re: LSUS Online MBA Reviews

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do you know if there is a minimum amount of sections?

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That is pretty unclear, although it does mention "60-70%: Directly applies course concepts in all but 5-6 sections of paper" and "0%: Fails to directly apply course concepts in 5 or more sections of paper" under Personal Application.

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11 or more references seems to be pretty excessive in a 2,500 minimum word paper, but whatever.

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The absolute minimum to avoid getting a 0% is 2500 words and 5 references. 4000 words and 11+ is the minimum to get 100% credit.

Does anyone who has taken Meeks in the past have any intel on how strictly he grades the synthesis paper ? I just can’t imagine how he is going to read every one of these and make sure you reference four or five subjects from the class in every section…

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Does anyone who has taken Meeks in the past have any intel on how strictly he grades the synthesis paper ? I just can’t imagine how he is going to read every one of these and make sure you reference four or five subjects from the class in every section…

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Two of my group members had Meeks for the Entrepreneurship course. Apparently, that course has almost the same exact structure with different content (group PowerPoint videos, Skill Builders, Business Case Canvas, and Synthesis Paper). Both have continuously emphasized that word count is a huge factor. One of the two mentioned that he threw his synthesis paper together the night before it was due and "passed." Not sure if that meant an A on the paper, or passed the course.

If past grading performance is any indication, anything he can quickly count (i.e.: words and references) will have a disproportionate effect on the grade.

Pardon my ignorance on this ...but he wants 4 references in each section ? I read into things.

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I'm going to go back and double check you on this. I would be in a great position if I could use my skill builders. I have only typed about 500 words so far because Im trying to wrap up my other classes.


Please do and make sure you're seeing what I'm seeing! I'd hate to be wrong on this.

The location where he says the use of Skill Builder content is allowed is on the Synthesis Paper instruction page, the second paragraph under the heading "Synthesis Paper Template," starting with "THEME."

Also, make sure you take a look at the rubrics spreadsheet as well in the Getting Started section.

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I dug into this last night. It seems like you are 100% correct. I started using a bunch of paragraphs from my socratic skill builder and slightly modifying them.

But here is still my confusion. the "THEME". I dont think I am quite comprehending that. He wants us to use an example of a business fail/success and build around that maybe?

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But here is still my confusion. the "THEME". I dont think I am quite comprehending that. He wants us to use an example of a business fail/success and build around that maybe?

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I think he just wants everything to flow together around a cohesive thread. A specific business could be an option or a general concept that ties everything together. If you're using skill builder content, think of it as a concept you can tie the content together with.

Are we supposed to do business case canvas of paytm on their existing business model or for their future venture ?

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Are we supposed to do business case canvas of paytm on their existing business model or for their future venture ?

we approached it from their current business model. but realize that case we have is already outdated. so you will have to do some research to understand where they are as a company now.

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Same here. We made the decision to stick with the content from the business case surrounding the original Wallet product and not dive into the change to the future business model.

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As far as a concept that ties the course material together, would the other non-required (definitely required) 'textbook' fit the bill?

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Considering that Playing to Win is a major focus of the synth paper template and that the instructions mention that the paper can’t be a “book report,” it would be best to find something outside of the book that ties the PTW content together. Just my opinion though.

I meant more along the lines of applying the 3 major concepts in the book to a real or hypothetical company since PtW borrows heavily from pre-existing topics/tools/theories, particularly Porter and Drucker amongst others, instead of simply summarizing the book. However, upon looking over the template yet again, this still most likely would not work. Despite the advice here, I still have no clue how to come up with a "theme" that would effectively weave every single topic/video listed in the template into a flowing, coherent thought. I'll probably just treat each section individually and reference separate sections sporadically to at least give the illusion of a 'theme.' Kinda frustrating, given that this course really isn't that difficult (just time-consuming). I mean I have well above a hundred right now, have a firm understanding of all concepts as well as how most of them inherently overlap despite being different schools of thought, but this isn't "clicking" at all.