Paper Topic: Of your own choosing. You should develop an issue related to but not duplicating the course material (Chinese art from the Neolithic period to the 18th century) and submit the topic and your working bibliography (at least 3 sources) by August 25. The topic may be changed or developed as your research makes appropriate. Please make good use of provided references materials and digital resources available through the library website and major museum sites. Typical topics for term papers (among many other possibilities) might include a close study of a single monument or work of art, examination of developments within a single innovative artistic style, a particular aspect of a single artist’s work, or a carefully delimited discussion about the development of a particular type of subject matter, to mention only a few possibilities. The grade will be based on your clarity of presentation, perceptive use of existing scholarship, effectiveness of the evidence you present, the quality and persuasiveness of your argument, and the soundness of your conclusions.

In your research, use all the resources available to you in the library and on the web to find additional material about the topic in the form of books, articles, and images.

Your final paper, like all good writing, should be organized to tell a story or to solve a problem, with an introduction, presentation of the evidence, and clear conclusion. Achieving this goal usually requires careful editing and some rewriting, so don’t wait until the night before the paper is due to start writing, but budget your research time so that you can get to work on your draft as early as possible. Please edit the paper carefully and critically. This will probably lead you to do some reorganization, so please leave yourself adequate time to do so.

Technical matters:

The paper should be roughly 6-8 pages in length. Longer is acceptable, if needed, after editing, but not required.

Please type your paper in a font no smaller than 12 pitch, double spaced, and paginated.

Please use the standard scholarly note and bibliography format and cite all your sources. Include both notes and bibliography. You may use the textbook as a model for note and bibliography format. All sources, including online ones, should be documented.

Be careful and critical of your sources, especially online sources. Wikipedia is not scholarly and should not be cited as a primary source, although the better articles sometimes have bibliography that is well worth consulting. Academic, museum, and peer-reviewed sources should be your primary references. When in doubt, please ask.

Please include illustrations of the works of art you discuss or that support your argument. You should identify each illustration in a caption or list of illustrations in a format similar to what you see in the textbook. In addition to artist, title, medium and format, date, and dimensions, you should include the collection that owns the work, if known, and the source of your illustration (whether print and internet). Please do not insert the illustrations in the text, but append them at the end.

The assignment should contain THREE PARAGRAPHS (no need for headings or sub-headings):

Paragraph 1:

Major Problem / Summary of recommendations: You must identify what you perceive to be the major problem facing the company in this first paragraph. You must summarize in specific terms your proposed action and the benefits such action will bring to the organization. Specific suggests that you present recommendations in precise enough terms for a manager to make a decision after reading the first paragraph if the case situation were real and s/he agreed with your proposal.

Paragraph 2:

Rationale behind Recommendations: In this section, you will provide more specifics about your recommendations; including any pertinent background information that caused you to draw the conclusions that you did. This should include data from the case, and theoretical frameworks and concepts learned in class. For example, you could summarize the market, competitive, and internal factors behind your decision, giving a rationale for adopting your action plan in Paragraph 3 and discarding alternatives.Note, no plan is perfect, so you must examine the potential drawbacks to your recommendation.

Paragraph 3:

Action Plan: How will you achieve your goals? How will you bring these recommendations to fruition? This section must include a discussion of the marketing mix – including specifics about product or service (PRODUCT) the distribution (PLACE), pricing strategies (PRICE), advertising and promotion (PROMOTION). Also, you could list any other tactics that specifically address the problem in the company. Finally, does your Action Plan create any drawbacks as well? If so, how would you proceed?

Other important points:

• Include any quantitative analysis (profit calculations; break even etc.) that you believe would be important for the reader to understand the case that you are making. However, for this class I recommend that you focus on qualitative strategic issues. To that end, on occasion I will provide you with the required results of the quantitative analysis.
• Exhibits should be used judiciously. Use them to explain concepts that supplement your recommendations.This also gives you more space in the memo to make your case.
• This is a business memo. As stated earlier you should NOT use a conversational style and do NOT include personal anecdotes (e.g., When I was in Europe, the guys bought this stuff every day.)
• You assume the role of the main character who has to address the major issue; however, some students prefer to take the role of an outside consultant. Note, assuming either role is fine.

Final Thoughts

BE CONCISE: Flowery language has no place in a professional memo. If a paragraph is taking up half a page or more, it is not worded concisely enough and contains unnecessary information.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE: What additional information does the memo recipient need from you to make an informed decision? Use case data sparingly e.g., If writing a memo to the CEO of Mountain Man Brewing Co., there is no need to discuss the history of the company, or the existing product line.

STAY OBJECTIVE: To keep arguments as objective and unemotional as possible, avoid referring to yourself in the first person (“I believe”, “I think” etc.) unless absolutely necessary.

ANTICIPATE COUNTERARGUMENTS: Your recommendation and action plan are not perfect; acknowledge its imperfections and explain why the pros outweigh the cons. (e.g., you might state: “Even though reducing the price of Bose headphones may impact its image as a prestige brand, it is imperative that we do so because…”

1. Memoranda cannot be more than 550 words unless otherwise instructed (only the main body of the memo counts towards word limit).

2. Exhibits are not mandatory and should be used only when needed. If you use exhibits, make sure you reference them accurately in the text. Exhibits that are not referenced in the memo or that come across as superfluous will count against you. You are allowed 500 additional words for exhibits, but they MUST be relevant.

3. Please point out in the body of the memorandum those aspects of the exhibits to which particular attention should be given, and explain how those important factors are relevant to your arguments and recommendations.

4. Use footnotes in the exhibits to explain calculations or intricate relationships. Do not use footnotes in the main body of your memo.

5. Use a business/professional writing style (e.g., simple declarative sentences, active voice, avoid techno-babble and acronyms, focus on the relevant issues). Please avoid slang and a conversational style.

6. Please proofread your memoranda and exhibits carefully. There are writing services available for students that allow you to improve the readability of your written work. Please make use of them. Information is available through the Graduate Programs office.This is the single biggest pet peeve that I have regarding case memos and the one that is the easiest to remedy.

Instructions:

• Read the following scenario.
• Answer the questions that follow. This will be a 2-3 page submission in a question and answer format (also in paragraph form). An introduction and conclusion is not required.
• Refer back to your textbook for guidance on how to think through the scenario.

You have been recently hired as an assistant controller for XYZ Industries, a large, publically held manufacturing company. Your immediate supervisor is the controller who also reports directly to the VP of Finance. The controller has assigned you the task of preparing the year-end adjusting entries. In the receivables area, you have prepared an aging accounts receivable and have applied historical percentages to the balances of each of the age categories. The analysis indicates that an appropriate estimated balance for the allowance for uncollectible accounts is $180,000. The existing balance in the allowance account prior to any adjusting entry is a $20,000 credit balance.

After showing your analysis to the controller, he tells you to change the aging category of a large account from over 120 days to current status and to prepare a new invoice to the customer with a revised date that agrees with the new category. This will change the required allowance for uncollectible accounts from $180,000 to $135,000. Tactfully, you ask the controller for an explanation for the change and he tells you “We need the extra income, the bottom line is too low.”

Required:

In a 2-3 page paper, discuss the following:

• Consider what you have learned relative to ethics and financial reporting. What is the rationale for the calculations/process used to estimate the $180,000 uncollectible allowance?
• How do you think the misstatement of funds will impact the income statement and balance sheet?
• What is the ethical dilemma you face? What are the ethical considerations? Consider your options and responsibilities as assistant controller.
• Identify the key internal and external stakeholders. What are the negative impacts that can happen if you do not follow the instructions of your supervisor?
• What are the potential consequences if you do comply with your supervisor’s instructions? Who will be negatively impacted?

Additional Requirements:

• Use at least one (1) quality academic resource (in addition to your textbook) for this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar websites do not qualify as academic resources. You have access to Strayer University’s Online Library at https://research.strayer.edu and the iCampus University Library Research page at https://icampus.strayer.edu/library/research.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Your paper should be double spaced (Arial or Times Roman 12 pt font) and follow general Strayer Writing Standards (SWS) as they relate to references and citations. Please take a moment to review the SWS documentation for details (more information and an example is included in the Strayer Writing Standards menu link located in your Blackboard).
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

1. Describe the gene-for-gene model in terms of our current mechanistic understanding of plant-pathogen interactions.

2. You are interested in developing varieties that are resistant to pests, but you know that resistance is often non-durable, so you want to also include tolerance (in case the resistance breaks down). Pick a pest (pathogen or arthropod) and outline how you would develop a variety that is both resistant and tolerant. Include information about the type of resistance, and how you would screen for resistance vs. tolerance. Is there any reason to not focus on tolerance alone?

3. What are the important categories (or guilds) of (a) plant pathogens and (b) herbivorous arthropods that determine plant defensive responses? How (and why) do those defenses differ between categories in each case: (a) pathogens and (b) arthropods?

4. Pick one component of plant disease resistance that you think would make a good target for engineering novel (and durable) resistance, and explain why you think this would be durable.