Individual Assignment?: Review of Periodical Articles
You may instead find, read, summarize and critically analyze a periodical article on some aspect
of consumer behavior. This assignment encourage you to be familiar with either the
academic/scholarly consumer behavior literature or the practical/applied/trade (real world)
consumer behavior literature, since after graduation it is important to know where current
information can be found. Plus, with this assignment, you can develop your written
communication skills and ability to think and write critically and clearly.
Commercial/business magazines or newspapers containing a substantive in-depth (several
pages) article on consumer behavior. Such publications include:
Barron’s
Industry Week
Business Horizons
Marketing and Media Decisions
Business Week
Nation’s Business
Business Month
Psychology Today
Forbes
The Wall Street Journal
Fortune
USA Today
You should look for a relatively substantive, in-depth article; for example, a feature article in
Fortune or Business Week, a front-page story in column 1 or 4 on page 1 of the Wall Street
Journal, or a “cover story from USA Today..
PROCEDURE
1) Find two recent (last 2 years) articles that interests you.
2) Read the article and take notes on its major points and ideas. The purpose of note taking is to
help you identify, organize, and recall important information, ideas, and details. This means that
you must be able to recognize, in context: dates, names, and places; important or unusual
details; key words and phrases; definitions; and examples.
3) Summarize the article following below procedures. It omits long descriptions and detailed
examples.
1.
What is the author’s message?
* Major theme (in one sentence, if possible)
* Purpose of the message/author’s motives for writing.
* The major issues raised or questions addressed
* Does the author identify and clearly explain key concepts or ideas we need to
understand in order to understand the writer’s line of reasoning?
* Conclusions drawn by the author: Do they logically follow from the evidence and
assumptions? Do you agree or disagree with the author’s conclusions?
* What other conclusions, if any, could be drawn from the same information?
* What are the implications and consequences that follow from the author’s conclusion?
How were these reached?
2.
What is the significance of this article for marketing management?
* Is the topic timely and important? For whom?
* What consequences are likely to follow if people take the author’s line of reasoning
seriously?
* Usefulness of the author’s ideas, findings (facts discovered), conclusions (inferences
from the findings), and recommendations (actions suggested from the conclusions). For
example, what are the major implications for target marketing and decisions)” for public
policy or for consumer decision making? Or, are there any take-aways for consumers to
use? (These can be both ideas stated as well as unstated by the author.)
* Does the article contribute to our knowledge of consumer behavior?
* Did the author neglect anything important? What other information might be important
to know before making any judgment on the value and importance of this article?
FORMAT OF PAPERS
Approximately three double-spaced typewritten pages
10-to-12-point font size text
Include a title page with the name of the article, name of the periodical in which
you found that article, the date of publication, your student number, the course
name and number plus your section letter, the professor’s name, and due date.
Please attach a photocopy of your article to your paper. Cite any sources of
information consulted in addition to the article itself.
DUE DATE: Sep 19th (You should be ready to present/share in class / keep one copy for
yourself!)
