MIS 311 Fall 17 Information Systems & Applications

Critical analysis write-up assignment #1 Flat World
Due: Thursday Feb 8 11:59 pm

Here is the first of a series of assignments to help you develop critical thinking skills. As you will see throughout the course, there are different views to solve a given a problem. This is usually the case in the work environment, meaning that people with different background, knowledge and expertise may have different approaches to solve or deal with real business issues. Therefore, oftentimes there are more than one correct answer. The goal of the critical write-up assignments is to encourage your critical thinking (supported by research and evaluation) and help you express your view in a logical and systematic manner.

Description:

Thomas Freidman, three time Pulitzer Prize winner journalist, argues that “the world is flat.” In other words, globalization has leveled the world, and today organizations and countries have fair chance to compete in the global market. He outlined 10 forces that have flattened the world (refer to the video we watched in class, your notes, and the book summary online or on the slides).

In this assignment, you need to write a short essay to answer the following questions.

1. 1) Is the world really flat? What is your opinion? During last few years, do you think the world becoming more FLAT or ROUND? Why? Support your arguments with external references and provide examples that are relevant to your opinion. Note: you may agree or disagree with the idea (both views are okay). What matters is that you provide reasonable justification, evidence, and/or support for your ideas.
2. 2) Point out and discuss two potential drawbacks of a flat world. Support your arguments with external references and provide examples.
3. 3) Pick a flattener that is the most important in your opinion. Discuss why you think it is important and support your arguments with external references.

Requirements:

• – You need to provide answer for all questions in your essay. You can choose to write one essay or divide the write-up based on the questions above.
• – Place ONLY your B-Number (e.g. B000312432) and class information (e.g. Section 90 or 91) on the first page (cover page). You can format the cover page based on your preferences. In addition, write the total word count of your essay (excluding references) on the bottom of cover page (example Word count: 921 ).
• – The essay should be minimum 800 words and maximum 1100 (excluding references). Use 11-point Times New Roman font with 1.5 spacing between lines (so no page limitation, but word limitation).
• – There should be a minimum of five external references for the essay.
  • ● The references could be articles posted in books, journals, news, magazines etc. you can use www.scholar.google.comor other sources to look for relevant sources that support your arguments.
  • ● Note that your source cannot be Wikipedia.
  • ● Use MLA style to format your references. See examples and guidelines here: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/
  • ● Put the list of references at the end of your essay.
  • ● If you are citing a reference, you must paraphrasethe sentences in the source rather than copy-pasting from it. Read this links below to make sure you understand plagiarism in writing: https://writingcenter.utk.edu/for-students/citings… http://www.plagiarism.org/citing-sources/cite-sour…
• – The assignment will be uploaded on Turnitin. More than 10% of similarity will not be acceptable.
• – Make sure that the formatting and grammar is correct and your essay is free of typos.
• – Upload your word file (no PDF) on BB, using the link from the assignment tab