responding to a case study walden university writing center

Responding to a Case Study

Walden University Writing Center

2

Overview

•Why Case Studies•Seven Habits of Effective Analysis

1.Use an introduction and summary.

2.Stick to the questions at hand.

3.Use subheadings to organize your response.

4.Write short paragraphs, and consider bullet points.

5.Be concise.

6.Use could have/ would have/ should have.

7.Use APA style to cite your sources.•Practice

3

Why Case Studies?

• To describe an event or series of events from which a lesson can be learned.

• To illustrate a theory or conceptual framework by reference to a specific example, or to test the effects of a particular set of circumstances.

• To describe a unique or rare organization or occurrence. (Emerald, n.d.)

4

Case Study Response: Habit 1

•Write a short introduction and a brief summary to help you organize your work and aid your reader’s comprehension. As in a speech:

•Say what you’re going to say.•Say it.•Say what you said, and leave your reader with a strong

sense of what it all adds up to.

IntroductionIn this brief response to the case study, I will analyze Principal Hughes’ notification the day before school was to start that all PE classes were to be offered online. I will show the strategy I would have used to communicate the information to parents, and I will discuss how computer monitors can serve as an effective weight-lifting tool. Finally, in a section called “Summary and Lessons Learned,” I will discuss the role of principals in curricular changes.

Analysis of Principal Hughes’ ActionsAlthough Principal Hughes had every right to be miffed by this last-minute decision, his gathering of the football coaches outside of the superintendent’s home was ill-advised. It was seen as a threat

6


•Stick to the questions at hand and specific response requirements.

Drive straight from Chicago to New York without a side trip to Mexico City

Q. Describe what you would do if the rabid dog had shown up in your building. A. This reminds me of something that happened one time when I was in the Girl Scouts. We were camping in the Boundary Waters, and it was summer. The mosquitoes were terrible that year. My best friend Julie, who I had known since first grade (and whose father was a principal at our school), told me this really funny story about her mom and this dog that she owned when she was first going out with her dad. I can’t remember all the details any more, but let’s just say it ended up with a dog bite, and a set of tests, and whole lot of hurt feelings! I’ll never forget that story, which is why if something like this happened in my school,

Q. Describe what you would do if the rabid dog had shown up in your building. Emergency Preparedness: The Case of the Rabid Dog

Although a school leader can never be prepared for every emergency, well-planned protocols can be invoked even in an unusual circumstances. First, assuming the dog was in the hallway and because children’s safety is paramount, I would find out which children in the building were at immediate risk. I would announce over the PA system that teachers should keep their doors closed for the next 15 minutes. Giving a time limit would alert teachers that the situation was under control. Second, I would grab my Bowie knife, which

8


•Use headings and subheadings to separate sections of the response. You may wish to combine and then rework related assigned bullet points into subheadings.

Turn assigned questions into headings.

How you will promote a positive image of your school and the school district to families, community, and the media? External publics with whom you intend to communicate?How will you involve families and the community in the school visioning process and the development of educational policy? How will you align stakeholders in support of school priorities, gaining buy-in that will result in programmatic and financial support ?How will you monitor and assess family and community perceptions of your school and the school district and family and community involvement ?

Promoting a Positive Image

Involving Families and Community

Aligning Stakeholders

Monitoring and Assessing Perceptions

Summary and Conclusion

10


•Use short paragraphs.•Consider bullet points to effectively draw attention to key

points. •But unless you are asked specifically to create a

PowerPoint presentation, write a narrative, not a laundry list.

Visually, which paper would you rather read?

Introduction

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque sit amet iaculis odio. Vivamus vitae orci ligula, in feugiat massa. Etiam nec turpis leo. Fusce gravida, nunc in hendrerit auctor, augue velit malesuada velit, nec porttitor urna mauris sed ipsum.

Heading

Phasellus porta magna in purus rhoncus interdum lobortis ipsum vehicula. Suspendisse placerat ornare lectus, sed fermentum orci fermentum et. Donec id nunc et orci vehicula rutrum ut et lorem. Morbi sed ultricies dui.

Subheading

Cras eu lectus vel tellus aliquet scelerisque ut eu sapien. Phasellus justo mauris, molestie nec lacinia vel, porttitor vitae lectus.

•Praesent sit amet quam ultricies arcu accumsan

•Aliquam vel ut velit. In rutrum volutpat lacus

In posuere euismod bibendum. Donec ut mi non neque consequat ornare a quis arcu. Pellentesque consectetur velit ac lacus ornare sollicitudin.

Subheading

Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Aliquam erat

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Pellentesque sit amet iaculis odio. Vivamus vitae orci ligula, in feugiat massa. Etiam nec turpis leo. Fusce gravida, nunc in hendrerit auctor, augue velit malesuada velit, nec porttitor urna mauris sed ipsum. Phasellus porta magna in purus rhoncus interdum lobortis ipsum vehicula. Suspendisse placerat ornare lectus, sed fermentum orci fermentum et. Donec id nunc et orci vehicula rutrum ut et lorem. Morbi sed ultricies dui. Cras eu lectus vel tellus aliquet scelerisque ut eu sapien. Phasellus justo mauris, molestie nec lacinia vel, porttitor vitae lectus. Praesent sit amet quam ultricies arcu accumsan aliquam vel ut velit. In rutrum volutpat lacus et viverra. In posuere euismod bibendum. Donec ut mi non neque consequat ornare a quis arcu. Pellentesque consectetur velit ac lacus ornare sollicitudin. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Aliquam erat volutpat. Praesent at adipiscing velit. Phasellus porttitor blandit lobortis. Quisque tempus bibendum felis, ornare interdum leo vestibulum vitae. In in risus sit amet enim consectetur ultrices. In viverra tristique nulla ut venenatis. Praesent facilisis congue ultrices. Donec sed elit eu massa lobortis elementum vel viverra diam. Etiam iaculis odio in augue convallis bibendum. Nunc sed volutpat enim. Sed vel augue ultricies leo lobortis pellentesque quis vitae mauris. Proin id suscipit turpis. Praesent tempus tempor turpis eget rutrum. Nam tristique laoreet velit et fermentum. Integer lobortis molestie nisl eu suscipit. Sed eget volutpat sem.

12


•Be concise. Use strong action verbs rather than long strings of prepositional phrases.

Remember the ‘Lard Factor.’

Divide the difference between the number of words in the original and the revision by the number of words in the original.

Lanham, R. A. (1987). Revising business prose. New York: MacMillan.

14

Lard Factor Example

Instead of:

I would show my commitment to the engagement of the involvement of the parents of the community in the following manner. (21 words)

Write:

I would engage parents by _____ (5 words)

Lard factor = 77%

Use an active voice with strong verbs. Use an active voice with strong verbs.

Try to eliminate unnecessary “to be” verbs.

To be, is, was, will be, will have been, had been, are, are being, were being, were, will have been, et cetera

It has often been noted that getting wet will be the outcome when a decision has been made to be in the rain without a jacket.

You will get wet if you go outside in the rain without a jacket.

Use an active voice with strong verbsUse an active voice with strong verbs. .

There is a variety of underlying problems that contribute to the learning difficulties of the students.

Of the Try to find the

possessive. There is + that can

usually be omitted.


There is a variety of underlying problems that contribute to the learning difficulties of the students.

A variety of underlying problems contribute to students’ learning difficulties.

Use an active voice with strong verbsUse an active voice with strong verbs. .

There are many possible factors contributing to the reasons for this problem, among which are the following, which include the overconsumption of liquor by the faculty, and the loss of sleep during the residency.

Remember: There is + that can usually be eliminated:


There are many possible factors contributing to this reasons for this problem, among which are the following, which include the overconsumption of liquor by the faculty, and the loss of sleep during the residency. 34 words

The causes include faculty consuming too much liquor and sleeping too little. 12 words: LF = 64%

Use an active voice with strong verbs. .

Passive Voice:The computers were being repaired by a team of technicians.

Object was verbed by the subject.

Active Voice:A team of technicians repaired the computers. Passive:The assessment was made by the leader that, in order to expedite the process, the task should be completed.

The leader determined that _?_ should complete the task.

Be Concise

The fact of the matter is that = nothingWhat I want to make clear is that = nothingThe point I wish to make is that = nothingIt is important to note = nothing. Or note that.The result of all this will be that = nothingIt is the contention of __ that = ___ believesWhat I would like to know is = nothingFacilitate the nouning of = help someone verbAs to = nothingFactors = nothing. Or causesEnd result = resultUtilize = useVery true = true

Be ConciseBe Concise

Superfluous Simplerin order to toin the event that ifsubsequent to afterprior to beforedespite the fact that althoughbecause of the fact that because, sincein light of because, sinceowing to the fact that because, sincevery nothing

Be ConciseBe Conciselimited number = few prepared = readyPrioritize = rank on a regular basis =regularlyImplement = do in an effort to = toEvident = clear as to whether = ifat the present time = now for the fact that = becauseRemuneration = pay [?] in a timely manner = soonuntil such time = until due to the fact that = because For the purpose of = for quite, very = [nothing]Particular = [nothing] individual = person [cop talk] Utilized = used proceeded to verb = verbedat a point in time when = when utilize = useAt this point in time = now

24

Writing Habit 6: Use Could/Would/Should

• Use could have /would have /should have constructions to argue for your analysis.

• The principal’s action would have been more powerful if she had. . .

• The superintendent could have predicted the reactions of the parents more completely.

• The school board member should have discussed how the superintendent’s golf outing. . . .

25

Writing Habit 7: Use APA Style to Document Your Sources

• In APA style use author/date citations to show the source of your assertion or to reference what you’ve read.

• In the absence of an author (common in reports and other unattributed web-based materials) abbreviate the title of the document in the in-text citation and use that instead of an author’s name.

26

Writing Habit 7: Use APA Style to Document Your Sources

• In APA style use author/date citations to show the source of your assertion or to reference what you’ve read.

• In the absence of an author (common in reports and other unattributed web-based materials) abbreviate the title of the document in the in-text citation and use that instead of an author’s name.

27

Documentation Examples

If doi number is known:

Malkin, E., Crosby, S., & Staal, J. (2009). Principal’s preparation and response to H1N1 results in Nobel prize. Education Monthly, 34, 45-48. doi: 10.918734.1308274x

If no doi number, cite the journal home page:

Malkin, E., Crosby, S., & Staal, J. (2009). Principal’s preparation and response to H1N1 results in Nobel prize. Education Monthly, 34, 45-48. Retrieved from www.edumonth.com

In text: (Malkin, Crosby, & Stall, 2009).

Use a serial comma. Use an & inside parentheses.

Use a serial comma. Use an & inside parentheses.

Retrieval date and database unnecessary if doi is included.Retrieval date and database

unnecessary if doi is included.

In the reference list, separate authors with commas and &.In the reference list, separate authors with commas and &.

28


Unauthored website, date of publication unknown

Seeing-eye ferret tests school administration’s mettle. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2011, from www.schoolcasestudies.net/ferret_stories

In text: (“Seeing-Eye,” n.d.) Indicate the retrieval date for “nonpermanent” documents on

the Web. This one might be gone tomorrow.

Indicate the retrieval date for “nonpermanent” documents on

the Web. This one might be gone tomorrow.

In-text abbreviate the title to the first 2 or 3 words, capitalize it, and put in quotation marks to

show it’s an article title.

In-text abbreviate the title to the first 2 or 3 words, capitalize it, and put in quotation marks to

show it’s an article title.

29


Government document

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (USDHHS). (2004). Preventing school violence: The role of the public health professional. Retrieved from http://www.childrenssafetynetwork.org/publications_resources/PDF/school/Preventingschoolviolence.pdf

In text: (USDHHS, 2004)

30

Summary

1.Use an introduction and summary.2.Stick to the questions at hand.3.Use subheadings to organize your response.4.Write short paragraphs. Use bullet points, but

don’t go overboard.5.Be concise.6.Use could have/ would have/ should have.7.Use APA style to document your sources.

And now your writing tasks.

31

Writing Task 1

What subheadings could you write in your paper to help organize your case study response?

Prepare notes for an interview (grounded in academic research), including the knowledge, skills, dispositions, ethical stance, roles, and responsibilities of effective school leaders; your strengths as a leader; your understanding of the change process; the importance of collaboration, your ability to motivate others, and your plan to enhance your personal capacity to lead.

Writing Task 2a: Smothered Verbs

Find the smothered verbs in these –tion + of constructions.

•Distribution of•Application of•Gentrification of•Determination of•Elucidation of•Consideration of

Writing Task 2a: Smothered Verbs

Find the smothered verbs in these –tion + of constructions.

•Distribution of•Application of•Gentrification of•Determination of•Elucidation of•Consideration of

distribute

apply

gentrify

determine

elucidate

consider

A consideration of the definition of the term plagiarism is of importance so that the cessation of violations can undergo initiation.

In the event of unexpected combustion and that the application of fire retardant is necessitated, a firm grasp of the safety pin should be undertaken. The implementation of ample force to the pin is the recommendation.

Writing Task 2b: Revise for Concision

A consideration of the definition of the term plagiarism is of importance so that the cessation of violations can undergo initiation.

• Clearly defining plagiarism can limit its occurrence.

In the event of unexpected combustion and that the application of fire retardant is necessitated, a firm grasp of the safety pin should be undertaken. The implementation of ample force to the pin is the recommendation.

• In case of fire, pull the pin sharply.

Writing Task 2b: Revise for Concision

You have just taken part in a one-hour seminar on writing a case study analysis. The audience members are potential school principals and other school leaders. In a three-paragraph, one-page essay, describe what the presenter did well, what the presenter should have done differently, and what you would have done instead if asked to present a seminar on this topic.

Writing Task 3: Case Study Analysis

responding to a case study walden university writing center

Documents

case study response

school district

conclusion slide

threat slide

practice slide

case studies

school leader

brief response