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ENG 165 - Workplace Issues

2. Explore Your Topic

After thoroughly examining your assignment, now it's time to look for some initial background research on your topic.  Try a search in the following database to learn more about your topic.

Analyze Your Topic

Magnifying Glass

For your presentation, you must:

  • Identify the issue
  • Present factual information about the issue
  • Discuss the history and relevance of the issue
  • Discuss any possible business ethics connections
  • Discuss previous and/or current methods of addressing the issue
  • Present possible solutions or ways to address the issue (both from an employee and employer standing)

Who

Think about who might be involved. This could be specific people, but it could also be groups of people - consider different groups based on age, race, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status (wealth), management or employee, who may be affected (good or bad) by your topic. 

What

Consider what factors are involved in your topic. Read some background information or a summary to learn more about your topic, and then make a list of relevant factors.

The background reading can also provide you with keywords, specialized vocabulary, and definitions, which will be useful for future searches.

When

What time period is involved? Are you considering present day workplace issues or are you going back to look at a historical workplace issue? Be sure you know what dates and times are involved in your topic because that will affect how you write about them. Your topic may have specific dates associated with it or it may be more general.

Where

Sometimes places or geography are important to your topic. Are you considering issues in the United States or another country? Workplaces in different countries look very different than they do in the United States.

Why

This is a really important one. Why do people care about this topic? Why is it important or controversial? What's at stake? or Why did it happen / is it happening?