Paper details:Topic Chosen:The Impact of Inflation, Interest Rate Risk and Profitability of both Islamic and Conventional Banks in the UAE
BUS 497 Fall2013
Senior Project
GUIDELINES
INTRODUCTION
The Capstone project is an opportunity to demonstrate that you have synthesized, integrated, and applied your knowledge and skills to produce a creative business project.

The Project itself should allow you to integrate your academic knowledge and apply the Zayed University and College of Business Sciences Learning Outcomes.

You are required to:
 Research a problem area;
 Collect additional data;
 Analyze and formulate conclusions;
 Make recommendations.

Students usually choose to work in teams on their Capstone Project. This approach allows students to combine their special knowledge and skills with others in a real team effort.

The Capstone Project can be one of the following:
1. A business problem which you have identified in conjunction with faculty in your concentration.
2. A discrete research project identified in conjunction with a member of faculty and agreed with your supervisor.
3. A study of an aspect of your business concentration and its application to a real work situation.
There are three stages to the Capstone Project process which are discussed in the following sections of this report. Please refer to this report throughout the term as careful compliance to the sections and directions will have a direct bearing on your grade.
STAGE 1-PROJECT PROPOSAL
In BUS 417 students are required to write a capstone project proposal. This has to have been approved by your Capstone Supervisor. This should be no less than 2000 words and should identify:

1. The title of the project
2. The people on your team* and each team member’s area of specialization, as well as a detailed description of each person’s responsibilities
3. The problem area you wish to examine
4. The research question(s)
5. The proposed methods of examination – separated into primary and secondary research:
a. Indicate specific sources,
b. Why these are appropriate,
c. What type of information you will gather from these
d. How you will access these
6. The proposed time frame for the work in detailed chart form.

*A maximum of four people may work together to submit a proposal for BUS 417. No two groups may submit the same (or a very similar) proposal for BUS 417. Approval is at the discretion of the professor teaching BUS 417.
STAGE 2-IMPLEMENTATION

Once BUS 417 has been successfully completed, move to Stage 2 where you actually carry out the project. It is very important that you work closely with your supervisor, both formally and informally in a close, participative way in order to maximize the potential of the project. Indeed, working closely with your supervisor is one of the keys to a successful Capstone Project.

Meet with your supervisor frequently to review progress and discuss problem issues. Your supervisor will keep a record of these meetings. Failure to meet with your supervisor will almost certainly result in project failure.

Please be respectful of your supervisor. Please give plenty of notice when making appointments and indicate specifically what you would like to discuss. Use email as much as possible to handle small queries.

Whenever you send a file, you MUST name the file [project name – date], for example: Expatriate Adaptation Feb 13 2013. This will ensure that your supervisors are reviewing the correct draft of your project.
Key success factors when working on the project include:
1. Work closely with your supervisor to ensure that the direction, methods of inquiry, ideas and suggestions, meet the standards required.
2. Identify what you would like to write about and link this to your MALOs and ZULOs as far as possible.
3. Conduct a literature review and search though text books, electronic databases and any other sources of information that are relevant. It is important to link what you want to say with what academics have written.
4. If you are collecting information, through surveys or questionnaires, for example, make sure that you are using appropriate collection methods. No questionnaires can be issued without the prior approval of your supervisor.
5. At the end of your report you should include a Recommendations and a Conclusions section.
6. At the end of the term, you will be asked to complete a peer evaluation on the contributions of each team member.

Appendix A to this document outlines detailed guidelines for the layout of the final report. These should be followed as closely as possible.
STAGE 3-POSTER PRESENTATION

Posters will illustrate the highlights of the project, including the research question, the methods used for the project, the results, and any conclusions or recommendations the team have decided on. Further, the detailed content of the poster will be decided in conjunction with your supervisor, however the poster should be 60 X 80 cm in size.

CALENDAR

This calendar will help you to plan your time. Use it to discuss your plans with your capstone supervisor.

TASK DUE DATE SIGNATURE
Final draft A week before last day of classes
Poster presentation A week before last day of classes

APPENDIX A: FINAL REPORT DRAFTING GUIDELINES
The final report should be approximately 10,000 – 12,000 words. This equals about 20 – 30 pages of typescript in APA style unless specified otherwise in the instructions below.
STRUCTURE OF THE REPORT

a. Title Page—This should include:
i. Title of the Project
ii. Any restrictions upon disclosure
iii. Name of the sponsoring organization (if required)
iv. Names of the Team Members
v. Submission date
vi. The following sentence in BOLD at the bottom of the front page: “Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree Business Studies Program. College of Business, Zayed University, Dubai Campus.”

b. Executive Summary—one side of A4. This describes what was done, why it was done, how it was done, and what was found.

c. Table of Contents—-Be sure to provide page numbers!

d. Acknowledgements—-List all the people who have provided assistance, ensuring that you use people’s correct titles, names and qualifications. You may want to make a general reference to the help received from informants as a whole. Be careful when making a particular reference to individuals if they have supplied confidential, contentious or potentially embarrassing information or opinions.

e. Problem Statement/Area of Study—A concise account—preferably just one or two sentences of the problem or issue that the project intends to address.

f. Background to the Problem/Literature Review—This section can include information that is necessary to set the project in its context. Include a short factual description and history of the project and an overview of relevant journal articles and books that have been written about the topic.

g. Research Objectives—What the research is attempting to achieve.

h. Research Methods—What choice of research methods has been made and why. How the methods will help the analysis. Explain here the sampling procedures, data collection strategies, etc.

i. Analysis and Findings—This is the main part of the report and includes the statistical and other “evidence” you have to support your analysis. Good presentation is critical as much of the material here will be technical and detailed.

j. Limitations– Detail any problems encountered or changes of approach as well as recommendations for future research.

k. Conclusions—What do the findings mean? How you have interpreted the evidence.
l. Recommendations—Based on the analysis and conclusions, the project may include recommendations or courses of action for the organization. The recommendations are the managerial implications of the findings and conclusions.

m. Reference List—A detailed listing of all the sources mentioned in the report.

n. Appendices—Put detailed research material in an appendix, e.g., surveys, analysis and tables including the results of open ended interviews. Be sure to discuss or refer to all material in the appendices in the formal report. The first section of the appendix should detail the research methodology tools. Here you should include everything that was important to the research process. It should include any problems encountered and any changes you made. Items that should be included are:
• Copies of all research tools used for data collection;
• A detailed description of the different iteration these tools took;
• Samples of any questionnaires use;
• What (if any) software you used and how the data was analyzed;
• Tables of results;
• Additional tables that relate to your findings.

The second part of the appendix should detail your reflection. Discuss how the project addresses the University ZULOs and College MALOs
This is your critical appraisal of the project and should include two sections. Reflections on your research and how it could be improved:
• Its strengths and weaknesses with comments on improvements that can be made;
• Problems encountered and strategies used to overcome them;
• Further research that is suggested by the results.
The second section of your reflection should be a reflection on your learning process. The purpose of this section is to explain and to illustrate – through examples from your Capstone Project experience – how you have achieved the learning objectives of your ZULOs/MALOs. This should be written as a personal narrative using “I” or “we”.
Suggested steps for writing this section:
Select three of the five Zayed University ZULOs. Your first paragraph should explain why you have chosen these three ZULOs. Each separate “reflection” should be focused and written concisely: no extra thoughts, no extra words, using one paragraph for each ZULO relating it to its MALOs. Use examples/evidence/events from your capstone project experience as proof to demonstrate you have met the learning outcome.
Your final paragraph should summarize and suggest how the learning you achieved through your project will be of benefit to you in your future career. If appropriate, it should describe the benefits and contributions you can make to your future employer and the socio-economic development