Academic Writing Guidelines Resource Description Guidelines and Examples Organization and Structure Organization is the internal structure of a piece of writing, the thread of central meaning that ties the piece together from beginning to ending. A piece of solid academic writing: · Begins with an introduction regarding the piece’s primary purpose or theme, which prepares the reader for what is to come (i.e., thesis statement). · Ends with a conclusion that summarizes the key points of the piece, draws conclusions, and generally provides closure for the reader. The body of a piece of academic writing can be organized around a variety of structures. Examples of organizing structures: · Main idea/thesis, with supporting details/evidence · Comparison-contrast · Deductive logic · Point-by-point analysis · Development of central theme · Chronology or history (e.g., of an event, process, era) Solid academic writing uses transitional words and phrases to provide logical connections and sequencing. Examples of transitional words: · Addition: also, again, as well as, besides · Consequence: accordingly, as a result, consequently, for this reason. · Generalizing: as a rule, as usual, generally · Illustration: for example, for instance, for one thing. · Emphasis: above all, chiefly, with attention to, especially, particularly · Similarity: comparatively, coupled with, correspondingly · Exception: aside from, barring, besides, except, excluding · Restatement: in essence, in other words, namely · Comparison: in contrast, by the same token, conversely, instead, likewise · Summarizing: after all, all in all, briefly, in any case, in any event, in conclusion, in short, in summary, finally Conventions and Mechanics Description Guidelines and Examples Solid academic writing is characterized by the proper use of conventions and mechanics, including: spelling, grammar, paragraphing, capitalization, and punctuation. Examples of conventions and mechanics in academic writing: · Proper use of capitalization, punctuation, and quotation marks. · Subject/verb agreement. · Proper use of pronouns. · Technical abbreviations, acronyms, and units of measurement. · Paragraphs that are indented; consisting of three or more sentences. · Use of title page, headers, and footers. · Avoid the use of: contractions, incomplete and run-on sentences. Word Choice and Usage In solid academic writing, the use of language is precise, with correct word usage and appropriate word choice. Guidelines for language use: · In good descriptive writing, strong word choice clarifies and expands ideas. · In persuasive writing, careful word choice moves the reader to a new vision of possibilities. · Effective word choice depends less on an exceptional vocabulary and more on the skill to use everyday words well. · Use a thesaurus for new words with more specific meaning: For example, “pronounce” for “say,” or “embarkation” for “start.” In academic writing, “it” as the subject of a sentenc.

1. Academic Writing Guidelines Resource
Description
Guidelines and Examples
Organization and
Structure
Organization is the internal structure of a piece of writing, the
thread of central meaning that ties the piece together from
beginning to ending.
A piece of solid academic writing:
· Begins with an introduction regarding the piece’s primary
purpose or theme, which prepares the reader for what is to come
(i.e., thesis statement).
· Ends with a conclusion that summarizes the key points of the
piece, draws conclusions, and generally provides closure for the
reader.
The body of a piece of academic writing can be organized
around a variety of structures.
Examples of organizing structures:
· Main idea/thesis, with supporting details/evidence
· Comparison-contrast
· Deductive logic
· Point-by-point analysis
· Development of central theme
· Chronology or history (e.g., of an event, process, era)
Solid academic writing uses transitional words and phrases to

2. provide logical connections and sequencing.
Examples of transitional words:
· Addition: also, again, as well as, besides
· Consequence: accordingly, as a result, consequently, for this
reason.
· Generalizing: as a rule, as usual, generally
· Illustration: for example, for instance, for one thing.
· Emphasis: above all, chiefly, with attention to, especially,
particularly
· Similarity: comparatively, coupled with, correspondingly
· Exception: aside from, barring, besides, except, excluding
· Restatement: in essence, in other words, namely
· Comparison: in contrast, by the same token, conversely,
instead, likewise
· Summarizing: after all, all in all, briefly, in any case, in any
event, in conclusion, in short, in summary, finally
Conventions and
Mechanics
Description
Guidelines and Examples
Solid academic writing is characterized by the proper use of
conventions and mechanics, including: spelling, grammar,
paragraphing, capitalization, and punctuation.
Examples of conventions and mechanics in academic writing:
· Proper use of capitalization, punctuation, and quotation marks.
· Subject/verb agreement.
· Proper use of pronouns.
· Technical abbreviations, acronyms, and units of measurement.
· Paragraphs that are indented; consisting of three or more
sentences.
· Use of title page, headers, and footers.
· Avoid the use of: contractions, incomplete and run-on
sentences.
Word Choice and Usage

3. In solid academic writing, the use of language is precise, with
correct word usage and appropriate word choice.
Guidelines for language use:
· In good descriptive writing, strong word choice clarifies and
expands ideas.
· In persuasive writing, careful word choice moves the reader to
a new vision of possibilities.
· Effective word choice depends less on an exceptional
vocabulary and more on the skill to use everyday words well.
· Use a thesaurus for new words with more specific meaning:
For example, “pronounce” for “say,” or “embarkation” for
“start.” In academic writing, “it” as the subject of a sentence is
not acceptable. Make sure the reader knows what the subject of
each sentence is.
Research and Resources
In solid academic writing, it is at times necessary to support
your thesis or argument with outside research. Use of proper
resources for accurate and thoughtful support of any argument
or position is essential in academic writing.
Some strongly recommended sources for student use are:
GCU Library for search engines located at:
http://library.gcu.edu
For instructions on how to use the GCU library, access and view
our tutorials at:
http://my.gcu.edu/Academics/Library/Pages/Help.aspx
For good research techniques, view the tutorials in the Student
Success Center.
Other Resources:
· Online Writing Lab at Purdue University:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/

4. · Google Scholar:
http://scholar.google.com/schhp?hl=en&tab=ws
· ProQuest: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/
· Lexis/Nexis
· Northern Light Search: http://www.nlsearch.com/home.php
· INFOMINE Scholarly Internet Research Connections:
http://infomine.ucr.edu/
Additional Resources:
1) “Mechanics of Writing”:
http://ptgmedia.pearsoncmg.com/images/0131428993/samplecha
pter/0131428993_ch01.pdf
2) “Key Terms in Academic Writing”:
http://www.esc.edu/esconline/across_esc/writerscomplex.nsf/0/3
88b46277676ac8b852569cf00615929?OpenDocument
3) “Academic Writing Skills”:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/dictionary-articles/Academic-
Writing-Skills.html
Copyright 2011. Grand Canyon University. All Rights Reserved.
ignyte
Get ahead. Stay ahead.
Communication: Knowledge share
The Innovation Funnel
The innovation funnel
In order to manage the new solution/idea development (NSD)
process, many companies

5. today employ the model of an innovation funnel. The basic idea
is that a marketer or R&D
department starts with many ideas that need to be examined and
winnowed down, then
shaped into concepts and tested until a final solution or idea is
selected and launched.
Below are the main parts of the typical innovation funnel in
more detail:
• Opportunity assessment: Here the organization analyzes –
through market data,
customer knowledge or other information sources – what kind
of opportunity exists
for new services or new value or a line extension.
• Insights-based ideation: Based on what kind of opportunity is
a proper fit for the
company’s strategy, the next step is to ideate different kinds of
products or offerings
that could capitalize on this opportunity. This is an internal
collaborative process
that draws heavily on insights about the market and the target
customer and could
take the form of brainstorming, co-creating with existing
member firms, and
conducting market research such as surveys, focus groups,
online communities
such as those cross-border legal industry groups that exist on
linkedin.
• Conceptualization: At this stage, the team designs actual
concepts for the top
ideas that came out of the ideation stage. This might include
new services,
advertising copy or different / evolved configurations of

6. existing services.
• Evaluation and benchmarking: Next it’s time to go back to a
sampling of existing
member firms and test the different concepts. This can include
choice modeling or
even actual user testing (for example, in the case of web sites).
Based on feedback
from the tests, it may make sense to iterate on the concepts and
then re-test.
• Go/No Go: After testing is completed and feedback is gathered
on iterations,
analysis reveals the concepts with the best chance for success.
Executives must
make a go/no-go decision on whether or not the new
idea/solution should be
launched, taking into account not only the evaluation and
benchmarking results but
1
also factors such as internal ability to execute, the ability to
enhance brand
differentiation and sustainability in an evolving environmant,
does the added value
derived justify an increase in fees.
• Launch: Assuming at least one concept is given the go-ahead,
it is launched into
the market! The idea has come to life.
Different versions of the funnel exist in terms of where inputs
for innovation come from, but

7. this is a traditional model. Over time
other methods such as agile
development and open development –
both most widely used in technology
innovation – have been introduced but
the graphical representation of the
funnel still remains popular. The
simplicity of the funnel concept
means it’s widely adaptable across
different industries and types of
organizations. In a time when we are
awash in ideas and information – from
internal resources to traditional market
research, to social media data –
marketers and product strategists
are challenged to effectively and
efficiently hone in on the best ideas.
ignyte
Get ahead. Stay ahead.
www.ignyte.ms
2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agile_software_development
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/6/8/37915612.pdf
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/6/8/37915612.pdf
http://www.ignyte
http://www.ignyte

8. The 12 Different Ways for
Companies to Innovate
Magazine: Spring 2006 • Research Highlight • April 01, 2006 •
Reading Time: 19 min
Mohanbir Sawhney, Robert C. Wolcott and Inigo Arroniz
advertisement
Companies with a restricted view of innovation can miss
opportunities. A new framework called the “innovation radar”
helps avoid that.
Faced with slow growth, commoditization and global
competition,
many CEOs view innovation as critical to corporate success.
William
Ford Jr., chairman and CEO of Ford Motor Co., recently
announced
that, “[f]rom this point onward, innovation will be the compass
by
which the company sets its direction” and that Ford “will adopt
innovation as its core business strategy going forward.” Echoing
those
comments, Jeffrey Immelt, chairman and CEO of General
Electric Co.,
has talked about the “Innovation Imperative,” a belief that
innovation is
central to the success of a company and the only reason to
invest in its
future. Thus GE is pursuing around 100 “imagination
breakthrough”
projects to drive growth though innovation. And Steve Ballmer,
Microsoft Corp.’s CEO, stated recently that
“innovation is the only way that Microsoft can keep customers
happy and competitors at bay.”

9. 1
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But what exactly is innovation? Although the subject has risen
to the top of the CEO agenda, many
companies have a mistakenly narrow view of it. They might see
innovation only as synonymous with new
product development or traditional research and development.
But such myopia can lead to the systematic
erosion of competitive advantage, resulting in firms within an
industry looking more similar to each other
over time. Best practices get copied, encouraged by
benchmarking. Consequently, companies within an
industry tend to pursue the same customers with similar
offerings, using undifferentiated capabilities and
processes. And they tend to innovate along the same
dimensions. In technology-based industries, for
example, most firms focus on product R&D. In the chemical or
oil and gas industries, the emphasis is on
process innovations. And consumer packaged-goods
manufacturers tend to concentrate on branding and
distribution. But if all firms in an industry are seeking
opportunities in the same places, they tend to come
up with the same innovations. Thus, viewing innovation too
narrowly blinds companies to opportunities
and leaves them vulnerable to competitors with broader
perspectives.
In actuality, “business innovation’’ is far broader in scope than
product or technological innovation, as
evidenced by some of the most successful companies in a wide
range of industries. Starbucks Corp., for
example, got consumers to pay $4 for a cup of latte, not because
of better-tasting coffee but because the
company was able to create a customer experience referred to as
“the third place” — a communal meeting

11. space between home and work where people can unwind, chat
and connect with each other. Dell Inc. has
become the world’s most successful personal computer
manufacturer, not through R&D investments but by
making PCs easier to use, bringing products to market more
quickly and innovating on processes like
supply-chain management, manufacturing and direct selling.
And Google has become a multibillion-dollar
goliath not because it has the best search engine, but because it
pioneered “paid search” — the powerful
concept that vendors would be willing to pay Google to match
consumers with relevant offerings as a
byproduct of free searches the consumers conduct.
Conversely, technological innovation in the laboratory does not
necessarily translate into customer value.
For instance, high-definition television is a radically new
innovation from a technological perspective,
requiring new recording, transmission and receiving equipment,
communication frequencies and
programming. But the result — an incremental improvement in
picture sharpness — is of limited value to
the general consumer. One of the most technologically advanced
computers ever created was the NeXT
Cube, developed by Steve Jobs’ company NeXT Computer, Inc.
The product featured a host of technological
advances, including clickable embedded graphics and audio
within e-mail, object-oriented programming,
magneto-optical storage and an innovative operating system.
But the NeXT Cube was a commercial flop.
Few compatible software applications were available, and
consumers balked at the prospect of switching to
a radically new system.
About the Research

12. 4
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-different-ways-for-
companies-to-innovate/#ref4
We developed the innovation radar based on interviews from
managers responsible for innovation-related
activities at several large companies across a range of
industries. Participants included Boeing,
Chamberlain Group, Cono-coPhilips, DuPont, eBay, FedEx,
Microsoft, Motorola and Sony. We also
reviewed the academic literature on innovation to help identify
and define the radar’s 12 dimensions. To
measure those dimensions, a comprehensive set of questions
was compiled, following well-accepted best
practices in metrics and questionnaire design. Two distinct sets
of measures were created for each
dimension (1) reflective measures to obtain an overall metric
for the actual level of innovativeness at each
dimension and (2) formative measures to gain insight into
activities or factors that contribute to the
observed level of innovativeness.
The initial set of 100-plus measures went through several
rounds of peer revision after which the
questionnaire was pretested with 16 managers of a business unit
within a large conglomerate. The
questionnaire was then revised and pretested with 54 managers
at a large public company in the energy
industry and a midsize private firm in the food industry. The
measurement and structural models were
estimated using partial least squares, a technique that accounts
for measurement error and permits the
modeling of different types of metrics created for each of the
dimensions. The results from the second

13. pretest helped confirm the validity of our framework: The
reflective measures exhibited high levels of
internal consistency; the formative measures explained a large
portion of the variance for the dimension
they were associated with; and all coefficients in the
nomological network had the expected signs. To
further assess the validity of the 12 dimensions, profiles that
resulted from the innovation radar were
presented to managers participating in the surveys.
Data collection commenced with a Web-based questionnaire in
spring 2005. As of December 2005, we had
collected more than 500 data points from 19 firms, including
global corporations like Tyco, General
Electric, Merck KGaA and Siemens. The data collection is an
ongoing effort, and as our database grows we
will be able to make prescriptive statements about innovation
profiles associated with business success and
the contextual factors that can moderate the effects of
innovation in specific dimensions.
▲See less
Defining Business Innovation
To avoid innovation myopia, we propose anchoring the
discussion on the customer outcomes that result
from innovation, and we suggest that managers think
holistically in terms of all possible dimensions
through which their organizations can innovate. Accordingly,
we define business innovation as the creation
of substantial new value for customers and the firm by
creatively changing one or more dimensions of the
business system. This definition leads to the following three
important characterizations.
Business Innovation is About New Value, Not New Things.

14. i
ii
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-different-ways-for-
companies-to-innovate/#refi
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-different-ways-for-
companies-to-innovate/#refii
Innovation is relevant only if it creates value for customers —
and therefore for the firm. Thus creating “new
things” is neither necessary nor sufficient for business
innovation. Customers are the ones who decide the
worth of an innovation by voting with their wallets. It makes no
difference how innovative a company
thinks it is. What matters is whether customers will pay.
Business Innovation Comes in Many Flavors.
Innovation can take place on any dimension of a business
system. The Home Depot Inc., for example,
innovated by targeting “do it yourselfers,” an underserved
customer segment. JetBlue Airways Corp. has
succeeded in the U.S. domestic airline market by offering a
better customer experience that includes live
satellite television, leather seats and fashionably clad flight
attendants. And Cisco Systems Inc. has
improved its margins through process innovations, such as the
company’s ability to close its quarterly
financial accounts on the same day that its quarter ends.
Business Innovation is Systemic.
Successful business innovation requires the careful

15. consideration of all aspects of a business. A great
product with a lousy distribution channel will fail just as
spectacularly as a terrific new technology that
lacks a valuable end-user application. Thus, when innovating, a
company must consider all dimensions of
its business system.
The Innovation Radar
The innovation radar displays the 12 dimensions of business
innovation, anchored by the offerings a
company creates, the customers it serves, the processes it
employs and the points of presence it uses to
take its offerings to market.
5
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/the-different-ways-for-
companies-to-innovate/#ref5
A 360-Degree View
The question then immediately arises: How many possible
dimensions of business innovation are there,
and how do they relate to each other? For three years, we have
examined that issue in depth with a group of
leading companies, including Motorola, Chamberlain Group
ADT, Sony, MicroSoft and ConocoPhilips. (See
“About the Research.”) Based on discussions with managers
leading innovation efforts at these companies
and a comprehensive survey of the academic literature on the
topic, we have developed, validated and
applied a new framework called the “innovation radar.” This
tool presents and relates all of the dimensions
through which a firm can look for opportunities to innovate.
Much like a map, the innovation radar consists

16. of four key dimensions that serve as business anchors: (1) the
offerings a company creates, (2) the
customers it serves, (3) the processes it employs and (4) the
points of presence it uses to take its offerings to
market. Between these four anchors, we embed eight other
dimensions of the business system that can
serve as avenues of pursuit. Thus, the innovation radar contains
a total of 12 key dimensions. (See “The
Innovation Radar,” above and “The 12 Dimensions of Business
Innovation.”)
The 12 Dimensions of Business Innovation
DIMENSION DEFINITION EXAMPLES
Offerings Develop innovative new products or services.
• Gillette Mach3Turbo razor
• Apple iPod music player and iTunes
music service
Platform Use common components or building blocks to create
derivative offerings.
• General Motors OnStar telematics
platform
• Disney animated movies

17. Solution
s Create integrated and customized offerings that solve end-to-
end customer
problems.
• UPS logistics services Supply Chain