Students regularly check their analytical skills and knowledge via college essays and papers. Yet, sometimes these formats can’t explain a subject in full. To do this, professors assign case study work in business, medicine, and other fields. A case study assignment can focus on a single or several objects.
Unlike essays, case studies have students facing several issues or contradictions. Their job is to analyze these problems and come up with applicable solutions. But many students don’t know how to write a case study assignment, staring at a blank page and procrastinating. It often leads to last-minute or late submissions and not meeting the requirements. So, we’d like to help you deal with this task and show there’s nothing scary about this process.
Here are eight handy tips you can follow to ace this assignment.
Prepare the Research
Well-conducted research is essential for a successful case study. You should take advantage of various sources and points of view. But doing the research may take a big chunk out of your schedule. If this happens, you can ask for assignment help from assignmentguru.com professionals. And if you’re ready to deal with it yourself, there are things you should be aware of.
First, you should have a solid goal that explains why you chose a particular subject. Decide how to write assignment to get what you want in the case study. It’s important for writing, infographic, audio, and video formats.
The next step involves finding the right case study assignment candidate. If a study centers around a person, you must get their permission.
Contact and ask them if they’re OK with appearing in the paper. E.g., you can contact business owners to see how inflation affected companies in a particular US state. Next, think about the potential consequences of the situation. The web is a good place to search for general info that can come in handy.
Once you have a general understanding of the outcomes, find and scan credible sources. Highlight important facts and problems you come across. Write down any ideas that can be further used in the assignment. Focus on several issues, the way they impact the subject, and the most suitable solutions for them.
When conducting a case study, one should thoroughly explore the best option. Once all the necessary research is ready, working on a case study assignment will be a breeze. The task will be better structured, and you won’t have a problem following the rubric.
Follow the Rubric
When students don’t know how to write assignment for a case study, they have difficulty with the rubric. Depending on discipline and guidelines, a case study assignment may have different criteria. But all follow the same standards when it comes to outcomes. Professors want case studies to achieve several things:
- recognize the case’s importance;
- explain and summarize the study;
- show skills in analysis and critical thinking;
- find principles and theories relevant to a particular study;
- explain the relations between nature and the environment;
- incorporate disciplinary practice and theory within the analysis;
- check and apply legal and ethical principles in decision-making;
- correctly identify concepts, practices, and theories taught by the discipline.
Once you know what’s expected from the work, it’s easier to find the right style for the case study assignment.
Find the Right Case Study Assignment Approach
Case studies come in many formats. As you become better at this sort of academic work, deciding on the right one will be easier. Here are the directions you can take with your next case study assignment.
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Collective Case Reporting
It’s one of the complex approaches that analyze many previous case studies. They are compared, contrasted, and evaluated. Their analysis is used as a background for a new case study assignment.
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Descriptive cases
Such assignments are used to find links between a theory and a selected subject. These case studies use particular cases to improve existing theories.
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Explanatory cases
Such studies explain the nature of things and should have a clear final statement that is not open to interpretation.
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Exploratory approach
It is commonly used to outline intricate writing tasks. It’s a hard approach that often has people seeking assignment writing help because a subject should be studied in-depth.
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Instrumental approach
This method has students address the study elements. They use materials to discover scientific evidence that the paper must explain.
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Intrinsic studies
They aim to provide a deep exploration of certain cases. Case study analysis should be based on the things you are well versed in. An intrinsic case study assignment focuses on a particular subject.
Some of the approaches give a better outcome to a case study assignment but are harder to master. Thus, it never hurts to ask a professor how to write a case study assignment and which methods to use. This saves time and allows for completing the work faster.
Work on a Case Study Outline
The knowledge of how to write assignments is incomplete without the study outline. They provide background data and issue details in the case study document. These basic elements will make further work on the task much easier.
In general, outlines contain data about people, events, or issues. Try to present the necessary information in a succinct manner. Be sure to clarify any confusing concepts and provide your hypothesis. Think about why the topic matters and how you can contribute to providing solutions to the identified problem.
When writing an outline, you should include at least one main argument that will make your work valuable. Mention the obstacles and problems described in case study documents or initial instructions, and talk about the things you want to explore.
Plan the Body Structure
Knowing how to write an assignment on a case study is impossible without a logical structure. Every task you deliver should be easy to understand. If you’re working on a big paper, divide it into smaller parts organized in a logical sequence. Each paragraph should address key issues and start with a topic sentence.
Also, don’t forget about the importance of headings. The longer the text, the more subheadings it should have. Well-tailored headings have to grab the reader’s attention and reflect the main idea of the corresponding section.
To make a case study compelling, explain the practical use of your solutions. Tell the readers who would enjoy these methods and under what conditions. It can be as straightforward as providing one or two scenarios where a solution would work. This compels readers to look at your findings in a more utilitarian way.
Edit the Case Study to Perfection
After the first draft is finished, iron out any inconsistencies and imperfections it has. First, look for unnecessary adjectives that don’t bring new information and can be discarded. Second, make sure that the paper is in an active voice.
Third, remove things that damage the narrative flow. Read it out loud to spot sentences or words that don’t fit. Ideally, this should be repeated until there’s nothing left to remove from the case study assignment.
Showing your work to someone else won’t hurt, too. Other people can better spot inconsistencies or filler sentences.
Additionally, remember to cite all outside sources you used in your work. Sometimes you need to include direct quotes to make your paper more credible and trustworthy. But don’t overdo it: it’s better to apply deep paraphrasing to show that you know how to analyze and present information from other authors.
Keep Things Simple
When working on a case study, students are tempted to use technical jargon whenever they can. It may seem the right choice, but strict adherence to formality can make the document dry and boring to read.
It doesn’t mean you should forget the rules of academic writing and shift to conversation wording. Yet, try to express your thoughts simply and concisely to retain the readers’ attention. By the way, feel free to use Hemingway – this app will help you make your paper easier to understand.
Provide Informative Imagery
Depending on the length of the paper, you can benefit from adding charts, graphs, and infographics to it. These visual elements serve to provide information in a clearer way and allow readers to recharge before moving to the next passage. So, if you place several visuals throughout the paper, you have a higher chance of impressing your professor and getting a high grade.
The best part is that you can use various online solutions to create such imagery. All you need is enough data to process.
When working on a paper, you should find the right balance between texts and images. Adding images that don’t bring value to the audience or do not fit the context will confuse readers and make it harder to follow. The same can be said about using plain text.
Conclusion
Working on a case study assignment can take time and effort. But once you do proper research, create an outline, and find the right approach to the task, you’ll have more motivation to continue. And other small tips listed here will make your paper stand out and impress even the most demanding professors.
The author of this article is Michael Balter. Michael is currently blogging the assignmentguru site, and is trying to bring more knowledge into the field of assignment writing.
