Journal of International Business Studies

Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to familiarize yourself with the authoritative resources and techniques of writing and research within your specific discipline. You will be required to find, examine, and review one of each of the following in your field: A scholarly journal, a trade publication, an institution/organization of research, and an electronic source/database of research. You are seeking to discover what publications/sources people read in your field and why (and what groups/organizations people in your field join and why). You should investigate several sources for each category and choose to write about only the leading sources in your field. You will also discuss the function/purpose of research within your discipline as well as any ethical issues/practices in your field.
Details: You should describe each source (who publishes it, who funds or sponsors it, who contributes to it, its location/affiliation, and any other relevant information which establishes its relevance/credibility/importance, etc.) and must argue why/for what reason each source is the leader or standard in your field. You should not only use claims/evidence from the source itself in order to corroborate that the source is the most authoritative in the field. Rather you should collect independent research which helps you argue/prove that the sources you’ve chosen are the top/most authoritative. You must do independent research (you may start with the INFO guides and writing guides from GMU, but may also find it useful to use Google to further your search or talk to a research librarian) in order to ascertain upon what criteria you should base your judgments. That is to say, in order to determine which sources are most authoritative, you must first learn what people in your discipline look for in a source. You should also search for circulation statistics (how widely read/distributed a publication is) for your print/text sources and membership statistics (how many people belong, what is required to join) for your organization.
This is a thesis driven report – your thesis must contain a claim that states which sources are most authoritative as well as a reason why this is so. This is the most important goal of this assignment and thus should be the focus of each paragraph/section. 
Audience: Peers that are outside of your discipline. It may help you to imagine that you are assembling this for an underclassman who has an interest in your field. For each section/source, you should consider what about this source would entice a researcher and/or professional in your field to use it, or to come back to it. What does it offer that is best?
Formatting: You may either write this as a cohesive essay with transitions between paragraphs or as a report with distinct sections marked by headings (“Scholarly Journal,” “Trade Publication,” etc). Both formats must be thesis-driven and cited in MLA or APA style. A title page is required. The font should be Times New Roman, or comparable, with 1 inch margins and your word count should be clearly listed on your title page. Failure to meet the required word count will result in a significantly reduced grade.
Useful Links: These links might be useful places to begin your research. These are only suggestions, not the only possibilities.
GMU Library – Help with Research http://library(dot)gmu(dot)edu/research/ 
GMU Writing Center – Writing in Your Major http://writingcenter(dot)gmu(dot)edu/?page_id=12