In the Department of Economics and Finance, we offer majors in Economics (BA) and Finance (BS). The department faculty has decided to consider the majors to be Disciplines. The Department will continue to require ENGL 230 Writing for Professional Settings for both majors. In addition, we offer the following Writing in the Discipline for our majors:
Finance
Writing in the Discipline in finance concerns the students’ ability to provide an in-depth analysis of the financial statements and governance of a company and provide written recommendations as to if and why investors should consider investing in that company, or financial institutions should extend credit to the company.
In our Financial Markets and Institutions course, FIN 423, our students will prepare a project by researching a Financial Institution (FI). The first part of the project focuses on the financial institution (FI) and its involvement in the financial markets. The second part of the project looks at recent major events and regulatory changes/proposals that may have an impact on the FI. After these two parts are complete, students are required to give an outlook (positive/neutral/negative) based on their research regarding the institution’s future prospects. The project will account for 25% of the course grade, both written and oral components (50% each). The written component includes a 4-6 page report, a draft version of which is to be turned in about a month before the end of the semester, and the final version turned in at the end of the semester.
FIN 423 is a prerequisite for our capstone course (FIN 463) and students will have completed a required Management Writing in the Discipline course (MGT 301). In the Seminar in Portfolio Management class, FIN 463, students will prepare a comprehensive final report describing their analysis of why they should be investing in 40-50 stocks that they have selected for their portfolio. They will also make a final oral presentation of their results to the faculty. The report will be prepared in three phases during the semester, and they will receive feedback from the instructor for each phase before they start the next phase of their project. The project will account for 50% of the final grade.