English for Business, Accounting and Financial Studies (BAFS)
Writing
Text type 1: Case Study (of a scenario)
In a case study, you will work on a scenario prepared by the teachers or searched by yourselves, e.g., being a financial planner in a bank. The essay will include the description of the case, the analysis of a problem and a solution, and the reflection of the plan. A case study should include background information on the specific topic, an analysis of the case under student showing problems or effective strategies, as well as recommendations. It may focus on a business or entire industry, a specific project or programme, or a person. A typical case study should include:
- Introduction: You should briefly introduce the theme (such as the business, industry, project or person) of your study.
- Thesis statement: You should state the proposed solution to the problem you have determined or state the general assessment of the case being studied.
- First section: You should discuss the background of the organization, industry or programme.
- Second – Forth sections: You should discuss one key point or operation about the case in each section. When writing the section, it is not enough to simply state what is working or what is not working. You need to support your claims with evidence from theories or previous studies conducted by experts or scholars. Evaluation of each key point of the case can be achieved by the appropriate use of hedging and boosting devices (*add link to EGAP-hedges and boosters).
- Solution: In this section, you will need to provide a practical solution to the problem or a feasible plan to the project. When presenting the solution or the plan, you should also present theories or research results to support your claims. Sometimes, comparing your solution with the existing solution is also a possible way to persuade readers.
- Reflection: In this section, you should reflect on your case study as a whole, from the key points covered to the solutions provided. You may share if there are some areas that worth discussing but not covered in the earlier sections. Limitations of your solutions and possible improvements should also be discussed so that readers may get some insights from your study.
- Conclusion: You should wrap up your take-away points for your reader. Here, you may also present the significance of your case study.
You should adopt APA (7th edition)-style citations and references when writing case studies.
Text type 2: Business Report
In general, the purpose of a business report is to provide information for a company to make its decisions. Therefore, one important feature of a business report is the information provided in the report should be made clear and easy for readers to locate. This means that you should follow the standard layout or expected format when you write a business report. There is a wide range of topics that can be set in a business report, such as feasibility report, recommendation report and progress report. A typical business report should include:
- Executive summary: It is an overview of the subject being written about, the methods that were used to analyze any data, the findings, and any recommendations made.
- Introduction: You should explain all specific terms of reference used, and provide the outline of the report's format. You should also define the purpose of the report and the scope of the report as well.
- Body: This is the longest section of the report, where you put numbered headings and subheadings in sequential order to reflect the content of each section of the body. The actual content of the information in the body of the report typically includes information on how the data was collected for the report, if this is applicable, any findings as a result of the report, and definitely a discussion of these findings.
- Conclusion: You should state the major inferences that can be drawn from the discussion in the previous body section, and a discussion of any recommendations that are made.
You should adopt APA (7th edition)-style citations and references when writing business reports.