The Legal Case is : Kelo v. City of New London Attached is an excerpt of the case from the textbook as well as the entire case. You must access the entire case, not just the excerpt in the textbook, or case briefs or summaries online. When one starts researching, it may take a great deal of time at first to find the information needed, but with practice, it becomes easier and quicker. The library’s webpage is an excellent source of resource material. You may find your case through the library’s web page through databases available free while you are a student, such as Westlaw or Lexis-Nexis. Supreme Court cases are at the U.S. Supreme Court’s web page, supremecourt.gov. Other federal and state court’s webpages also have the cases. Findlaw also has cases and statutes at findlaw.com/casecode/. There are also other free reputable sources to find cases such as justia.com/cases. When doing research, please remember that primary sources, i.e., the law itself, or the actual cases and statutes, are much more important than secondary sources, or what the media says that the law states. We will emphasize this throughout the class, but when getting a start on your research, remember to always go to the primary source, that is the actual full case itself, whenever possible. Secondary sources vary in their accuracy. In the experience of prior MBA students, Wikipedia is a risky source to use, because it occasionally has incorrect or outdated information. This project has many learning objectives, including getting you ready for your thesis in a year. Please use APA format since you will use APA for your thesis in a year. Below is a suggested format for the research papers. This is just a suggestion, though, and different papers may vary depending on the topic. Title page – The APA Manual says, have a title, plus a byline (author’s name) and institutional affiliation. So, at the beginning, have the title of your case study, and your name and institutional affiliation. My suggestion in addition is, also include a copyright notice (we’ll discuss why this is important later in the course) The APA Manual discusses the abstract. An abstract is not required for this case study paper, but it will be required for your thesis. Introduction – The APA Manual discusses the introduction, which is required for this paper. The APA Manual discusses the introduction as an overview of your paper. You may want to write this last, or towards the end of the writing process, as you may not know initially exactly where your paper is headed. In the case study, you may want to deviate a bit from the formality of the introduction required by the APA Manual for your thesis. In the case study paper, you’ll catch the reader’s attention, perhaps with a quote or a scenario, and get the reader intrigued and involved with your topic. You may want to tell the reader (me) why you wrote this particular paper. Give the reader a “roadmap” of what’s coming in the paper, and perhaps tell the reader what is not covered in the scope of the paper. Body of the paper – The APA Manual discusses a Methods and a Results section. The case study is different, and you will discuss your case, instead. The body of your case study paper is the heart of your paper. You’ll want to give a factual, objective discussion of the issue(s), case(s), statute(s), and/or other issues related to the topic. A chronological explanation of what has happened (the facts of the case) is usually very helpful, instead of skipping around. But, be careful that the facts don’t read like a timeline. You’ll want to discuss how the case proceeded through the court system. If yours is a U.S. Supreme Court case, briefly discuss what the district court held, then what the appeals court held, and most importantly, what the Supreme Court held, and why. The most important level of court to discuss is the precedent-setting level. The other sections may be shorter. In the body, you’ll also want to discuss the legal issues involved. Be sure that you are fair and balanced, giving both or all sides of an argument. It’s fine to have strong opinions on issues; I do, too. But one is a much better negotiator or advocate when one is able to understand, and if necessary, refute the arguments on the other side of an issue. Be sure to use paragraph breaks; sometimes writers have paragraphs that last a page or more, and this is really difficult for the reader to follow. The APA Manual discusses writing style and stresses clear communication. Express yourself smoothly and precisely, in an orderly manner, using an appropriate professional tone. In giving a narrative, past tense works best. Be both concise and precise. The APA Manual suggests headings, and I agree. Headings could be, “District Court,” “Court of Appeals”, and “U.S. Supreme Court,” for example. This helps your reader to know what level of court you are discussing. A key thing to discuss is why this case matters, what I call the “so what” factor, or the implications of the case. After you discuss your case and what the highest court held, I then want a subjective analysis of what you think, what could have been done or what should be done, what other businesses and business and healthcare professionals can learn from this case, and recommendations and predictions. This analysis section is a very important part of your case study paper. Again, it is getting you ready for your healthcare analysis paper/thesis in your last, capstone class. Conclusion – Wrap it all up. William Zinsser, author of “On Writing Well,” states that if your reader has stuck with you thus far, you owe your reader a strong conclusion. Reference list – I’m looking for an extensive list of substantive resources. Again, your “primary source” is the actual full case. Use APA format for your references. If you’re discussing a case, give me the name of the case and the case’s citation, which includes indicators of the court and the year. This information is always found at the beginning of the case, even if the case is retrieved electronically from a credible source such as Lexis-Nexis or findlaw.com. Don’t just say, “findlaw,” and don’t give me the randomly generated URL from Lexis-Nexis (it’s not used consistently and will be regenerated in the next search), because the reader won’t be able to find your source. A very important part of writing is revising and editing. The APA Manual suggests, and I agree, that after you have written your paper, then put it aside, and come back to it and edit and revise. Don’t turn in a rough draft. The grade includes a grammar and writing component. Please proofread. Check the suggestions your word processor makes, and there may be additional corrections. The APA Manual has extensive suggestions on issues such as punctuation and spacing. The paper may be double spaced with any normal font and margins. The papers typically run seven to ten pages, double spaced. To avoid plagiarism, a serious Student Code violation, cite in-text very frequently to your sources. Even if you paraphrase, still cite to the original source of your material. A reasonable number of small quotes is also acceptable. When quoting, be sure to either put the direct quote in quotation marks, or single space and indent five spaces, plus cite your reader to where the quote came from. One of the most difficult parts of my job is dealing with plagiarism, and I don’t like to do it, and the sanctions are very high. So always cite to others’ words or ideas. Cutting and pasting is not acceptable, unless done sparingly, indicating to the reader that this is a direct quote by putting the quote in quotation mark, and in-text cite plus put the source in your references. Any time 3 or more words in a row are taken, quotation marks must be used. Our assignment dropbox uses Turnitin, which has a similarity score, which I check, and you should too, before final submission. One wants a low similarity score, below 30% for this paper (and below 20% for your thesis in a year). Turnitin is set up so that if you submit early, you may check your similarity score, and take the paper down to revise and resubmit before the deadline. It takes up to 24 hours to generate a new similarity score, however. The APA Manual states that if a quote is longer than 40 words, put it in a block of text, indented. Your papers may have appendices, not counting towards the page limits. For example, if you have long quotes, such as from a statute such as the Affordable Care Act, put it in an appendix, and paraphrase in the text and refer the reader to an appendix.
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