An investigation into potential different motivations for the retention and satisfaction of Gen X and Gen Y staff in the Hospitality Industry.

The title page should include the following items:
• Research project title;
• Module name and code;
• Your student number;
• Total number of words (excluding above items marked with *).
Outlined below are the specific requirements for each section of the final research report:
1. Title and Executive Summary (worth 20% with items 2 and 3)
Clarity: The title should be relevant and appropriate, clearly identifying the focus of the research topic.
Structure and coverage: You should provide a concise account of the whole report and, therefore,
include the following: brief outline of the problem; aims; objectives; key findings; and
recommendations/implications. This should easily fit onto one page of 1½ line-spaced text.
Academic integrity: Ensure all content attributed to another source is appropriately referenced (this
applies to the whole report).
2. Rationale (worth 20%, with items 1 and 3)
Clarity: You are expected to state clearly why you have chosen your topic and include clear aims and
objectives for the research.
Academic: You must provide a fully referenced academic justification for the project, stating why this
area is worthy of review, based on sound academic evidence with appropriate references (i.e. not
owing to a personal interest or work experience – helpful those these might be!!). An academic
rationale might therefore attempt to prove that the issue is under-researched; existing research
requires updating; there is a new use of existing theory; a contemporary issue means existing models
are inappropriate, etc, etc.
Applied: The topic must relate to a definable problem in the area of hospitality or tourism and sound
evidence should be provided (e.g.: newspaper report, previous research, etc). This may be limited to a
particular company, or widened out to a relevant industry area, dependent upon the research evidence
you identify.
3. Research questions (worth 20%, with items 2 and 3)
Linked to rationale: Your questions should address the issue/problem you identified in your rationale
DIRECTLY. You must ensure that your questions are just that, rather than statements (i.e.: they end
with a “?”)
Appropriate focus: You should not adopt too broad or narrow a stance towards your topic – you are
advised not to make your own task harder by choosing questions you later find existing academic
research cannot answer!
Breadth: You should not have too many (or too few) questions; up to three questions is suggested.
4. Literature review/critical discussion (worth 45%)
Coverage: You should incorporate a range of literature in this section, including both academic and
applied material. At the very least, you should be aiming to include at least 10 separate academic
sources but you are free to draw from as many as your topic warrants (hint: the ability to incorporate
more literature usually makes the task of critical analysis much easier and often results in higher
marks!) More generally, literature sources could include, but is not limited to: academic journal
articles; industry reports (e.g.: MINTEL, WTTC), government/professional bodies (e.g.: VisitBritain,
Tourism Management Institute), statistics (e.g.: ONS data), trade magazines (e.g.: Hotelier), credible
internet sources, broadsheet newspapers, etc. It is not necessarily the number of sources you cite, but
the relevance, currency, quality and academic rigour of your sources that are important (i.e.: focus on
peer-reviewed, scholarly journal articles as the predominant source type). Students are expected to
cite/refer to the original article/source rather than secondary referencing via textbooks in coursework.
Structure and clarity: You should write in a clear, concise manner and structure your sections so that
the literature review flows logically towards your conclusions.
Critical analysis: Your discussion should be analytical and evaluative rather than simply describing the
content of other sources. You should build an argument throughout your work and compare and
contrast differing points of view. These arguments should be well evidenced and supported by credible
sources.
Relevance: You should show the relevance of the material you discuss throughout, evaluating the
significance of your findings. Excellent work will locate the topic in a broader business and social
context but the relevance of any ‘digressions’ must be clearly signalled to avoid losing marks.
January 2020 – updated March 2020 3
5. Conclusions and recommendations (worth 20%)
Flow from discussion: Your conclusions should stem from your discussion and should not incorporate
entirely new material in this section, nor introduce fresh insights into your topic. This section should
highlight the most significant findings of the literature review.
Related to questions: You should summarise the key points from the preceding section and analyse
and/or evaluate them to answer/address the questions you identified at the beginning of the project.
One way to do this is to arrange your conclusions section with each question as a heading and state the
extent to which your research questions have been answered by the research evidence provided.
Logical/reasonable: Your recommendations should be a constructive consideration of further research
that might be undertaken on your topic in the future. Strong projects will consider the limitations of
non-empirical studies (i.e.: those based solely on secondary data or a review of published literature)
and suggest ways these might be overcome.
6. Referencing, spelling, grammar and overall presentation (worth 10%)
A reference list is a complete list of works that you cited in the main body of your project. The markers
will check if you have applied the APA 6th edition format to your citations, references and list of sources
correctly and accurately. Your work will also be assessed for plagiarism via Turnitin. If you are in any
doubt about accurate referencing, check the library’s webpages for help.
You should you proof-read your work for errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation and overall
presentation before its final submission. This is the culmination of your research and the document
should be something of which you are very proud. One final read through before you upload the final
document could make all the difference!

7. Final Research Report assessment criteria
Your final research report will be marked out of 100, weighted as follows:
Assessment criteria Weighting
1. Title Relevant and appropriate
20%
2. Executive summary Clear and concise executive summary that
includes all the key components of the overall
report.
3. Rationale Clearly expressed and justified with appropriate
aims and objectives
4. Research questions Clearly linked to the rationale, aims and
objectives. Appropriate scope and focus.
5. Literature review and
critical discussion
Includes a range of appropriate academic and
industry sources. Clearly and logically structured.
Evidence of critical analysis and relevance to the
aims, objectives and research questions
45%
6. Conclusions and
recommendations/
implications
Conclusions flow from the discussion and are
directly related to the research questions.
Recommendations/implications are logical,
reasonable and realistic.
20%
7. Referencing/bibliography,
presentation, spelling and
grammar
Accurate use of APA 6th edition referencing style,
with the inclusion of a range of appropriate key
sources. The research report is clearly and
logically structured, with close attention paid to
spelling, grammar and punctuation.
10%
8. Record of supervisions A minimum of three signed records of
supervision 5%