Abstract

This is approximately 100 words and can be roughly viewed as being in two parts.  The first introduces the problem (s) or issue (s) to be tackled in the essay.  The second briefly outlines the key findings from your piece of research (the essay). 

Introduction

This is where you should introduce the reader (marker) to the problem you are researching and justify why the reader should be interested i.e. making clear the importance of this problem/ issue.  At the end of the first paragraph, you should clearly place a research question along the lines of…….. “….and as such I am interested to study the impact of currency and monetary unions on the repatriation of operating profits of MNE firms” for example.  The very last part of the introduction should outline how you intend to proceed i.e. “In the next section I outline the literature behind this problem.  In section 3 I analyse and discuss key findings while the final section concludes.” 

Background Literature

This is where you must outline the background literature to your topic.  As such you must access the electronic library, JSTOR, and specifically academic journals and look for material that is highly relevant to the specific issue you have chosen to research.  More details will be provided below about potential sources for reference materials. 

Analysis

This section is your opportunity to analyse what you have found in the literature on your chosen research topic.  As such you should make your analysis real and pertinent to the literature and critically appraise the literature i.e. the arguments that have been presented in the literature.  Very often any subject in the literature will have many researchers/ authors researching it.  These researchers will commonly have various viewpoints or arguments/ perspectives on that particular subject or issue.  As such this section is your opportunity to demonstrate how well you have read the subject – how good your understanding is and to what depth you have understood the issues.