Project Managment - Milestone 1

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Graduate Students’ Research Paper for CIS 633

Project management is a challenging field and there are project successes, but even more project failures. We should learn both from successes and failed projects. You are to select a project that has been challenged, failed, or succeed. The project should be large enough to have caught the attention of the press. If you choose a failed project, you will evaluate the project for what went wrong. If you choose a successful project, you will evaluate the project for what went right to contribute to the project success.

The purpose of this research assignment is to help prepare you for a job in project management. By evaluating a real-world project, we can learn from others’ experiences and increase our understanding of the field. We can also learn best practices.

You are to write a 5-7 page paper on the project. Your research should include reading 6-10 academic journal papers on the project. To complete the research project successfully, you must do several things:

• Gain sufficient background and knowledge to provide a basis for understanding the project.

• Use what you learn in class and your own experience to evaluate the following in the project:

o Risks in the project o Constraints o What went wrong o What went right o Provide recommendations you would have made had you been the project

manager

At this stage in your college career, you are expected to have gained proficiency in written communication. This assignment will require that you demonstrate that proficiency. Your research paper should clearly communicate the details and critical analysis of your topic in an organized and concise manner. The paper should be understandable to persons with little or no background in the project you selected.

The research paper will be broken down into small milestones that will be due throughout the course. These milestones include topic selection, an outline and references, and a final paper. Details regarding the requirements for each milestone is provided in the next section.

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Milestones

Milestone 1 – Topic and Overview

Review the details regarding the research project and select a project to analyze and write about. Once you have selected a project to analyze, the next step is to refine your topic and write a clear thesis statement and purpose. Complete the following for Milestone 1:

Topic: Clearly state your topic and the project you have chose to evaluate.

Audience: State who the intended audience will be, other than your professors and fellow students.

Purpose: Provide 1-2 sentences describing the purpose of the paper, also known as the thesis statement.

Overview: Write 1-2 paragraphs providing a brief overview of your paper. This could include subtopics or how you plan to approach the topic.

You will be graded on the completeness of these 4 areas in addition to the criteria for writing assignments. Refer to the grading criteria available in the following folder Syllabus> Grading Policy Information> Assessing Writing Assignments .

(40 points)

Milestone 2 – Outline and References

Develop an outline for your research paper and include a list of at least 6 references. The outline must contain a complete set of top-level headings. Each lowest level heading must be accompanied by at least one full sentence describing the content of that section. Additional detail is encouraged but not required. Your final research paper is not required to match exactly the outline submitted for this milestone.

Example Outline:

I. Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons for the Trilogy project failure.

II. Project Overview: This section will provide a brief overview of the project, focusing on the aspects of the project that will be used in discussion.

i. Scope of Project: This section discusses the scope of the project. ii. Risks of Project: Provides the risks in the project.

Develop a set of references. The reference list must follow APA style formatting. At least 2 of your references should be from academic sources.

(50 points)

Milestone 3 – Final Paper

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Your final paper should be 5-7 pages in length excluding the title page and references pages. Your paper should also be in APA style format. You will be graded on your research as well as the quality of your paper. Please refer to the grading rubric for information on how your assignment will be assessed. Refer to the grading criteria available in the following folder Syllabus> Grading Policy Information> Assessing Res earch Papers .

(125 points)

Schedule and Grading

Week Points Milestone 1 Week 4 40 points Milestone 2 Week 7 50 points Milestone 3 Week 11 125 points

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Policy on Plagiarism

Plagiarism shall be considered an act of academic dishonesty and shall be dealt with in accordance with the university policy on academic dishonesty. The following paragraphs detail the definition(s) of plagiarism for this assignment and the penalties that shall be imposed.

Plagiarism is defined as any misrepresentation of the work of another as your own. The simplest form of plagiarism is the use of small portions of the written work of another (either word for word or paraphrased). More complex and severe instances include the use of the outline and bibliography of another person's paper, copying significant portions of another person's work (e.g., entire sentences, paragraphs, or sections), and the misrepresentation of an entire paper as your own work (e.g., the purchase of a paper or the use of an entire paper from a previous semester). Plagiarism can also apply to non-textual material (e.g., graphs and figures).

Plagiarism does not exist when adequate reference is made to the work of another when that work is included in your paper. Adequate reference requires that the included material be quoted and explicitly referenced (either by a footnote or reference to a specific item in the bibliography). Note that although you may avoid plagiarism by adequate reference, a paper that contains large amounts of such referenced material will generally be graded poorly because it will not adequately demonstrate your own mastery of the material.