COM 3120: Leadership Essay - Applying Concepts to Experiences

This essay assignment for COM 3120 requires students to analyze leadership and organizational experiences. The assignment mandates the creation of an essay that begins with an introduction, including a thesis statement and an overview of five key concepts from the textbook, alongside the name and address of the organization being examined. The body of the essay is split into two parts: a narrative of real-life experiences within the organization, incorporating elements of drama and avoiding technical jargon, followed by an application of five concepts/key terms from at least three chapters to aspects of the narrative. The conclusion must emphasize at least two insights derived from applying these concepts. The essay must adhere to specific stylistic requirements, including page length, formatting, and APA citation guidelines. A checklist is also required for submission. This assignment provides students with the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to apply theoretical concepts to practical situations and reflect on their learning.

Instructions
The purpose of this assignment is to provide you with an opportunity to
articulate—through written examples—how the material you are reading in
the textbook applies to your work or other organizational experiences (past
or present).
Content
An introduction
Begin with an attention-getter then state your thesis or preview of the essay
making sure you refer to the incident/s narrated and announcing each of the
five major concepts/key terms utilized. The name and physical and/or
electronic address of the organization examined must also be stated.
Body (No more than a total of 40 directly quoted words may be used in this
section)
The body should consist of two distinct parts which are connected
comprehensively using an effective transition. The first part of the body
(minimum of 2 full pages) must consist of a story or narrative of real life
experiences you have had in this organization as an employee,
supervisor/owner, customer/client, provider/supplier, or auditor. It must be
clear from your writing that the story is about real events. The story should
include at least two instances of drama and not just routine events, though
the situations or incidents described must be real. Without a good portion of
drama, this section of your paper will be dull, and therefore ineffective. In
order to maximize the human appeal of your story/narrative, avoid any
mention of textbook or class jargon in this part of the body—keep your
story/narrative purely non technical except for jargon that you specify as
actually used in the organization you are writing about. For good examples of
a story/narrative described above, see the “Creamy Creations Takeover” and
“Teamwork at the Marshall’s Processing Plant” case studies presented at the
end of chapters 2 and 3 of your textbook respectively. Your story must be
written in reported speech (indirect speech).
The second part of the body (must be distinct from the narrative or first part
of the body) should articulate how a total of 5 concepts/key terms from at
least three assigned chapters apply to aspects of the story you narrated.
After briefly paraphrasing (defining in your own words as much as possible)
each concept/key term, explicitly describe how it applies to an aspect
highlighted in your story. Engage only aspects clearly mentioned in the
narrative/story section of your paper, avoiding the introduction of new
story/narrative details not mentioned before. Therefore, as you apply each
concept to an aspect of the narrative, you must indicate the page number
where that particular aspect was explicitly included in the narrative section
of your essay. The essay should draw concepts/key terms from only
chapters 2-9 and 11. Remember, the total of five concepts/key terms must
be drawn from a minimum of three relevant chapters stipulated above. See

the list at the end of each chapter of the textbook for what are considered
the concepts/key terms in that chapter.
Conclusion
The conclusion should indicate itself and emphasize at least two insights
gained from your application of any two or more concepts/key terms applied
in the body of the paper. Each one of the concepts/key terms must be
explicitly stated in this section and connected to a particular insight. The
insights include realizations that (1) had never occurred to you before
applying the concepts/key terms to aspects of your story, or (2) gained new
significance when you applied the concepts/key terms to aspects of your
story. End the essay with a relevant memorable line or two.
Stylistic/Writing Expectations
All essays must be typewritten, double-spaced in 12 font size with 1 inch
margins all round and a minimum of 5 full pages and a maximum of 7 pages
without counting the cover page and reference page (the title page and
reference page should not be counted as part of the 5-7 pages length
requirement. As with any formal document, make sure to paginate your
essay (i.e., you must number the pages of your essay).
Use of the textbook must be explicitly and correctly acknowledged
both within the paper and on a reference page, using the 6th American
Psychological Association (APA) documentation style. Each student is
expected to know how to cite sources within the paper and to construct a
reference page correctly according to APA requirements (see resource at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/08/). Typographical and
grammatical errors must be kept to a minimum, and certainly no spelling
errors will be tolerated.
COM 3120 Essay Checklist:
Copy and paste the checklist below, and then complete it by checking the
space against each item with a Y to indicate compliance and an X to indicate
non-compliance. Also, enter any other information into the given space as
requested on the checklist. Submit your completed checklist separately via
the assignments area. The deadline for submitting the essay checklist
and the essay itself is the same (April 1st by 11.59 p.m.). Essays
will not be graded without a properly completed checklist (submitted
separately via the assignments area). Even if you submit your essay on time,
failure to submit a properly completed checklist will mean that your essay
submission is incomplete, and therefore subject to lateness penalties.
Essay Checklist

Introduction
1. Began with an effective attention-getter __________
2. Stated thesis or preview of the essay making sure to refer to the incident/s
narrated and announcing each one of the five major concepts/key terms
utilized _____
3. Stated the name and physical and/or electronic address of organization
examined _______
Body (No more than 40 directly quoted words in total allowed) Please
enter total number of quoted words here _____
4. First part of body (minimum of 2 full pages & maximum of 4 pages and no
textbook or class jargon permitted) consisted of a story/narrative of real life
student’s own experiences in the organization ________
5. Story included good portion of real drama and not just routine
events_______
6. Second part of body is connected to first part with an effective transition
that comprehensively connects the two parts ______
7. Second part of body (must be distinct from narrative in first part of the
body) effectively paraphrased then demonstrated how a total of 5
concepts/key terms from chapters 2-9 and 11 apply to aspects of the
story, indicating page numbers where each aspect of the narrative was
explicitly included_____ *Concepts must be drawn from at least three
different chapters. Please, indicate here ___________________each chapter
represented
Conclusion
8. Indicated itself and emphasized at least two insights gained from
application of any two or more concepts/key terms applied in the body and
connected each insight to a concept/key term ____
9. Ended essay with a relevant memorable line or two __________
Stylistic/Writing Expectations
10. Typewritten, double-spaced in 12 font size with 1 inch margins all
round ________
11. Minimum of 5 full pages and a maximum of 7 pages without counting the
cover page and reference page _________
12. Use of the textbook explicitly acknowledged both within the paper and on
a reference page according to the 6th American Psychological Association
(APA) documentation style ____
13. Typographical and grammatical errors kept to a minimum, and certainly
no spelling errors committed _______