You will choose a topic related to hotel operations

The purpose of this paper is to enable students to perform writing and research at the collegiate level. The paper should examine selected topics relating to hotel operations. The paper should conclude with an insightful discussion of how the student will use what they have researched in their hospitality careers.

This is to be a research report. You must draw heavily on resources outside of your personal experiences and framework of the courses taken in your educational background. As a future hospitality manager, it is important that you are familiar with the published resources available. The length and depth is only limited by your time, effort and ambition. You will find more than enough resources to perform your research. The following guide is designed to assist you in writing your paper:

1. You will choose a topic related to hotel operations. Once you have chosen your topic, plan on spending time familiarizing yourself with materials dealing with it.

2. Make an outline of the paper. This outline will become the Table of Contents of your written report. The Table of Contents must include page numbers.

3. Select a minimum of 10 publications/articles as references in writing the report. You may not use your class textbook as resource material. To the extent possible, please make use of refereed research journals – a minimum of ONE such journal MUST BE USED as a source. All resources will be included on the Reference page; a separate page to be included at the end of your written report.

4. Prepare the written report. There must be a title page which contains the title of the paper, your name and student identification number. You must include an Introduction page which introduces your topic and briefly describes why you chose it; and, a Summary which follow the requirements indicated on the Research Paper Rubric. The paper must be narrative; do not use lengthy quotations or numerous bullet points in the body of the paper.

5. The body of the report must discuss your topic applied to the hospitality industry in a logical, cogent manner. This section must be your work supported by citations from published sources.

6.The body of the paper is to be a minimum of 10 pages not including title page, table of contents, lengthy quotes, tables, or case examples. The report must be typed, doubled spaced with one inch margins, top, bottom, left and right. Use only 12-point type with either “Times New Roman”, “Calibri” or “Century Gothic” font; other styles will not be accepted. It is critical that the paper conform to the length requirements or your grade will be impacted. See the Research Paper Rubric for specifics.

7. Pages must be numbered; the Introduction is page 1. The introduction is preceded by the Table of Contents (see guideline 2 above). Reports should include a Title Page with title of report, your name, and the date. Following the title page you should place your Table of Contents and then the Introduction.

• This is a research paper, so citations are a necessity. Please use APA® style format for the research report. Unless the work is your own, failure to credit the source is plagiarism. If you plagiarize a work you will receive a failing (F) grade for the paper. If in doubt, ask Professor Moll. The Writing Center located on the second floor of the Hubert Library at the Biscayne Bay Campus is a resource available to you. TurnItIn.com® on the class’ Canvas® website and will be used to check for plagiarism. Papers with more than a 20% use of cited material, or papers using material not cited, will be penalized. Any paper rated over 30% non-student writing by Turnitin.com® will have the final grade for the paper reduced by a full letter grade for each 10%.
  9. A proper bibliographical citation must include author, name of book or journal, title of article, volume and issue number, page numbers of article, publisher, and year of publication. It should be in alphabetical order.
  10. Please proof-read your paper for typographical and spelling errors as this severely detracts from the final grade of your paper. It is strongly suggested that you use the spelling and grammar tools in Word® to ensure that your paper is correct. Remember that sometimes the tools don’t pick up words that are spelled correctly but are inappropriately used.
  12. You are required to submit your paper online to turnitin.com® on the class’ Canvas® website. Specific instructions for submission will be provided to you in class. Please carefully review the Research Paper Rubric for specific evaluation criteria.
  13. Grading criteria will be indicated on a rubric to be provided to you and discussed in class early in the semester. The rubric is located on the course’s Canvas® home page.