Write a research essay on sustainable entrepreneurship

The purpose of the essay is to
– increase the student’s expertise in a particular subject related to sustainable entrepreneurship
– advance the development of skills in reading and using academic articles and empirical research conducted on the subject
– advance critical and analytical reading skills
– develop academic writing skills and expressing analytical thinking in writing
– build experience in accomplishing a writing project in a set time limit
– build experience in focusing a subject and defining a research question

What is an essay?
– Includes a topic and a research question
– Discusses the topic and finds answers to the research questions
– Uses several references but does not only summarize them but, rather, discusses them
– Expresses a research-based approach, which means that writing is built on argumentation, critical writing, explaining theoretical concepts and accurate use of references
– When writing, think about writing to your fellow student rather than the lecturer. Be clear and explain the concepts you use
– Personal views and own thinking are visible yet written according to academic writing style

How do I choose a topic?
– Link the topic closely to sustainable entrepreneurship
– Choose a topic that you find personally interesting or that you are curious about, a topic that raises questions
– Focus the topic carefully; a narrow focus is better than a broad focus
– Avoid questions that lead to self-evident answers (e.g. questions that lead to answers yes/no)
– Choose a topic where you can find literature on, first use articles provided by the teacher

Structure of an essay
1) Cover page, title of the essay
2) Contents
3) Introduction
– introduce the topic and explain, what is your study’s perspective on the topic, what is the research question
– write, why this is an important and interesting topic to write about
– explain the structure of your essay
4) Main body of the text
– has several chapters
– the structure depends on the approach adopted in the study: comparison, main arguments and discussion related to the arguments, deductive/inductive approach, thematical approach, etc.
5) Summary and discussion
– summarize and once more write the key arguments in your essay
– write a discussion on the readings, your own thinking and the argumentation you present
– write about the key learnings for yourself in studying the topic

Essay should be written like this:
– the essay is clear in focus and the research question is well argued for
– the writing expresses analytical skill, is broad based in literature, shows in-depth and original thinking about the subject
– the essay expresses excellence in understanding the topic based on related theories and empirical research conducted on the subject
– own opinions and viewpoints are soundly argued for with the help of readings on the subject
– the essay expresses critical writing on the subject
– the essay includes insights on the personal learnings and the development of own thinking on the subject
– the structure is logical and well-organized
– the summary shows excellence in combining previous research on the subject, personal viewpoints on the subject and own argumentation