Literature Essays (2 cr)

Objectives (course unit)

The study of literature is distinct because it requires the perspective and the skills of critical reading and analyzing. The literature essay requires personal interpretation and clear expression of ideas.

The student will independently familiarise himself/herself with literature in his/her interest fields (for example entrepreneurship, management, communality, innovation or marketing) and write an essay on the book.

After completing the course, students will be able to:
Critically read and analyse literature
Formulate a coherent summary from the literature (argument, essay)
Build own interpretations from literature
Act ethically when citing or referring to text written by another author

Content (course unit)

What are the main topics and central concerns of the literature review?
What are the critical points of the topic?
How to present a reasoned argument?
How to present a coherent essay about the topic?

Assessment criteria, pass/fail (course unit)

Pass – (S)
The student is able to explain the core concepts discussed in a certain book using a consistent and personal approach. He/she has proper referencing and summarizing skills. He/she can explain the main points of an article or a piece of work in one's own words and convey the relevant information. He/she is able to reflect on his/her experiences from working life and learnings from other source materials. He/she is able to compare his/her knowledge to the things written in the book. He/she takes responsibility of his/her own learning.

Location and time

The student will agree the schedule and litterature with the teacher.
The student is free to choose the place for writing.

Assessment methods and criteria

A Literature Essay must not be a summary of a book, but in stead in your essay you will need to compare the contents of the book with, or reflect on, your experiences from working life. It is more important to focus on the contents, in stead of the length, of the essay. You need to pay attention to the true findings that you gain during the reading. The essay must, however, meet the minimum requirement of two pages + the Coverpage (see the writing guidelines below).
The essay has to have a Coverpage, where you need to identify:
- your name
- student number
- the name of the book
- the number of book points listed in the List of Literature (by Mr. Johannes Partanen)

Assessment scale

Pass/Fail

Teaching methods

The student will independently familiarise himself/herself with literature in his/her interest fields (for example entrepreneurship, management, communality, innovation or marketing) and write an essay on the book.

Learning materials

You should choose the books on which you base your essay from the List of Literature by Johannes Partanen (Jyväskylä TeamAcademy). The name of the book collected by Mr Johannes Partanen is called "Tiimiyrittäjän ja tiimivalmentajan parhaat kirjat, Valintaopas 2016" (you can also use versions from earlier or later years). Even though the name of the book is in Finnish, you can find a lot of suggested literature in English in it.
The books in the List of Literature have been given one to three book points according to how demanding they are. Three (3) book points equals one (1) credit point. The List of Literature covers topics such as Leadership, Marketing, Innovation, Community Building, Learning, and Personal Development. International Business Students can include a maximum of five points of Literature Essays in their Individual Study Plan.
You can borrow the List of Literature by Johannes Partanen (Jyväskylä TeamAcademy), "Tiimiyrittäjän ja tiimivalmentajan parhaat kirjat, valintaopas 2016" in TAMK Library. There is also one copy of it for review in the TAMK Reference Library.
To get 1 credit point, the book(s) you have read must be worth three (3) book points.
You can also suggest a book outside of the List of Literature. The book can, however, not be one of your International Business course books.

Student workload

The student will agree the schedule and litterature with the teacher.
1 credit = 27 h
2 credits = 54 h

Content scheduling

The process is the following
1. Select litterature from the list and agree the schedule and litterature with the teacher
2. Critically read and analyse literature
3. Formulate a coherent summary from the literature (argument, essay)

Further information

Literature Essay refers to a possibility to cover 1 - 2 credit points missing form your degree by reading literature on a topic that is important for your Bachelor's Thesis, or for your current working life situation to improve your skills in a certain field of business. You will report your learning in essay form by reflecting your real-life experiences with the ideas presented in literature and articles.

Assessment criteria - pass/fail (Not in use, Look at the Assessment criteria above)

Typical to passed essee
The essay is done according to the above mentioned criteria and the student displays good level of expertise with the following skills
- Critically read and analyse literature
- Formulate a coherent summary from the literature (argument, essay)
- Build own interpretations from literature
- Act ethically when citing or referring to text written by another author

Typical to failed essee
The essay fails to meet any of the above mentioned criteria.