Joanne Scillitoe
Entrepreneurial Studies
School of Management
In all of my classes (Freshman to MBA) I expect students to read the business press (for example Wall Street Journal). I ask the students to select a recent article of their choosing and present the following components to the class. This is a great way for students to select a topic that interests them (interest is important for engagement), learn about current issues in business, and work on their critical analysis skills. The 10 min presentation must include the following:
- a summary of the article so the rest of the class learns some recent business news
- a clear explanation of how the article relates to the theories discussed in the course (concepts, models)
- a critical analysis of the article (I provide the students with the following critical analysis resources freely available on the web: http://depts.washington.edu/pswrite/Handouts/CriticalAnalysisPapers.pdf)
- questions and answers
What does critical analysis look like? I describe it as students "finding their voices." They transition from reciting what the article was about and notes from the lectures to their opinion.

