page of the “C” section or on the last few pages of the “A” section, typically from page A17 onward, are usually commentary pieces. An easy way to determine if an article is an opinion piece is to read the print edition of the paper or to read the paper using your wsj.com account under the “Today’s Paper” section. If an article appears on a page or in a section with the heading “Opinion” or “Heard on the Street,” it should not be used for these assignments. You should also not use an article from the “Blogs” section of the wsj.com website. Blog posts are clearly indicated by the web address from the wsj.com site (i.e., “blogs” is the first word in the web address). The reason for restricting the use of commentary pieces and blog articles is that they are not subject to the same fact-finding standards as articles published in the paper, which are editorially reviewed for accuracy. Students who read the print edition of the Wall Street Journal on a regular basis have a much easier time finding relevant articles to use for these assignments.

You will receive a score of zero points: 1) if the article you analyze was published prior to January 10, 2016; 2) if the article you review is from a publication other than the Wall Street Journal; or 3) if the article you review was previously assigned in Blackboard and has already been the basis for in-class discussion. If you score zero points on an assignment, you will be allowed to complete the make-up assignment described later in the syllabus.