By now, you probably have many thoughts swarming around about your seminar paper. This is your first chance to organize your thoughts. You can think of it as a rough outline that includes some other information. The total page length of the seminar paper design is not to exceed five pages (double-spaced with one-inch margins), so write with a purpose.
I. Statement of the problem: In a sentence or two, what is your seminar paper about (the cocktail party question)?
II. Innovation and Organization: This is your first chance to provide some detail about your innovation and give some context.
a. What organization are you going to study? What is the organization’s mission?
b. What general issue or organizational problem does your seminar paper address?
c. How does your innovation address the organization’s mission?
d. Try to frame your problem within a broader body of public administration literature. Remember this is a capping project, so you will need to integrate your project with other public administration material.
*Hint: if you go back to your Intro text and look at the table of contents, where would you place your paper? Human resource management, budgeting, performance measurement, evaluation, ethics, etc.
e. Indicate why your proposed topic is innovative.
III. Feasibility: Discuss the feasibility of adopting your recommendations or implementing your innovation. The surest way to do poorly in the seminar is to conclude that your research is not practical to the organization. If your innovation can’t realistically be implemented, you need to think about refocusing your paper or choosing another topic.
