Week 8 Final Assessment

The writing assignment will demonstrate writing across the curriculum by responding to the following topic in a 4 to 5 page paper. Your paper must include at least five external scholarly journal references. In Lessons > Additional Resources, there are APA 6th ed. guidelines to assist you in formatting your paper.

Topic: Discuss the purpose and importance of financial ratios and financial analysis. What are the limitations of financial ratio analysis? If we divided the users of financial ratios, such as short-term lenders, long-term lenders, and stockholders, which ratios would each prefer and why? Provide examples.

Your paper must be formatted according to APA 6th edition. Save your document as “LastnameFirstinitial-FINC300-8″.  Submit your paper by Day 7 (Sunday), 11:55 pm ET.

Guidelines

Writing Assignment Requirements

Content (60%)

Response demonstrate a clear understanding of the key elements of assignment questions.
Responses thoroughly cover the elements in a substantive manner.
Response demonstrates critical thinking and analysis.
Content is complete and accurate.
Introduction and conclusion provides adequate information on the given topic.

Organization (20%)

Paper structure is clear and easy to follow.
Ideas flow in a logical sequence.
Introduction provides a sound introduction to the topic and previews major points.
Paragraph transitions are logical and support the flow of thought throughout the paper.
The conclusion thoroughly reviews the major points.

Writing Style,
Grammar, APA Format (20%)

Sentences are well constructed, complete, clear, and concise.
Words used are specific and unambiguous.
The tone is appropriate to the content and assignment.
Grammar, spelling and punctuation are correct.
APA guidelines (6th edition) are followed, such as title page, headers, citations, references, etc.
Effective use of aids, such as sections, summaries, table of contents, indices, and appendices (if appropriate)

Once you submit your file to the Assignment link within the course, a turnitin report will be automatically created. You no longer are required to submit your paper directly to the turnitin website. Similarity Index should not exceed 25%

Abstract (not required for this paper)
An abstract is a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of a paper (American Psychological Association, 2001) that runs a maximum of 120 words. It should contain a synopsis of the points in the paper, but also be readable and well organized. To use this page of the template, simply delete this paragraph and start typing. The formatting should stay the same.

Typing Template for APA Papers
This is an electronic template for papers written in APA style (American Psychological Association, 2009).  The purpose of the template is to help the student set the margins and spacing.  Margins are set at 1 inch for top, bottom, left, and right.  The type is left-justified only—that means the left margin is straight, but the right margin is ragged.  Each paragraph is indented five spaces.  It is best to use the tab key to indent, since five spaces on the computer is different from five spaces on a typewriter.  The line spacing is double throughout the paper, even on the reference page.  Two spaces are used after punctuation.  The font style used in this template is Times New Roman and the font size is 12, which is now required in APA 6th edition.
First Heading (Introduction)
The heading above would be used if you want to have your paper divided into sections based on content. This is the first level of heading, and it is centered and bolded with each word of four letters or more capitalized. The heading should be a short descriptor of the section. Note that not all papers will have headings or subheadings in them.
First Subheading
The subheading above would be used if there are several sections within the topic labeled in a heading. The subheading is flush left and bolded, with each word of four letters or more capitalized.
Second Subheading
APA dictates that you should avoid having only one subsection heading and subsection within a section. In other words, use at least two subheadings under a main heading, or do not use any at all.
Conclusion
Wrap up major points in a few sentences.

When you are ready to write, and after having read these instructions completely, you can delete these directions and start typing.  The formatting should stay the same.  However, one item that you will have to change is the page header, which is placed at the top of each page along with the page number.  The words included in the page header should be reflective of the title of your paper, so that if the pages are intermixed with other papers they will be identifiable.  When using Word 2003 at a minimum, double click on the words in the page header.  This should enable you to edit the words.  You should not have to edit the page numbers.
In addition to spacing, APA style includes a special way of citing resource articles.  See the APA manual for specifics regarding in-text citations.  The APA manual also discusses the desired tone of writing, grammar, punctuation, formatting for numbers, and a variety of other important topics.  Although the APA style rules are used in this template, the purpose of the template is only to demonstrate spacing and the general parts of the paper.  The student will need to refer to the APA manual for other format directions. A sample reference page is included below; however, this page includes special spacing and formatting.  The examples on the following page include examples taken directly from the APA manual.

References (samples)
Daresh, J. C. (2004). Beginning the assistant principalship: A practical guide for     new school administrators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Herbst-Damm, K. L., & Kulik, J. A. (2005). Volunteer support, marital status, and the survival times of terminally ill patients. Health Psychology, 24, 225-229. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.24.2.225
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (2003). Managing asthma: A guide for schools (NIH Publication No. 02-2650). Retrieved from http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/
health/prof/asthma/asth_sch.pdf