Critique — strictly plagiarism check — attach plagiarism report

CritiqueSummary + Cover Page

Submit your completed summary here along with a cover page. You will be expected to use an improved version of this in your final critique. It will be peer-reviewed; your instructor will assess your final version in the critique.

You can access a template Cover Page

 

here 

– note that the formatting, etc. is not completely done and must be finished by you (see below for instructions)

Here are the criteria that your partner will be checking for:

General Layout 

· Their paper has a title page that contains the title of their paper, their name, their course name + section, and the date 

· Their paper is double-spaced

· There is no extra spacing between paragraphs.

· There is a 1-inch margin around the text: top, bottom, left and right.

· The right hand margin is NOT justified and text is aligned to the left side of the page.

· The summary has an indent

· They have used 12 point Times New Roman in the ENTIRE paper (including title page.)

· The pages are numbered.

· Their paper is the required length – title page + 1 additional page

· The paper has a running head

Content 

· Their paper has 1 distinct section so far, Introduction, and it is clearly labelled.

· The first sentence of the article includes author name, date, article title, reporting verb, and a summary

· 4-5 main points are included

· Each sentence starts with a discourse marker

· Each sentence includes a reporting verb OR another clear indication that this is not the student’s opinions

· In the summary, they have not stated their opinion (they may have stated what the author of the article said but not what they felt). 

· The summary of the article is NO MORE than one paragraph 

· There is sufficient explanation to give me an idea of what the article is about (I have marked any unclear points)

Critique

NOTE: This assignment must be completed independently with no discussion, comparison, or assistance with/to other students’ work. In the case of suspected plagiarism, all involved parties will be reported, no exceptions.

Working alone, you will read the article assigned to you and deliver a professional, analytical critique of the article. Follow standard APA formatting.

The critique should have 3 sections:

· Introduction/Summary

· Include all the elements of a summary

· Summarize the full article

· Analysis

· Discuss the purpose and audience

· Evaluate the author’s arguments

· Evaluate any research mentioned

· Use hedging and explicit referencing to sections

· Relevance/Applicability

· Summarize your overall analysis

· Make recommendations for the applicability of the article

· Discuss potential implications

· Make recommendations about article issues

Building the critique:

· Remember to use objective language throughout the article.

· See the rubric for marking.

· As always, do not plagiarize. This critique MUST be in your own words and you shouldn’t collaborate with others when writing.

· If I discover that you copied directly from the article itself, you will receive a 0. If I discover that you copied from another student, you will receive a 0.

· Be sure to proofread your work. Typos, misspellings, and grammar errors make it difficult to understand and negatively impact the effectiveness of your writing. Please send your assignment to Grammarly.com.

 

Marking Criteria

APA Formatting and Citations
Appropriate cover page (/2)
Page numbers on all pages (/1)
Appropriate spacing, margins, font, headings (/2)
APA-style reference(s) (/3)

Introductory/Summary Paragraph
Includes title, author, date, and overview of article in introductory sentence(s) (/3)
Summarizes article well in accuracy and scope with objective tone (/3)
Is not more than one paragraph/approximately 1/3 of the paper. (/3)

Analysis Section
Organized in a logical manner, with a clear topic sentence for each paragraph (/3)
Describes author’s purpose and target audience. (/2)
Opinions explicit (not just “good” or “bad”) and justified well (/3)
Does not just repeat what the author says – provides a judgment or analysis for each point introduced. (/12)

Relevance/Applicability Section
Summarizes analysis concisely with clear evaluation/position on author’s conclusion (/3)
Makes recommendations for improvement of weak points OR discusses how article information can be applied to discipline (/3)
Makes final recommendation on whether the reader should read this article as well as who might find it relevant (/2)

Professionalism + Completion
Summary completed on time for peer review (/4)
Formal, academic tone (/3)
Explicit, professional references to source article through paraphrasing or direct quotes (/3)
Clearly written with no obvious grammatical errors (/3)
Appropriate length (2-3 pages, or 400-700 words not including references or cover page) and concise (/2)

Illustrations by MARIA CORTE

Experience

MANAGING YOURSELF

LEARN WHEN TO SAY NO…
and how to say yes
by Bruce Tulgan

E V E R S I N C E C O M P A N I E S S T A R T E D working more
cross-functionally and collaboratively, exchanging top-
down management for dotted-line reporting with fuzzy
accountability, work has gotten more complicated. All
day every day, most of us are fielding requests. The asks
are formal and informal, large and small. They’re not just
from direct bosses and teammates but also from “internal

A d v i c e a n d I n s p i ra t i o n

Harvard Business Review
September–October 2020  135

customers” all over the organizational
chart. Add to this the demands of
external stakeholders, of family, friends,
and acquaintances, and sometimes even
of complete strangers. The requests
keep coming—across tables and through
Zoom screens, by phone, e-mail, and
instant message.

The inflow is daunting. And now
more than ever, your professional suc-
cess and personal well-being depend on
how you manage it. You can’t say yes to
everyone and everything and do all of it
well. When you take on too many or the
wrong things, you waste time, energy,
and money and distract yourself from
what’s really important. Still, no one
wants to anger or disappoint colleagues
or other contacts—or, worse, turn down
key career and life opportunities.

You must therefore learn when and
how to say both no and yes. A considered
no protects you. The right yes allows you
to serve others, make a difference, col-
laborate successfully, and increase your
influence. You want to gain a reputation
for saying no at the right times for the
right reasons and make every single yes
really count.

How do you do it? Through decades
of research into what makes people
the most highly valued, indispensable
employees at hundreds of organizations,
I have uncovered a framework that I
believe works. It has three parts: assess
the ask, deliver a well-reasoned no, and
give a yes that sets you up for success.

ASSESS THE ASK
When making a financial investment,
most of us do some due diligence—seek-
ing out more information so that we can

make a sound judgment. When you say
yes or no to a request, you’re deciding
where to invest your personal resources,
so give the choice the same careful
consideration.

That starts with insisting on a
well-defined ask. Sometimes the ask
is sloppy, so you misunderstand: It
sounds like more or less than it is, or it
sends you off in the wrong direction.
That’s why you ought to help yourself
and the asker by getting critical details
about the request. You can develop a
reputation for being highly responsive if
you engage in this way. It doesn’t mean
you’re agreeing to the ask. It simply
signals that you’re taking your counter-
parts’ needs seriously, whether you can
help or not.

You should ask questions and take
notes, clarifying every aspect of the
request, including the costs and benefits.
Think of the intake memos that lawyers,
accountants, and doctors write—docu-
ments created for their own reference
to capture the particulars of each
client’s need. Essentially, you’re helping
the asker fine-tune the request into a
proposal. The memo should cover the
following questions:

1. What is today’s date and time? (This
will help you track how the project
evolves.)

2. Who is the asker?
3. What is the deliverable being

requested? Be specific.
4. By when does it need to be

accomplished?

Experience

136 Harvard Business ReviewSeptember–October 2020

5. What resources will be required?
6. Who is the source of authority on

this issue, and do you have that
person or group’s approval?

7. What are the possible benefits?
8. What are the obvious and hidden

costs?
The bigger or more complicated the

ask, the more information you should
gather. Sometimes honoring the request
is out of the question. Or an ask appears
so insignificant that an intake memo
seems unnecessary—or would take
longer to draft than simply completing
the request. Indeed, if you tried to drill
down into every microask, people might
accuse you of creating ridiculous bureau-
cracy. And they’d have a point. But the
vast majority of requests will deserve at
least some further investigation before
you make a call on them. You’ll find that
small asks can balloon into big ones or
that what at first sounds impossible turns
out to be much easier than you assumed.
You might see that a seemingly silly ask
is actually smart, or vice versa. That’s
why the intake memo should become a
rock-solid habit for everything except the
most minor and urgent requests.

Be sure you share your list with the
asker to confirm that you’re on the same
page. Imagine the confidence your
counterparts will gain in your promises
if they see you’re creating a mutually
approved record of what they need—and
how much more readily they’ll accept
your judgment of yes or no.

Zane (whose name has been
changed to protect confidentiality) is an
extremely capable business analyst in
a large consumer-electronics company.
Until recently, he had a hard time saying
no at work, especially to his boss and

other senior leaders, because he was so
determined to prove his value.

Inundated by requests, he often
found himself terribly overcommitted,
working harder and harder, juggling
competing priorities as fast as he could.
He never intended to overpromise, but
he was often doubling back to renego-
tiate delivery dates even as he accepted
new requests. Soon he started dropping
balls, making mistakes, and irritating
colleagues. Every incoming request felt
like an attack to fend off, so at least for a
while, no seemed like the only answer.

Finally, Zane’s manager, Aiko,
intervened and asked that all requests
for his time go through her. Although
he temporarily lost his power to say yes
or no, he learned a lot from his boss’s
process, and eventually, Zane took it
over himself.

“We had an intake form,” Zane
explains. “Who is making and authoriz-
ing this request? Is this data we have or
data we need to get or start capturing
going forward? Do you need analysis,
and is that something we can do? And
what is the business objective?”

Even after answering those ques-
tions, prioritizing competing requests
could often be tricky. In one instance,
Zane’s boss’s boss tasked him with
setting up a new data-capture system
“as fast as possible,” just as he was
pulling together a report for Aiko. The
latter was a two-day project. Building
the new system would take about two
weeks. Should he immediately focus
on the biggest big shot or first get the
quick win?

Another challenge for Zane was
ranking competing requests from his
peers against those from his two direct

reports and from people elsewhere in
the organization and outside it. But
using the disciplined intake-memo
process, Zane got better and better at
comparing how urgent or important
each project really was, making smart
decisions, and demonstrating to every-
one his true service mindset without
overextending himself.

A WELL-REASONED NO
A thoughtful no, delivered at the right
time, can be a huge boon, saving
time and trouble for everybody down
the road.

A bad no, hastily decided, causes
problems for everybody, especially
you. Bad nos happen when you haven’t
properly assessed the ask; when you let
decisions be driven by personal biases,
including dislike of the asker or dismiss-
als of people who don’t seem important
enough; or when you decline simply
because you’ve said yes to too many
other things and don’t have any capacity
left. Bad nos often cause you to miss
out on meaningful experiences and are
also more likely to get overruled, leaving
hard feelings on both sides.

A good no is all about timing and
logic. You should say no to things that
are not allowed, cannot be done, or
that, on balance, should not be done.
I call these the “no gates,” a concept I
borrowed from a project management
technique called stage-gate reviews,
which divide initiatives into distinct
phases and then subject each to a “go,
no go” decision.

The first gate is the easiest to
understand. If there are procedures,
guidelines, or regulations that prohibit

Most requests deserve some investigation. You’ll find that small asks can balloon into big
ones or that what at first sounds impossible turns out to be easier than you assumed.

Harvard Business Review
September–October 2020  137

you from doing something—or some-
one has already made it clear that this
category of work is off-limits to you,
at least for now—then you simply give
a straight no. (If you think it’s against
the rules for everybody, please also
consider talking the requester out of
pursuing the idea.)

What do you say? “I don’t have
discretion here. This request violates
policy/rules/law. So you really shouldn’t
make it at all. Perhaps I can help you

reframe your request within the rules so
that it can then be considered.”

Turning people down at the second
gate is also straightforward (at least
sometimes). If the request isn’t feasible,
you say, “I simply can’t do it.” If you just
don’t have the ability to deliver on it,
then you say, “Sorry, that’s outside my
skill set. I’m not even close.”

What if you don’t currently have
the experience and skills to handle the
request quickly and confidently—but

you could acquire them? The answer still
might be no. But the answer could also
be “This is not my specialty. That said,
if you accept that I’d need extra time to
climb a learning curve, then I’ll take a
crack at it.” It could be a development
opportunity for you and, in the end, give
the requester a new go-to person (you)
on this sort of project.

The most common reason for “I
cannot,” however, is overcommitment.
In those instances, people tend to say
things like “With all the other priorities
I’m balancing, I don’t have the availabil-
ity to do it anytime soon.” That’s a forced
no. If you can’t avoid it, try to preserve
the opportunity to fulfill the request later
or else help out down the road when you
are available.

What’s the best way to respond? “I’m
already committed to other responsibil-
ities and projects. I’d love to do this for
you at a later time. If that’s not possible,
I’d love to be of service somehow in the
future.”

The third gate is the trickiest because
whether something merits doing isn’t
always clear at first. You need to make a
judgment on the likelihood of your suc-
cess, on the potential return on invest-
ment, and on fit with your and your
organization’s priorities. And sometimes
the answer to the request is “maybe” or
“not yet.”

What do you say in those cases? “I
need to know more. Let me ask you the
following questions….” Essentially, you’re
getting the person in need of help to make
a more thorough or convincing proposal.

What if you do understand the ask
and you don’t think it’s a worthwhile
goal for you right now? You might say,
“That’s not something I should say yes

Experience

138 Harvard Business ReviewSeptember–October 2020

to at this time because the likelihood
of success is low,” “…the necessary
resources are too great,” “…it’s not in
alignment with the current priorities,”
or “…the likely outcome is [otherwise
somehow not desirable].”

When it comes to timing, the most
important thing is to thoroughly engage
with the request. Then answer quickly.
Don’t give a precipitous no, or you’ll risk
seeming dismissive. But don’t string
your counterpart along, either. If your
no really means “not at the moment but
soon,” then let the person know that. If
the answer is “No, but I know somebody
who can” or “No, but I can provide you
with aid that will help somebody else
do it,” then say that as soon as possible.
If the answer is “I may not, cannot, or
should not do it, and it is a bad idea, so
you shouldn’t do it either,” have that
conversation before the asker presses
you or someone else further.

Once Zane routinely began tuning in
to every ask and doing his due diligence,
he found it much easier to see when he
should decline a request and became
far more confident delivering a well-
reasoned no—or a “not yet.” For exam-
ple, around the time that he was bal-
ancing that report for Aiko with setting
up the new system for her boss, Zane
had to decline or delay filling several
other requests. As usual, he gave many
standard “That data is simply not in the
system” responses. But he also said no
to a request for a wild-goose chase from
a peer of his boss who had a history of
wasting his time. “I wasn’t building a
correlation model again to once again
not find the pattern he was looking for,”
Zane explains, noting that he also gave
Aiko a heads-up to make sure nobody

would be surprised. He also delayed
completing a request from another exec-
utive peer of Aiko’s, saying something
along the lines of “We’ve never collected
that particular data before. Maybe we
can start, but I wouldn’t be free to work
on that for a few weeks.”

Because of Zane’s increasingly
thorough, businesslike approach, his
colleagues came to deeply value his
assessments and responses and—over
time—his judgment.

AN EFFECTIVE YES
Every good no makes room for a
better yes—one that adds value, builds
relationships, and enhances your
reputation.

What is a better yes?
It’s aligned with the mission, values,

priorities, ground rules, and marching
orders from above. It’s for something
that you can do, ideally well, fast, and
with confidence. In other words, it
involves one of your specialties—or an
opportunity to build a new one. It allows
you to make an investment of time,
energy, and resources in something that
has a high likelihood of success and
offers significant potential benefits.

The key to a great yes is clear
communication and a focused plan for
execution. First, explain exactly why
you’re saying yes: You can enrich the
project, you want to collaborate, you see
the benefits. Then pin down your plan
of action, especially for a deliverable of
any scope.

Make sure you agree on the details,
including what the requester needs from
you, what you will do together, how and
when the work will be done, who has

oversight, and when you’ll discuss the
issue next. If this is a multistep process,
you might need to have several of those
conversations as you go along.

As his reputation for professionalism
and good judgment grew, Zane was
in greater demand but also had more
and more discretion to choose among
competing responsibilities and projects.
As the company moved toward a more
sophisticated approach to business
intelligence (data collection, analysis,
reporting, and modeling for prediction),
his input was sought by a number of
executives he had worked with, and
his opinion was given a lot of weight.
As a result, Zane was made the lead
analyst on the new enterprise-resource-
management system implementation,
which he describes as “the greatest
professional development experience”
of his career.

M O S T P E O P L E H AV E too much to do
and too little time. Saying yes to requests
from bosses, teammates, and others can
make you feel important but can be a
prescription for burnout.

The only way to be sustainably
successful is to get really good at saying
no in a way that makes people feel
respected and to say yes only when your
reasoning is sound and you have a clear
plan of attack.

HBR Reprint R2005M

BRUCE TULGAN is the founder of
the management training firm

RainmakerThinking and the author of
The Art of Being Indispensable at Work:
Win Influence, Beat Overcommitment,
and Get the Right Things Done (Harvard
Business Review Press, 2020).

Make sure you agree on the details, including what the requester needs from you, what
you will do together, how and when the work will be done, and who has oversight.

Harvard Business Review
September–October 2020  139

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