HR Issues Papers (50%)

You will research and prepare two papers covering any two of the articles from the textbook that you don’t write discussion items for. Each paper will be worth a maximum of 25 points. The text of each paper (excluding the cover and reference pages) must be a minimum of five full pages and no longer than six pages in length and must be single-spaced (not 1.15, which is the default setting for recent versions of Word) and printed using Times New Roman, size 12 font, with 1.25 inch margins on the side and 1 inch margins on the top and bottom (Office 2003 default in Margin settings in Page Layout).  Also, please do not use any space saving techniques such as adding extra space between paragraphs (the first sentence of each paragraph should be indented and the After setting in Paragraph should be set at ‘0 pt’), using bulleted or numbered items, using sub-titles or footnotes, including diagrams or tables, or including your name/paper title at the top of any of the5-6 pages.  You will not receive full credit for a review that has more than a few grammatical errors.  Your grade on a paper will be reduced if you do not follow these technical requirements.  In addition, you must attach a cover page that includes the issue you have chosen and a page of references at the end of your paper (the cover page and reference page do not count toward the 5-6 page requirement).  You must use at least four references for the paper in addition to the textbook article that is the basis for your paper and none of the four references should be other articles from the textbooks.  No more than one page of the paper can be based on the textbook article.

In each paper, you should include your summary and analysis of the topic and your opinions regarding how an employer and, in particular, the HR function of the employer, should address the issue.  Please see the note regarding plagiarism in the class policies section of this syllabus.  Your papers should be submitted to me as Word attachments to either a Blackboard or email message.  Information in the text of your papers must be properly cited using the method that is used in Are You a Leader or a Laggard in the textbook.  Do not include any footnotes at the bottom of any of the 5-6 pages of your paper.  In preparing the papers you should avoid using more than three direct quotes and no quote should be longer than two sentences.  Following are the deadlines for the submission of your papers.  You do not have to wait until the deadlines to submit your papers.