Questions and Topics We Can Help You To Answer:
Paper Instructions:

Using the knowledge that you have acquired during the course, you will need to prepare a
research paper analyzing a specific corporation, country, investment fund, derivatives
trader/investor or local government involved in a derivative structured product or
situation where significant derivative losses have been suffered.
You will need to describe the background of involved parties, provide a detailed analysis of the
situation, and explain the specifics of the derivative transaction.
Note that the most important aspect of this project is to demonstrate a thorough understanding of
the derivatives situation that you choose for your paper, not just presenting the numbers,
formulae, and existing facts.
Your paper MUST include your conclusion regarding the situation, and offer an alternative
strategy, stating how the described situation could have been prevented. It also MUST
include a bibliography of information and works cited.
The papers should contain between 12-15 pages.
The paper should be prepared using the APA writing style and guideline for references’ format.
You must provide a bibliography, and all direct quotations and data sources must be
properly cited. The Department uses the APA style to facilitate both, reading the paper
and understanding references without being cumbersome as some of the other styles
(such as Chicago or MLA). Students can download the student style guide from the
American Psychological Association http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html) web site or
you can purchase the APA style guide from the book store. There is even a help disk that
can be purchased for about $ 40 (http://www.apa.org/software/ ) that will walk you
through the process as you write the paper if you desire a more “personal assistance”.
Papers are to be RESEARCH PAPERS. Remember that work that you use from other
authors MUST be referenced. Since it is assumed that you are not an authority on the
topic that you are writing, it is expected that this paper is an overview of many different
sources of information. These must be contributed to the author using the APA format.
This is your paper and not the cut and paste of someone else's work. The internet has led
to a false sense of what research is all about. Those new to research tend to think that it
means spending an afternoon surfing the internet and then an afternoon cutting from
material available. Keep in mind that the Internet is: (1) not quality-oriented as it has
good materials and not so good materials, and the Internet does not know the difference;
(2) the Internet is NOT a sole source location. In particular, sources such as Wikipedia
are the works of individual submitters that are not reviewed. Thus while many entries
provide excellent information, some are fundamentally flawed or just plain wrong. Keep
in mind that the Boston University Library, as well as your local, state and the national
US Library of Congress, have extensive online services. USE THEM.