How to Write the Paper Without Overcomplicating It
Three information systems. Two to three pages. Two academic sources. APA format. This paper sounds simple — and structurally, it is. The problem is that most students either pick the wrong kinds of systems, write descriptions that stop short of analysis, or treat the “decisions improved” section as an afterthought. This guide shows you what the rubric actually wants at each step.
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This is not a research paper about information systems in general. It is an observation paper. You are identifying systems from your own environment — college, workplace, or both — describing what they are and how they work, and then analyzing what decisions or processes they make better. That analytical layer is where most students lose marks. Describing a system is the easy part. Explaining exactly which decisions it supports and how it improves them — that is what the rubric is looking at.
Two to three pages sounds short. It is not generous. You have three systems to cover, a description and a decisions-discussion for each, an introduction, a conclusion, and APA formatting requirements. If you write efficiently, you will land comfortably in the range. If you pad, you will burn word count on nothing and shortchange the analysis. Write tight. Be specific. Every sentence should be carrying actual information about one of your systems.
The File Name Is a Graded Requirement — Don’t Skip It
The instructions specify that you save the file as yourname_ISM270_S1A1. That is not a suggestion. A paper submitted with a generic filename like “assignment1.docx” or “ISM270paper.docx” signals that you did not read the instructions carefully. Use the exact format: your actual last name or full name, then ISM270, then S1A1, all connected with underscores. Get that right before you upload.
The two-source minimum is low compared to other academic papers. That does not mean you should scramble to find sources at the last minute. Your sources need to support the content of your paper — either the conceptual framework you use to describe information systems or the claims you make about how they improve decisions. You can use the course textbook as one source. That leaves one more peer-reviewed article to find in the CCU library. Two sources is achievable in under thirty minutes if you know where to look.
APA format at this level means a title page, a reference page, in-text citations, approved font and size (usually Times New Roman 12pt or Calibri 11pt), and double spacing throughout. It does not require an abstract for a two- to three-page paper unless the assignment specifically asks for one. Check your course materials to confirm.
What Actually Counts as an Information System — This Distinction Matters
Students routinely choose systems that are either too narrow (a single mobile app) or too broad (the internet). Neither works well. The assignment is asking for information systems in the academic sense — organized combinations of technology, people, processes, and data that serve an organizational function.
The textbook definition of an information system is a set of interrelated components that collect, process, store, and distribute information to support decision-making and control in an organization. That definition is doing real work in this assignment. Every system you pick should be checkable against it. Does it collect data? Process it? Store it? Distribute it? Does it support decisions or improve organizational processes? If the answer to most of those is yes, you have a legitimate information system.
Three Categories of Information Systems You Are Likely to Encounter
Use this to identify which types your three systems fall into — naming the category in your paper shows conceptual understanding beyond just listing examples.
TPS — Handling Routine Operations
- Point-of-sale systems at retail jobs
- Payroll processing systems
- Online registration systems at college
- Library checkout systems
- ATMs and banking terminals
- Inventory management systems
MIS — Supporting Managerial Decisions
- Student information systems (grade tracking, enrollment)
- HR management systems at employers
- Sales reporting dashboards
- Financial reporting systems
- Scheduling and workforce management tools
- Inventory analytics platforms
DSS — Aiding Complex Analysis
- Learning management systems (Blackboard, Canvas)
- Healthcare scheduling and clinical systems
- Customer relationship management (CRM) platforms
- Supply chain management systems
- Business intelligence tools
- Enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms
You do not need to use one system from each category. You might pick three transaction processing systems if those are genuinely the ones you encounter. But if you can pick systems from different categories, do — it shows breadth and gives you more to say in the analysis section.
The “Organizational Function” Test — Run Every Candidate System Through It
Before locking in a system, ask: does this serve an organizational function, or is it primarily a personal tool? Instagram is not an information system for this paper — it is a social platform. But a company’s social media management dashboard (like Hootsuite) that tracks metrics, schedules posts, and generates performance reports? That qualifies, because it serves an organizational communication and marketing function. The test is whether the system exists to support organizational goals, not personal ones. When in doubt, ask whether a business or institution depends on the system for its operations.
How to Choose Your Three Systems — Practical Starting Points
Start with what you actually use. That is the point of the assignment. You are not supposed to research hypothetical systems — you are supposed to observe and analyze systems in your real environment. Think about a regular week. What digital systems do you log into? What does your workplace run on? What does your college use to manage your enrollment, grades, or financial aid?
Here are concrete starting points organized by context. Pick from the environments you actually have access to.
Systems You Encounter as a Student
Learning Management System (Blackboard, Canvas, Moodle), student information system (course registration, transcripts, grades), library catalog and database access system, financial aid management portal, campus email and communication platform, ID card access control system.
Systems at Your Job
Point-of-sale or checkout systems, payroll and HR systems, inventory management platforms, customer relationship management (CRM) software, scheduling systems, timekeeping or attendance tracking systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms if you work at a larger company.
If You Work in Healthcare or Services
Electronic health record (EHR) systems, pharmacy management systems, patient scheduling platforms, billing and coding systems, clinical decision support tools, supply chain management systems. These are rich for analysis because they directly connect to decisions about patient care.
Pick systems where you have enough firsthand familiarity to describe them accurately. You do not need to be the system administrator — you just need to know how it works from the user side and what organizational function it serves. Blackboard is a perfectly legitimate choice because you use it regularly and can describe its function with authority. A generic mention of “an ERP system” at a company you interned at two years ago is weaker because you cannot describe it with the same specificity.
Mixing College and Workplace Systems Is Explicitly Allowed
The assignment says your systems could be located at college or at your place of employment. You are not restricted to one setting. Pick two from college and one from work if that gives you the strongest combination. Or one from college, one from work, and one from another organizational setting you have direct experience with. Just make sure all three are systems you genuinely encounter, not systems you read about.
Three Solid System Combinations That Work Well Together
| Combination | System 1 | System 2 | System 3 | Why It Works |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All-College | Learning Management System (e.g., Blackboard) | Student Information System (registration and grades) | Library Database System (e.g., EBSCOhost) | Three distinct functions — course delivery, academic records, and research access — with clear differences in what decisions each supports. Easy to write with authority since you use all three. |
| College + Retail | Learning Management System | Point-of-Sale System (retail job) | Inventory Management System (same employer) | Shows you can identify systems in different organizational contexts. POS and inventory often integrate, which gives you something interesting to say about how they work together. |
| College + Healthcare | Student Information System | Electronic Health Record (EHR) system | Payroll and HR management system | Strong analytical range — academic, clinical, and administrative. Good choice if you work in healthcare and can describe the EHR from firsthand experience. |
| Workplace-Heavy | CRM System (e.g., Salesforce) | HR Information System (payroll and benefits) | Learning Management System at work (corporate training platform) | Works if your work environment is rich in systems. Shows that information systems exist across all organizational functions — not just IT or finance. |
How to Describe Each System — What “Describe” Means in an Academic Context
Students who treat “describe” as “name and give a one-sentence explanation” are not meeting the rubric requirement. A proper description for this assignment covers what the system is, what type of information system it represents, what its main components are, how it collects and processes data, who uses it and in what context, and what the system’s primary organizational function is. That is a paragraph, not a sentence.
You do not need to describe every technical feature in detail. But you need enough specificity that a reader could identify the system and understand how it operates. “Blackboard is an online platform” is not a description. “Blackboard is a learning management system — a type of decision support and communication platform — that organizes course content, grade tracking, assignment submission, and faculty-to-student communication into a single integrated interface used by students, faculty, and academic administrators” is a description.
Notice what the strong description does that the weak one does not. It names the type of system. It identifies multiple user groups. It specifies what functions each group performs. It describes how data is collected and from where. It says something about the interface. All of that is in three sentences. You do not need paragraphs of padding — you need precise detail.
Elements to Cover in Each System Description
What to Include
- The system’s name and type (TPS, MIS, DSS, etc.)
- The organization or setting where you encounter it
- The primary users (staff, students, customers, managers)
- What data it collects and from what sources
- What the system processes or outputs
- The main organizational function it serves
- How users access it (web-based, installed software, terminal, etc.)
What to Leave Out
- Generic statements that could apply to any system
- Historical background on when the technology was invented
- Technical programming details no one expects you to know
- Vague adjectives like “advanced,” “modern,” or “sophisticated”
- Marketing language from vendor websites
- Redundant restatement of the assignment prompt
- Comparisons to other systems unless directly relevant
Name the Type of Information System Early in Each Description
When you label a system as a transaction processing system, a management information system, or a decision support system, you are demonstrating conceptual knowledge from the course. That is exactly what ISM 270 is teaching you. A description that names the system type and explains briefly why it fits that category shows your professor that you have connected the real-world example to the theoretical framework. That connection is what separates a descriptive paper from an analytical one — and this assignment is asking for both.
Discussing the Decisions and Processes Each System Improves — This Is the Analytical Core
The assignment asks you to “discuss the decisions or processes that are improved through the use of each system.” This is not a follow-up to the description — it is the second analytical task in the paper, and it is what transforms a list of system summaries into actual analysis. It is also where students most commonly write one thin sentence and move on. Do not do that.
For each system, ask three questions: What decision or process does this system support? How specifically does it improve that decision or process — what would the alternative look like without it? And what is the organizational consequence of that improvement?
Decision Analysis Framework — Apply This to Each of Your Three Systems
Run each system through this three-question structure before you write the section. It stops you from writing vague generalizations.
What Decision or Process Does It Support?
- Name the specific decision — not “scheduling” but “determining which nurses cover which shifts based on availability, certifications, and labor rules”
- Name the specific process — not “payroll” but “calculating gross pay, deductions, and tax withholding for hourly employees across multiple pay periods”
- Identify who makes the decision or performs the process
How Does the System Improve It?
- What would the manual or non-system alternative look like?
- What errors, delays, or inefficiencies does the system eliminate?
- What data or visibility does the system provide that would not otherwise exist?
- How much faster, more accurate, or more consistent does the system make the process?
What Is the Organizational Consequence?
- What happens to the organization because of this improvement?
- Does it reduce costs, improve service, reduce errors, improve compliance?
- Who benefits, and how?
- What could not happen or would happen worse without the system?
You do not need to write a separate section for this analysis — you can integrate it into the description paragraph or write it as a follow-on paragraph for each system. What matters is that the analysis is there and is specific. “It makes processes more efficient” is not analysis. “It reduces the time required for course registration from a multi-day paper-based process to a self-service transaction completed in minutes, and eliminates the risk of double-enrollment errors because the system enforces prerequisite rules automatically” — that is analysis.
Decision Analysis Examples for Three Common Systems
| System | Decision or Process Supported | How It Improves It | Organizational Consequence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learning Management System (Blackboard) | Faculty decisions about course pacing, student progress monitoring; student decisions about assignment priorities and deadlines | Aggregates submission dates, grade feedback, and instructor announcements in one place; automated grade calculation replaces manual tallying; grade-center reports give faculty real-time visibility into class-wide performance patterns | Reduces administrative burden on faculty, standardizes student experience across sections, creates a documented audit trail for grade disputes, and enables timely interventions for at-risk students |
| Point-of-Sale System (Retail) | Checkout transactions; inventory level decisions; shift-end sales reporting for managers | Automates price lookup, tax calculation, and payment processing; updates inventory counts in real time with each sale; generates end-of-day sales reports managers previously compiled manually from paper receipts | Reduces checkout errors and transaction time; gives managers accurate inventory data for reorder decisions; creates a digital sales history that supports pricing and staffing decisions |
| HR Information System (Payroll) | Payroll processing decisions — calculating wages, deductions, tax withholding, and benefits contributions; management decisions about labor costs and attendance patterns | Automates multi-step wage calculations that would require manual computation for each employee; applies current tax tables without requiring staff to track rate changes; generates compliance reports for labor law requirements | Eliminates pay calculation errors that create legal risk and employee dissatisfaction; ensures tax compliance; frees HR staff time for higher-level functions; provides labor cost data that supports scheduling and budget decisions |
Support Your Decision Analysis With a Citation — This Is Where Sources Earn Their Place
Your two academic sources should appear in the body of the paper, not just in the reference list. The most natural place for a citation is in the decisions/processes section, where you are making claims about how information systems improve organizational decision-making. A textbook reference that defines management information systems or transaction processing systems, paired with a journal article about how a specific type of system improves organizational performance, gives you your two sources with clear in-text citations that match the analytical content of the paper.
How to Structure the Paper — Allocating Two to Three Pages Across Three Systems
Two to three pages is a tight range. You need to be strategic about where you put your words. Here is a practical section-by-section allocation.
| Section | Approx. Words | What It Needs to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | 100–150 words | Define what an information system is (cite your textbook here). State that you will identify and analyze three systems from your college or workplace environment. Briefly name the three systems you will cover. Do not go into detail here — that comes in the body. End with a sentence that previews your argument or approach. |
| System 1: Description + Decisions | 200–250 words | Name the system and identify its type. Describe it with enough specificity that the reader understands how it works and who uses it. Then discuss what decisions or processes it improves — specifically, with at least one in-text citation supporting your analysis. Do not merge description and decisions into vague prose; make sure both elements are clearly addressed. |
| System 2: Description + Decisions | 200–250 words | Same structure. Different system, ideally a different type of information system. Vary your sentence structure and level of detail between systems — avoid making all three sections feel like the same paragraph with the name swapped out. This is where a second in-text citation fits naturally. |
| System 3: Description + Decisions | 200–250 words | Same structure again. By the third system, make sure you have not run out of things to say. If you chose three genuinely different systems, you should have different things to analyze about each. If you are struggling here, it may be because two of your systems are too similar — a lesson for your system selection next time. |
| Conclusion | 100–150 words | Summarize what the three systems have in common — they all collect, process, and distribute data to support organizational decisions. Reflect briefly on what this tells you about how information systems are embedded in everyday organizational life. No new citations, no new systems. Close cleanly without repeating everything you already said. |
That gets you to roughly 800–1,000 words in the body — which, at double spacing with a standard font, lands you squarely in the two- to three-page range after the title page and reference page are excluded from the count. Do not pad. Do not repeat yourself across sections. If your paper is running short, the fix is more specific analysis, not more words about the same thing.
Use APA Headings to Organize Each System Section
APA does not require headings in a short paper, but using them here is practical. A Level-1 heading for the introduction and conclusion, and Level-2 headings for each system, makes the paper easy to follow and signals that you understand APA document structure. Label the system sections clearly — “System 1: Blackboard Learning Management System” is more informative than “First System.” Graders scanning for completeness will find each required element faster, and you reduce the risk of a section being missed.
Verified External Source: MIS Quarterly — Peer-Reviewed IS Research
MIS Quarterly is one of the leading peer-reviewed journals in information systems research, published by the Management Information Systems Research Center at the University of Minnesota. If you need a peer-reviewed academic source that addresses how information systems support organizational decision-making, this journal is a reliable starting point. It is available through many university library databases. Search it at misq.org or look for it in EBSCOhost, ProQuest, or your CCU library database. Articles there are peer-reviewed, rigorously academic, and directly relevant to ISM coursework. If you use an article from MIS Quarterly, the APA reference entry follows standard journal article format: Author(s), (Year), article title in sentence case, MIS Quarterly in italics, volume and issue, page range, DOI link.
Finding Two Academic Sources — What Qualifies and Where to Look
Two is a low bar. But “academic sources” has a specific meaning that excludes a lot of things students default to. Wikipedia, Investopedia, TechTarget, vendor websites, and general business publications like Forbes or Inc. do not qualify. You need peer-reviewed journal articles or academic textbooks.
The assignment explicitly allows course materials as sources. That means your ISM 270 textbook is a valid source — probably the most accessible one you have. Cite it for the definition of information systems, the classification of system types, or the explanation of how information systems support decision-making. That takes care of one source. Now you need one more.
Where to Find Your Second Source in the CCU Library
Log Into the CCU Library Database
Access the library through your CCU student portal. Look for database access — most academic libraries subscribe to EBSCOhost, ProQuest, or JSTOR. These are your go-to sources for peer-reviewed articles. Log in with your student credentials.
Search With Specific Terms
Try: “information systems decision making,” “learning management systems organizational outcomes,” “ERP systems organizational efficiency,” “point-of-sale systems retail management,” or “HR information systems.” Filter results to peer-reviewed journals published in the last five to seven years.
Check the Peer-Review Filter
EBSCOhost and most databases have a “Peer-Reviewed” or “Scholarly Journals” filter. Turn it on before you run your search. This automatically excludes trade publications and magazine articles that look academic but are not. One click saves you from accidentally citing an ineligible source.
Grab the DOI and Reference Information
Before you leave the article page, copy the DOI (digital object identifier) — it looks like doi.org/10.XXXX/xxxx. You need it for the APA reference entry. Also copy the author(s), publication year, article title, journal name, volume, issue, and page numbers. Missing any of these makes the reference entry incomplete.
Journals Worth Checking for This Topic
If you want to find peer-reviewed articles on information systems in organizational settings, these journals publish exactly that: MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, European Journal of Information Systems, and Computers & Education (for LMS research specifically). All are indexed in major academic databases. Searching “information systems” in one of these journals specifically — most databases let you filter by journal title — gets you on-topic results faster than a broad keyword search.
If the CCU library does not give you access to a specific journal, check whether Google Scholar shows a free PDF version of the article — many authors post open-access copies on their university pages. Google Scholar also shows how many times an article has been cited, which is a rough quality indicator. Higher citation counts generally mean the article is credible and well-regarded in the field.
APA Formatting Requirements — Getting Each Element Right
The assignment specifies APA formatting, which includes a title page, proper font and size, double spacing, in-text citations, and a reference page. Each of those is a distinct requirement. Missing any one of them costs points on the formatting portion of the rubric, regardless of how good your content is.
Title Page
In APA 7th edition, the student title page includes the paper title centered and bolded, your full name, your institution name, the course name and number (ISM 270), your professor’s name, and the date — all centered, double-spaced, without extra blank lines. The title page is its own page — page 1. Your paper body starts on page 2 with the title repeated at the top (bolded, centered), then the introduction text begins directly below with no extra spacing.
Font, Size, and Spacing
APA 7th edition approves several fonts: Times New Roman 12pt, Calibri 11pt, Arial 11pt, Lucida Sans Unicode 10pt, and Georgia 11pt are the main options. Your course materials or professor may specify one in particular — check. Double spacing applies throughout the entire document: title page, body text, reference list. No extra spacing between paragraphs. Left-aligned text, one-inch margins on all sides, half-inch paragraph indents for the first line of each paragraph.
In-Text Citations
Every claim you make that draws on a source needs an in-text citation. For a paraphrase: (Author Last Name, Year). For a direct quote, which you should use sparingly: (Author Last Name, Year, p. X). Your two sources need to appear as in-text citations at least once each — otherwise they are listed in your references but not cited in the text, which is an APA violation. Make sure every in-text citation has a matching reference list entry with the same author name and year.
APA 7th — Textbook Reference Format
- Author Last, F. M., & Author Last, F. M. (Year).
- Title of book in italics: Subtitle if any.
- Publisher Name.
- For an edited textbook: (Ed.) after the editor name
- For a specific edition: include edition in parentheses after title, not italicized
- DOI or URL if it has one; omit “Retrieved from” for most sources
APA 7th — Journal Article Reference Format
- Author Last, F. M., & Author Last, F. M. (Year).
- Article title in sentence case — only first word and proper nouns capitalized.
- Journal Name in Title Case and Italics, Volume(Issue), page–range.
- https://doi.org/xxxxxxxx
- No “Retrieved from,” no database name, just the DOI link
- If no DOI, include the journal homepage URL
Do Not Trust Citation Generators Blindly
Tools like EasyBib, Citation Machine, and even some library database auto-cite features produce APA errors regularly. They capitalize article titles incorrectly, miss DOIs, format author names wrong, and sometimes omit volume and issue numbers. Use them to get started, then verify every field against the Purdue OWL APA 7th edition guide at owl.purdue.edu. Check: article title in sentence case? Journal name in title case and italicized? Volume number italicized? DOI formatted as a hyperlink? Two spaces after period at end of title? These details are where formatting grades are won or lost.
Reference Page
The reference page is a new page after your paper body. The heading “References” is centered and bolded — not underlined, not in quotes, not titled “Bibliography” or “Works Cited.” References are listed in alphabetical order by the first author’s last name. Each entry uses a hanging indent — the first line is flush left, subsequent lines are indented half an inch. Double spacing throughout, no extra blank lines between entries.
Common Errors That Cost Points — and How to Fix Them
| # | The Error | Why It Costs Points | The Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Choosing systems that are too generic or personal | Google, email, or a personal banking app do not serve an organizational function in the way the assignment requires. The systems need to support decisions or processes within an institution — a college, a business, a healthcare facility. | Before finalizing your three systems, run each one through the organizational function test. Does a business or institution depend on this system to operate? Can you name the decision it supports and the manager or role who makes that decision? If not, pick a different system. |
| 2 | Describing systems without discussing what decisions they improve | The rubric has two distinct requirements: describe each system, and discuss the decisions or processes improved. A paper that only describes stops halfway. Graders are looking for the analytical discussion — it is the harder intellectual task and probably carries more weight in scoring. | After writing your description of each system, pause and explicitly answer: what decision does this make better, and how? Write that answer in a dedicated sentence or two. If you cannot answer that question specifically, you have not finished the section. |
| 3 | Providing no in-text citations in the paper body | Two academic sources that appear only in the reference list and nowhere in the text do not satisfy the citation requirement. In APA, sources need in-text citations at the point in the paper where you use them. A reference list entry with no corresponding in-text citation is a formatting error. | Every source on your reference page needs at least one (Author, Year) in-text citation in the paper body. The natural place to cite your textbook is in the introduction when you define information systems. The natural place for your journal article is in the decisions/processes section when you make a claim about how IS improves organizational outcomes. |
| 4 | Treating all three system sections as identical in structure and depth | If all three sections read as the same paragraph template with different names plugged in, the paper feels mechanical and does not demonstrate that you genuinely analyzed three distinct systems. Graders notice when every section starts and ends the same way with nothing distinctive to say about each system. | Let the characteristics of each system shape the writing. If one system is primarily about automating a transaction, describe the transaction. If another is about aggregating data for managerial decisions, explain what data and what decisions. The differences between systems are the interesting part — write toward those differences, not away from them. |
| 5 | Writing fewer than two pages in the body text | Two pages is the minimum. A paper that runs one and a half pages in the body has not met the length requirement, regardless of the content quality. Length requirements exist partly to ensure enough depth of analysis — a one-page paper cannot adequately cover three systems with descriptions and decisions discussions for each. | If you are running short, the fix is more analysis, not more padding. Go back to the decisions discussion for each system and add another sentence or two of specifics. What exactly does the system calculate that would be done manually without it? What error does it prevent? What data does it surface that managers would not otherwise see? Specificity fills space productively. |
| 6 | APA title page formatted incorrectly | Missing the course name, omitting the instructor name, using the wrong date format, or including a running head when one is not required are all common title page errors. In APA 7th edition, student papers do not include a running head. Many students format theirs based on older APA 6th edition examples, which do include running heads. | Use a reliable APA 7th edition template — your CCU library or the Purdue OWL has one. Confirm: title page includes paper title (bolded), your name, institution, department, course name and number, instructor name, and date. No running head. No abstract unless specified. Title repeats on page 2 (bolded) before the introduction begins. |
| 7 | Wrong file name on submission | The assignment specifies a required file name format: yourname_ISM270_S1A1. A file submitted with a different name technically does not meet the submission instructions, and some instructors deduct points for it. It is also harder for instructors to file and return graded papers when names are inconsistent. | Rename your file before uploading. Use your actual name, not a placeholder. Confirm the format: LastName_ISM270_S1A1.docx or FirstLastName_ISM270_S1A1.docx depending on what your institution expects. Check the assignment instructions one more time before hitting submit. |
Pre-Submission Checklist — ISM 270 Session 1 Assignment
- Three information systems identified — all from college or workplace, all serving organizational functions
- Each system described with enough specificity to identify its type, users, data inputs, and primary function
- Each system’s decisions or processes discussed — specifically, with detail about what improves and how
- Minimum two academic sources cited — textbook and one peer-reviewed journal article
- Both sources appear as in-text citations in the paper body, not just in the reference list
- APA title page formatted correctly — title, name, institution, course, instructor, date; no running head
- Font and size comply with APA 7th edition (e.g., Times New Roman 12pt or Calibri 11pt)
- Entire document double-spaced with one-inch margins and half-inch paragraph indents
- Reference page starts on a new page, entries in alphabetical order with hanging indent
- Article titles in reference list in sentence case; journal names in title case and italicized
- DOIs included for journal articles, formatted as hyperlinks (https://doi.org/…)
- Paper body is at least two full pages (excluding title page and reference page)
- File saved as yourname_ISM270_S1A1.docx
- Turnitin submission reviewed — paraphrase any passages too close to source wording
FAQs — ISM 270 Information Systems Around You
What Makes the Best Papers on This Assignment Stand Out
The strongest ISM 270 Session 1 papers do two things consistently: they are specific, and they are analytical. They do not describe Blackboard as “an online learning platform.” They describe it as a decision support and communication system that gives faculty real-time visibility into student engagement patterns, automates grade calculation, and documents the course record in a way that supports academic integrity reviews. That is specific. That is analytical. That is what the assignment is asking for.
The decisions discussion is where most papers leave points on the table. It is the part that requires you to think, not just observe. Identifying the system is observation. Describing it is documentation. Explaining which organizational decisions it improves and how it improves them — that is the intellectual work the course is trying to develop. Do not rush it. Do not treat it as a one-sentence afterthought at the end of each section.
The APA requirements are mechanical. They are also non-negotiable. Count your sources. Check your in-text citations match your reference entries. Verify the title page format against APA 7th edition. Rename your file before you submit. These are the easiest points to protect and the most avoidable reasons to lose marks.
If you need support with this paper — structuring the three system sections, finding academic sources in the CCU library, getting your APA formatting right, or editing the final draft — the team at Smart Academic Writing covers information systems coursework and APA-formatted academic writing at undergraduate and graduate levels. Visit our academic writing services, our APA citation help, our editing and proofreading service, or our research paper writing service. You can also see how the service works or contact us with your assignment details.