MBA Capstone Project Structure and Formatting Tips
The Capstone project is the final showcase of your MBA learning, and its structure and formatting are crucial to presenting your findings professionally. Proper structure ensures your report is clear, coherent, and logically flows from one section to another, while formatting ensures it adheres to academic and business standards.
1.1 Recommended Structure for Your MBA Capstone
Your Capstone project should generally follow this structure:
- Title Page: Includes the project title, your name, institution, course, and submission date.
- Executive Summary: A concise overview of the business problem, methodology, key findings, and recommendations (usually 1 page).
- Table of Contents: Lists the sections and subsections of your report with page numbers.
- Introduction: Briefly describes the business issue, its significance, and your project objectives.
- Literature Review: A survey of relevant academic research and business theories to support your project.
- Methodology: Details the research approach, data collection methods, and tools used to analyze the business issue.
- Results and Findings: Presents the research results or data analysis outcomes in an organized format (graphs, tables, etc.).
- Discussion: Interprets the results, linking them to the literature and analyzing their implications for business practice.
- Conclusion: Summarizes your findings, addressing how the business problem was solved and its strategic implications.
- Recommendations: Provides actionable, business-focused suggestions for solving the identified problem or seizing the opportunity.
- References: Lists all the academic sources, business reports, and articles referenced in your project.
- Appendices: Includes any supplementary materials, such as survey questionnaires, data tables, or case studies.
1.2 Formatting Tips
- Font: Use 12-point Times New Roman for readability.
- Spacing: The report should be double-spaced, including the References and Appendices.
- Margins: Set 1-inch margins on all sides.
- Page Numbers: Include page numbers at the top or bottom of the page.
- Headings: Use clear, descriptive headings and subheadings to organize content. Follow APA formatting for structured headings.