Important Points for Essay
1.The Essay – Based on your diary research, you are asked to critically evaluate your experiences in relation to TWO accepted consumer behaviour theories, and to write this in the form of an essay (word limit 2000 words). One of the theories that must be included is the Theory of the Self. Your
analysis seeks to illuminate the processes (cognitive, emotional and behavioural) that you undertake when buying and consuming products. Choose one other theory that is appropriate.
2.The paper should begin with an introduction, followed by a critical evaluation of your experiences based on your diary research, in relation to the consumer behaviour theories (including Self Theory) and then finish with a conclusion.
-Introduction
The introduction comes at the start of a piece of writing. It introduces the research by situating it (by giving background), presenting the research and outlining the main theories covered. It provides an overview.
-Literature Review
In terms of a literature review, “the literature” means the works you consulted in order to understand and investigate your subject area. The following are some of the sources which should be consulted:
a.Journal articles: these are good especially for up‐to‐date information. Bear in mind, though, that it can take up to two years to publish articles. They are frequently used in literature reviews because they offer a relatively concise, up‐to‐date format for research, and because all reputable journals are refereed (i.e. editors publish only the most relevant and reliable research).
b.Books: books tend to be less up‐to‐date as it takes longer for a book to be published than for a journal article. Text books offer a good starting point from which to find more detailed sources.
c.Conference proceedings: these can be useful in providing the latest research, or research that has not been published. They are also helpful in providing information on which people are currently involved in which research areas, and so can be helpful in tracking down other work by the same researchers.
d.Government/corporate reports: many government departments and corporations commission or carry out research. Their published findings can provide a useful source of information, depending on your field of study.
e.Newspapers: since newspapers are generally intended for a general (not specialised) audience, the information they provide will be of very limited use for your literature review. Often newspapers are more helpful as providers of information about recent trends, discoveries or changes, e.g. announcing changes in government policy, but you should then search for more detailed information in other sources.
f.Internet: the fastest‐growing source of information is on the Internet. It is impossible to characterise the information available but here are some hints about using electronic sources: 1) bear in mind that anyone can post information on the Internet so the quality may not be reliable, 2) the information you find may be intended for a general audience and so not be suitable for inclusion in your literature review (information for a general audience is usually less detailed) and 3) more and more refereed electronic journals (e‐journals) are appearing on the Internet ‐ if they are refereed it means that there is an editorial board that evaluates the work before publishing it in their e‐journal, so the quality should be more reliable (depending on the reputation of the journal).
g.CD‐ROMS: more and more bibliographies are being put onto CD‐ROM for use in academic libraries, so they can be a very valuable tool in searching for the information you need.
h.Magazines: magazines intended for a general audience (e.g. Time) are unlikely to be useful in providing the sort of information you need. Specialised magazines, however, will be more useful, for example Vogue.
The literature review is a critical look at the existing research that is significant to the work that you are carrying out. It is vital that you evaluate this work, show the relationships between different work, and demonstrate skills of evaluation, synthesis and analysis. In other words, you cannot simply give a concise description of, for
example, an article: you need to select what parts of the research to discuss (e.g. the methodology), show how it relates to the other work (e.g. what other methodologies have been used? How are they similar? How are they different?).
Read with a purpose. You need to summarise the work you read but you must also decide which ideas or information are important to your research (so you can emphasise them), and which are less important and can be covered briefly or left out of your review. You should also look for the major concepts, conclusions, theories, arguments etc. that underlie the work, and look for similarities and differences with closely related work.
-Conclusion
To give a summary of:
•What was learnt (this usually comes first).
•The shortcomings of what was done (evaluation).
•The benefits, advantages, applications, etc. of the research (evaluation).
•Finish by concluding how your behaviour has impacted upon consumption.
-Referencing
The essay should contain references and, where necessary, bibliography sections and should use the Harvard style of referencing.
