There are three assignments during this semester.

Assignment 1: Essay Writing (Team) : 20 %

Guidelines for essay writing
1. Students should select one research topic driven from the syllabus.
2. Each essay will be 4 pages in length, including tables, title page, and references. The paper should be short, concise, and well written.
3. Avoid verbosity and do not plagiarize the work of others. You must cite your sources.
4. The paper must be typed in 10 point font, Times New Roman, and double-spaced with one inch margins and a title page. List your name and course name on the title page.
5. Provide adequate citations and use Chicago style-guide format for your bibliography.
6. The essay should be structured and written as if you were going to submit it to professional marketing magazines or present it to a business speech.
7. The essay will have at least 5 independent references from marketing journals (peer reviewed only) such as Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Psychology & Marketing, Marketing Sciences, reference books, and industry reports.
8. Turn in two bound hard copies of your essay on the designated date. I will keep one copy and return the other with comments on the day of the mid exam.
9. Submissions (the written essay, source materials in hard copy) should be done not later than the beginning day of class week 5.

A word about essay writing
Make sure that your work does not get shortchanged because of hasty last-minute writing. Your essay will be graded based on evaluations of (1) whether you accomplished the assignment, (2) the richness of your ideas, including the degree to which you generate and support your ideas and key points, (3) the clarity of your work, and (4) the accuracy of your work.

Essay Grading Criteria (20 point)
1) Timeliness: Whether it is submitted by due date: Maximum 5 point
2) Context: Whether its context is well organized by the guidelines: maximum 5 point
3) Originality and citation: Whether it is appropriately cited on the body and bibliography, according to the citation guidelines: maximum 5 point
4) Significance: Whether the work make a significant contribution to managerial and marketing issues: Maximum 5 point

Assignment 2: Data Analysis (team): 10 %

Assignment 3: Marketing Strategy Writing Report and Presentation(team project): 30 %

Tips for the projects
Team projects and term papers on particular consumer marketing agenda will be conducted and written by groups of students consisting of maximum 3 members. As the semester progresses, various components of the report will be given to the professor for evaluation. At the end of the semester, all of the sections will be integrated into two final reports.
You will develop specific consumer marketing strategies and tactics in your paper that you would recommend to marketing professionals to help their marketing improve its performance. The term paper project requires students to think of themselves as decision makers and actually take marketing actions. It will also make the student a more informed person regarding some topic of interest within the area of consumer marketing and marketing research. Each group will elect a marketing manager to guide the work of the other group members of the project. You are to free to choose your group members. Each member of the group will receive the same credits for the project grade. The project will count as 40% (project 1: 10%, project 2: 30%) of the total grade.

Guidelines for the projects
1. Each paper will be 10 pages in length, including tables, title page, and references. The paper should be short, concise, and well written.
2. Write clearly and in an organized manner. Use headings and subheadings to organize the paper.
3. Avoid verbosity and do not plagiarize the work of others. You must cite your sources.
4. The paper must be typed in 10 point font, Times New Roman, and double-spaced with one inch margins and a title page. List all group members and course name on the title page.
5. Provide adequate citations and use Chicago style-guide format for your bibliography.
6. The term paper should be structured and written as if you were going to submit it to a professional marketing association’s conference or present it to a business client.
7. The final paper will have at least 10 independent references from marketing journals reference books, and industry reports.
8. You may need to interview marketing managers who work in the industry/firm you have selected and may conduct primary survey research.
9. Each group must select a different topic. The professor must approve each paper topic.
10. Turn in two bound hard copies of your final term paper on the designated date. I will keep one copy and return the other with comments on the day of the final exam.
11. Submissions (the written report) should be done by hard copies not later than the beginning day of class week 10 for project 1 (Team), and not later than the beginning day of class week 14 for project 2 (Team).

Guidelines for the presentation
Students/team should prepare a presentation in MS-PowerPoint format with 10~12 slides for the paper (Designs and contents are their creative) and demonstrate their presentation in class at the designated class time.

Team Project Grading Criteria (30 point)
1) Timeliness: Whether it is submitted by due date: Maximum 3 point
2) Analytical skill: Whether it is analyzed by appropriate analysis methods and interpreated well about the results: maximum 5 point
3) Literature review: Whether literature review has appropriately conducted and linked to the works with appropriate citations on the body and bibliography: maximum 5 point
4) Significance: Whether the work make a significant contribution to managerial and marketing issues: Maximum 7 point
5) Professional presentation: Presentations will be conducted in a professional manner: Maximum 10 point.