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Build your paper
You do not have to review
whole documentation before you start to lay bricks of your paper. Usually, such works are done using "top-down" strategy, meaning you start with major lines and then you develop minor ones. You can compare this strategy with action of drawing a tree: you might want first to draw tree trunk, then major branches, you will draw then some smaller branches growing from big ones, and at end you draw leaves and flowers.
Therefore, once you are clear with subject and basics of your paper – trunk of tree, you can start organizing your chapters – major branches. Generally, you wont have less than 3 main chapters and more than 6 – 7: remember your paper has to offer a valuable content but in same time it has some space limits (for example you could be told not to exceed 70 pages including appendix and graphics).
As you go on with your documentation, you will probably feel need to reorganize chapters and subchapters several times – this is way of any good writing, so don't be afraid of doing it as long as you stick to your subject and your chapters are part of a whole, "flowing" one from each other. Consult with you supervisor for any major changes, and ask directions if you feel documentation is overwhelming, it becomes difficult to discern from large amount of information and you feel like losing your coherency.
As a future Marketing professional, creativity is a basic skill as well as analytical thinking: you should prove them by including your own comments, opinions and conclusions upon subject and not limit yourself to present only what other people said. Be critical to yourself and to others. Don't be afraid to bring out your own vision – that's what counts most!
Writing style
Your paper is an academic piece of work, and so it should look and feel like. Give a lot of attention to your writing style:
- language issues – keep an academic and formal style, with no colloquial expressions and no slang terms. Be very precise and avoid hypes (yes, yes, we know it's hard to do it especially when you're a Marketing or Advertising professional-to-be) and irrational use of superlatives ("the best", "the greatest", "the most"… ). For a professional look, avoid using vague expressions such as "some authors say…", be specific and precise! A common mistake is to assume some things are obvious or known: no, they're not obvious to everyone, so you have to justify your statements (okay… except maybe if you're saying that "1 1
Otilia is a certified Marketing consultant with expertise in e-Marketing and e-Business. She developed and teach her own online course in Principles of Marketing (http://class.universalclass.com/emarketing). You can contact Otilia through her Marketing resources portal at http://www.teawithedge.com
