Assignment:
Prompt:
Write an APA 7 scholarly reflection according to the detailed Assignment instructions stated. This is your Capstone.
My current program of study - Masters Program
Name: Business Administration (MBA) Concentration:
Business Project Management
A little about me:
Hello, all my name is Samantha Evans, everyone calls me Sam. I am married and have been for the last 17 years. I am the wife of a Nupe which I am super proud to say. I am a mother of 3 boys and a grandmother of what were two has now become three. My youngest son is in high school just got to the 9th grade, my middle son is a senior in college (NCCU) and my oldest is 27 and works as an assistant manager at food lion. It is safe to say that I have my hands full. I am a retired food lion worker in which I retired after working they are for 25 years and I do not miss it to say the least. I could not take just sitting home so now I work at the City or Elizabeth City (Light bill place) which means I am prone to customer service jobs. I am hoping to graduate after these last two classes if all goes well, I will be moving on to with finishing my masters in the in May. I am looking forward to working with you all and it is going to be nice to get to know each one of you as the weeks go on. These are my last two classes and I am extremely excited. Hopefully, I can keep up with this class everything is so time consuming since we have had to return to work. Being at home during the pandemic made it easy to keep up with my classes because I was home all day. I just graduated with a BA in interdisciplinary studies from Elizabeth City State University now I am seeking to get my masters in business. I am excited and a tad bit nervous all at the same time but I got this and I know I can do this.
Instructions
Housekeeping
Word Count: 1800-2000 words (excludes Title Page and References Page)
Format: APA 7th Edition Style (Student), MS Word
Voice: Professional & scholarly, first person acceptable
Required Research Sources: Minimum: five (5) credible sources, supporting points required throughout the paper; remember in-text citations
Help Sources
- Week 7 Lesson: Reflection, and related readings
- How to Format Your APA 7 Paper in 2025. [YouTube Video]
- How To Know if a Source is Credible [Web article, Purdue]
- Please see Grading Rubric
Purpose of the Paper:
The capstone Scholarly Reflection Paper is an opportunity to critically analyze your knowledge, career development, and professional growth acquired in the MBA program. Tell your story reflecting from past, present, and future perspectives. Need Assignment Help?
Calling upon your coursework and other relevant experiences during your MBA program, in this paper you will integrate the insights, applications, and learning you have gained.
Overview:
- Your professional evolution (Past → Present → Future)
- How your MBA learning and experience apply to real-world business challenges
Scholarly reflection on key business themes such as: leadership, organizational change, stakeholder engagement, global trends, cultural differences, decision-making in complex markets; and career development themes such as career planning, mentorship, networking, and civic engagement.
- Use of ePortfolio
Required Structure & Content
Note: The following Instructions specify the required content to cover in your paper and will help you organize your approach. Each section of your paper requires support with reference citations.
1. Introduction
Introduce purpose of the reflection paper, importance of career reflection, and key themes that will be explored.
2. Past: Foundations of Professional Identity
Who were you are the starting gate of your MBA program? Your reflection should be a well integrated, thoughtful narrative that incorporates the following:
- Describe your career aspirations and professional background before the MBA.
- What motivated you to pursue an MBA?
- Identify key challenges or limitations in your professional skills before entering the program, including at least one key strength and one key weakness you saw in yourself.
- Discuss early learning moments that started shaping your approach to business.
- Scholarly integration: Apply leadership and business theory principles to contextualize your pre-MBA mindset.
- Other observations or insights you wish to include.
3. Present: Growth and Key Learning
Your past reflection should segue into now, the Present. Reflect on your growth and knowledge today, in a well-integrated narrative covering the following:
- Analyze the most impactful learning experiences in the MBA program. Use real examples from projects, internships, case studies, leadership experiences, or mentorship. One example might relate to the artifact you selected for Week 5 Assignment.
- To illustrate, briefly describe another artifact from your MBA program suitable for your ePortfolio and why it enhances the ePortfolio. (Note: in addition to the artifact, you selected for the Week 5 Assignment.)
- Reflect on the present aspect of your key strength and weakness you identified in your discussion of the "Past" above. Have these changed? In what way?
Scholarly integration: With assistance of research, reflect on and describe insights and knowledge you have gained and can apply in at least three (3) of the following areas of study. This is not a question related to a specific artifact. This question is application focused, that is, your unique and creative application of your MBA-acquired knowledge to these areas of business operation and management.
o Leadership
o Organizational change & adaptability
o Stakeholder engagement & management
o Global business trends
o Cultural awareness' impact on business
o Strategic decision-making
- Other observations or insights you wish to include.
4. Future: Application to Career & Industry Impact
Reflection is not only about the past and present. Looking ahead, reflect on the future.
Incorporate and blend the following into the "Future" section of your reflection paper. Segue your
"Present" discussion to looking at the future. Include the following in your reflection on the future.
- Career development: As part of this course, you prepared a Career Development Plan. Briefly summarize your plan as part of your reflection
- Civic & social responsibility: What do you see as the role of civic and social responsibility in your career plan for the future?
- Networking & mentorship: Reflect on how networking, mentorship, or other personal associations play a role in the pursuit of your goals.
- ePortfolio: The jewel in the midst of all this planning is the ePortfolio. Explain how you can use your ePortfolio and its artifacts in your career advancement.
- Scholarly integration: Long-term professional impact is central to future reflection. How will your MBA knowledge and skills (that you discussed in your "Present" refection above) influence your leadership, strategic decision-making, or industry contributions in the future? Apply and appropriately cite relevant credible research sources about career planning, leadership development, and substantive global business trends in support of your future reflection.
- Other observations or insights you wish to include
5. Conclusion
Summarize your key takeaways from the reflection and plan for continued growth.
The Paper Word Count - Guidance
The Exemplary level word count per the Grading Rubric is 1800-2000 words (excluding title page and References list page). This means the minimum is 1800 and the maximum is 2000. Balance the length of the sections of the paper. The introduction and conclusion should be shorter than your three main discussion sections.
Hint: Write your first draft without paying attention to word count. Then you will have a document to revise, remove repetition, add something missing, tighten wording and style, and so forth, to balance the paper and regulate your word count. Your narrative should be succinct, organized and clear.
Submission Requirements
- Paper must be in Microsoft Word
- APA 7 Format
- Submit to Assignment tool by end of Week 8
- Review Turnitin (TII) report. A high % similarity score (i.e., over 15%) must be addressed and resolved as needed.