The Case Study Process (Part IV)

Written work

Case Studies can be presented in essay or report form with headings as appropriate. The former is more demanding in the earlier stages of case study learning as it forces you to articulate the concepts in your own language.

For substantial case studies detailed analysis should be located in appendices and referred to in the text. References and Bibliographies can also usefully be included at the end.

What is the person marking the work looking for?

This person will be looking for clear understanding of the case and related issues leading to an orderly and logical presentation of facts, analysis and evaluation, with clearly argued or discussed reasons for your decisions with back up information. The essay or report should be laid out clearly on the page in a concise manner with cogent use of white space. Presentation of written work to get your message across most effectively is an important skill to acquire.

Where the report is the result of group effort, please make sure that the same style is maintained throughout.

Mini One Page Case Write Ups. Such case study write ups do not involve the full write-up facts and situation analysis and subsequent evaluation. They are a Summary of a full write up, sometimes known as an executive summary. They aim to use your mind rather than exercising IT or writing skills in asking you to refine and distil the case study down to the most important and salient issues and make a decision giving your reasons. They show very clearly whether you have grasped the essentials with a minimum of fuss.

Verbal Presentations

These should aim to be interesting and include anecdotal evidence that might not be found in the main report if there is one. Such presentations should follow a different format to the report / lecture to avoid boring the audience and marker. It should add to the report rather than detract with the use of good graphics and clear presentation materials. Only one or two people should present. Presentations where numerous people are leaping up and down are distracting and invariably lose something in terms of message continuity. How you allocate the tasks between you fairly and effectively are important group working skills.