这个作业是进行原始的，独立的金融研究报告
CORPORATE FINANCE FIN3016
RESEARCH PAPER GUIDELINES 19/20
PURPOSE
The purpose of the research paper is to provide students with the opportunity to undertake a
piece of original, independent financial research. This project will be something tangible which
you can show potential employers. The end-product will be similar to a mini-dissertation or
research paper. The research paper is an individual piece of work.
MARKING SCHEME
The project accounts for 75% of your overall module mark. The breakdown of marks for the
project is as follows:
Please refer to Appendix 1 which provides an outline of the feedback sheet you will receive
and the marking criteria. The suggested page lengths for each section below will give you an
indication of how the marks for each section are weighted.
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE RESEARCH PAPER
The research paper is to be no more than 15 pages long including title page, tables, figures,
and appendices. References are excluded from the 15 page limit. Your text (apart from tables
and footnotes) should be double-spaced using size 12 Times New Roman font. Standard
margins should be used. Research papers which don’t meet these requirements will not be
accepted.
Each research paper should have the following:
1. Your title, name and student number on the first page.
2. An abstract of less than 100 words. This should summarise your paper, and be on the
first page.
3. An introduction (1-2 pages) which details what the research paper is about is about
(your research questions), why it is important, your main findings, and a short (one
paragraph) overview of what you do in each section.
4. A literature review and theoretical section. (approx. 3 pages). This should be critical
of the literature. It should also tie in with what you are doing in your empirical work.
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It shouldn’t be a comprehensive literature review of all the major papers!! It should
contain your main hypotheses.
5. Data and Methodology section (approx. 2 pages) – How are you going to test your
hypotheses? Where is your data from? What is your methodology? Any data
problems?
6. Results and Analysis section (approx. 6 pages) – Tables and figures of results. State
your findings. Explain your findings. How do your results fit in with the literature?
7. Conclusion (approx. 1-2 pages) – summary of findings, weaknesses of your paper,
possible future research.
8. References – please note that all and only cited papers should be in your references.
Please follow the Harvard style of referencing. Guidelines on how to reference can be
found here: http://libguides.qub.ac.uk/c.php?g=282337&p=1881364
Failure to reference properly will result in marks being deducted.
9. You should follow the formatting style of the Journal of Finance or Journal of Financial
Economics. Make sure your tables and figures follow this style, particularly when
presenting econometric results.
Please refer to Appendix 2 for further information on the layout and content of your
project
DATA FOR THE PROJECTS
You will need to collect your own data for the project. All the guides to the main financial
databases are available on Canvas. I have also put up some datasets. You may wish to look at
other sources, please ensure they are credible and you can verify the integrity of your data.
POSSIBLE TOPICS
You have the freedom to choose your area of research, provided it falls within the syllabus of
the course. It is important that you ensure that data is available before you select your topic.
I have outlined some potential research topics below:
1. Ownership
– Do different ownership structures affect firm performance?
2. Corporate governance
– How board structure influences firm performance
– CEO pay performance sensitivity
– Board diversity
3. Determinants of capital structure
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– Can consider looking across industries within a country or across different
countries for determinants of capital structure
4. Factors influencing dividend policy
– What determines dividend policy across industries or countries
5. Law and finance
– Do better legal protections result in better financial outcomes?
– Does legal origin matter?
6. CSR
– Does CSR matter for firm performance?
– Does governance matter for CSR?
PROJECT SUBMISSION
The deadline for project submission is before 1700 Monday 20th April. Your project should
be uploaded to Canvas as a pdf file. Please ensure that you correctly reference in your
research projects. Plagiarism will not be tolerated. It is not acceptable to copy sections of text
from another author and present this as your own work.
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Appendix 1: Project feedback & marking scheme
Corporate Finance research papers – feedback proforma
Lecturer: John Turner (j.turner@qub.ac.uk)
Name:
Overall mark:
Poor
(Fail)
Adequate
(3rd)
Good
(2:2)
Very
good
(2:1)
Excellent
(1st)
Research paper
Title and Abstract (10%)
Introduction (10%)
Literature review (10%)
Data and methodology (10%)
Results and analysis (25%)
Conclusion (10%)
Logical progression of
arguments and coherency of
paper (15%)
Referencing and presentation
(10%)
OVERALL (100%)
Additional Comments:
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Research
paper
Weight Poor (0-40) Adequate (40-50) Good (50-60) Very Good (60-70) Excellent (70+)
Title and
Abstract
10% – Fails to
communicate
subject matter of
research
– Gives reader some
idea of topic and
findings
– Gives reader good
idea of topic and
findings
– Communicates clearly the
subject under
consideration, the research
questions and key results
– Communicates very clearly the
subject under consideration, the
research questions and key results
Introduction 10% – Fails to provide a
coherent overview
of the research
– No clear indication
of research agenda
or
motivation/context
– Key findings detailed
but lacks coherence
– Approach to research
outlined but several
gaps/inaccuracies
– Key findings
summarised
– Outline of proposed
research but some
areas may lack
coherence/relevance
– Factual overview of
approach and key findings
– Lacking in
motivation/discussion
importance
– Comprehensive & coherent
– Summarising motivation & key
findings
– Clear motivation and context for
research, discussion of
importance
– Overview of the project/empirical
approach
– Detail of each section
Literature
review
10% – Literature review
lacks coherence
and relevance
– Issues with
accuracy
– Lack of theoretical
overview
– Evidence of
reviewing the
literature
– Poor discussion of
theoretical context
– Key hypotheses not
specified correctly
– Factual review of the
literature
– Theoretical
discussion may
contain minor
inaccuracies
– Limited discussion of
hypothesis
development
– Comprehensive discussion
of literature/
– Hypotheses outlined
– Critical discussion of relevant
literature in the field
– Comprehensive discussion of
theoretical motivation for
research
– Hypotheses motivated by
literature/theory
Data and
methodology
10% – Insufficient data
description
– Serious errors in
model construction
– Limited description
of data
– Model mis-specified
– Factual description
of data
– Model mis-specifed
– Full discussion of data,
may be some minor
inaccuracies
– Model correctly specified,
may be issues with
notation
– Full discussion of data
– Description of empirical
approach
– Model correctly specified
Results and
analysis
25% – Results not
interpreted
correctly
– Description of results
with limited
interpretation
– Some inaccuracies in
interpretation
– Limited discussion of
existing
– Correct interpretation
of results
– Some evidence of
comparing results
with theory/existing
research
– Correct interpretation of
results
– Discussion of research
questions/hypotheses in
light of evidence
– Results placed in context
– Correct and full interpretation of
results in relation to specified
research questions with evidence
of original thought
– Results placed in context of the
literature in the field.
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theory/empirical
evidence
Conclusion 10% Fails to summarise
key findings and
draw valid
conclusions from the
data
Overview of
conclusions but some
inaccuracies
– Summary of key
findings
– Some limitations in
drawing conclusions
from the results
– Summary of key findings
– Awareness of weaknesses
in methodological
approach
– Concise and coherent summary
of key findings
– Evidence of drawing original
conclusions from the analysis
– Discussion of any weaknesses
– Avenues for future research
Logical
progression
and coherency
of
paper
15% – Report lacks
coherence
– Large amounts of
irrelevant material
– Clear lack of
understanding
– Report lacks
coherence in several
areas
– Coherent report, with
some inaccuracies or
evidence of a lack of
understanding
– Coherent and clear train of
logical thought from lit
review, through to
hypotheses development,
model specification,
analysis of results and
conclusions
– Coherent and clear train of
logical thought from lit review,
through to hypotheses
development, model
specification, analysis of results
and conclusions
– Evidence of independent and
original thought
Referencing
and
presentation
10% – Report fails to meet
formatting
requirements
– inconsistent
approach to
referencing
– Several formatting
issues
– approach to
referencing not
consistent
– Some minor
formatting issues
– Quality of
referencing
– Meets formatting
requirements
– Good range of references
– Within 15 page limit, double
spaced etc
– Evidence of additional reading
– Harvard style of referencing
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Appendix 2: Project requirements
Your research paper should be written in the style of an academic journal article. Please refer
to articles from the Journal of Finance or Journal of Financial Economics, for examples of
well written papers and the correct layout and style.
Title page
This should detail your project title, your name and student number. Do not include a contents
page, this is a waste of your page limit. The abstract should also be included on the title page,
it should be less than 100 words. This should be a concise summary of the motivation for your
work, why it is important, what your key findings and conclusions are.
Introduction (1-2 pages)
The purpose of the introduction is to provide the reader with an overview of your work. You
should include the context for your research and why it is important. The introduction should
include your research questions and your key findings. It should also include a short (one
paragraph) overview of what you do in each section.
You may find it helpful to write your introduction after you have written up the rest of your
paper.
Literature review and theoretical section (appx. 3 pages)
You should include a review of the relevant literature in your area of research. You should
critically review the literature and document the key papers which support or refute your thesis
statement. The section should also include the theoretical basis for your research. You should
clearly outline your key research questions, hypotheses, and how these will help you to
empirically analyse your thesis statement. There should be a clear link between your thesis
statement, research questions, and hypotheses.
All papers should be cited as (SurnameOfAuthor, YearOfPublication), e.g. (Bloggs, 2009).
Readers should then be able to look at your bibliography to find the surname of the author, and
the year published, to find the article or book which you are referring to.
Data and Methodology section (approx. 2 pages)
You should outline your data source and also summarise the data. When you are collecting the
data set ensure that it is credible, check for any missing entries. You should also eyeball your
data to look for any obvious outliers which you may wish to exclude from your dataset.
Describe the data in this section, i.e. number of observations, distribution of the data, what
years your data relate to etc. Tables should include units, currencies etc where appropriate.
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Clearly outline how you are going to test your hypotheses and what is your methodology. You
should specify your regression model including correct notation.
You should define the key variables you are using and any notation if appropriate.
Results and Analysis section (approx. 6 pages)
Your results should be presented in tabular format following the Journal of Finance or Journal
of Financial Economics. Outputs taken directly from Stata are not acceptable. Ensure that all
key variables are included in your tables. You should clearly state and explain your findings.
Reference should be made to the statistical significance of your key variables.
You should illustrate how your results either support or refute your initial hypothesis. The
section should include a discussion of how your results fit in with the existing literature. You
should also link your results back to the theory behind your research.
Conclusion (approx. 1-2 pages)
The conclusion summarises your entire paper, you should include a summary of your key
findings, whether they support or refute your key hypotheses and how your results contribute
to the existing literature in the field. You may wish to note whether your approach contributes
in terms of results from a new data set or an empirical approach which differs from the existing
literature.
The conclusion should include a reflective element which outlines any weaknesses with your
paper, e.g., limited data set, and thoughts on future areas for research.
Formatting
Projects which do not meet the specifications for the required formatting or exceed the stated
page limit will be marked down. Correct spelling and grammar will also be considered as part
of the overall mark scheme (with relevant exclusions where applicable).
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