A research paper around the application of Theory and practicality of Asset Liability management by Commercial banks: Bank of America Case Study

A research proposal is attached which will be the backbone of the research paper

table of contents should include the following:

Executive Summary
1. Introduction

2. Orientation: relevant literature, case organisation and research questions
2.1 Literature review
2.2 The organisation
2.3 Research questions

3. Research methodology
3.1 Method
3.2 Data collection
3.3 Ethical procedures and consent

4. Presentation of findings
4.1 Analysing the data
4.2 Answering the research questions

5. Implications and recommendations

6. Conclusion

References

Appendices
……………………………………………………………

Content for each section of the Project Report

Executive summary
The executive summary is written after the first draft of the Project is complete. The
executive summary is usually about 200 words in length and should cover the following:
A short theme sentence to orient the reader•
What was the purpose of the Project?•
Why did you do it, why is it important?•
What did you do and what happened? (research methodology, data collection and data analysis)•
What were the results or findings (patterns or correlations in the data)?•
What are the implications and what is your work good for (for example, how does it confirm or dis-confirm the literature, and what are the recommendations for•
management practice or for government policy)? The implications in the executive
summary can often be summarized in one short sentence; for example, that managers in your local country or region can use the findings from your Project Report to improve their practices.

Note that the executive summary should not contain any citations or refer to references. Citations appear only in the body of the report.

Introduction
The Introduction consists of several paragraphs and should not take up more than 1.5 pages of your Project Report
The Introduction should cover five main items:

1. Establish the background field (the aspect of your degree studies that this Project will
focus on), and assert its significant position in theory or practice
2. Summarize previous research (only one or two brief paragraphs at the most)
3. Indicate gaps, inconsistencies or controversies, and why they are important
4. State the purpose of the present research (to address bullet-point 3), state briefly the
main aspects of how data was collected and analysed, and conclusions of the research (and advanced students may add a sentence about their contributions (relating to bullet-point 3)
5. Outline of the Project Report.

Firstly, state what the background field is; this is usually one of the topics in one of your degree subjects such as ecotourism, entrepreneurial characteristics or financial reports.
Secondly, very briefly summarise previous research about that established topic (as has been noted in the textbook and in some recent journal articles).
Then, point out that there is a gap, inconsistency or controversy about an issue within that established field. For your Project, the gap usually appears where there has been little research about how managers in your country or region actually apply the concepts. For example, the gap could be how ecotourism is done in Singapore or South Australia, the characteristics of entrepreneurs in a manufacturing industry in Ghana, or how financial statements are used in Vietnam. If you can, you might mention that this gap is an important one because the area is significant, with supporting statements such as: ecotourism is growing in Singapore; entrepreneurship is critical for the development of Ghana; free
enterprise is growing fast in Vietnam. From there, at about the third or fourth paragraph of the Introduction, start a new paragraph by stating your research purpose. For example, ‘The purpose of this research is to explore how one ecotourism operator in Singapore actually manages a small entrepreneurial
business’, or ‘The purpose of this research is to identify the four main characteristics of entrepreneurs in Ghana’. Then, briefly describe some key aspects of your research, and in one sentence, describe what your main findings were (to entice the reader to keep reading
on). The final paragraph of the Introduction outlines the Project Report, starting with the sentence, ‘This report has … (four, five or six) sections after this Introduction’. In this final paragraph you should then give a brief summary of the sections – no more than one sentence per section.

Orientation: relevant literature, case organisation and research questions
The second section of your Project Report will orient the reader by describing the
background of the research Project. This section (Orientation: relevant literature, case organisation and research questions) will take up about three or four pages. There are three parts of this section:
Literature overview: <.. background field..>
First, discuss some literature about the background field like ecotourism, entrepreneurial characteristics or financial reports. You provided one or two paragraphs about this in the Introduction but here you provide more evidence that you have read the literature (especially the textbook) and some journal articles and articles from the Internet.
Demonstrate that you understand the main concepts, relevant principles and theories.

This discussion of the literature does not need to be very long – a page may be sufficient although advanced students might use two or three pages. A definition of the core terms would be a minimum; and then a very brief description of some of the main themes in the literature about the field, usually starting at a very broad level and then narrowing it down.
For example, if the field was ecotourism, start by defining the term and selecting the definition you prefer for your Project Report from among the various alternatives. From there, start at a broad level by saying that the term of ecotourism covers a wide range of tourism from reef activities through bushwalking to nature-based attractions like zoos.
Finally, describe the narrow aspect of ecotourism explored by your Project Report, for example, reef activities.
The case: <..your organisation..>
The second part of this section describes the organisation that is the subject of the study.
Discuss its origins, how it became involved with the business issues in question (the research problem), what it needs to address (the research questions), and why the focus of the study is important to this organisation (the significance of the Project). For example, this section may describe how a reef resort was established and how it has grown, how casinos are being developed in Singapore, how a small software company was established in Adelaide, or how a hotel is operating in Ho Chi Minh City.

Research questions
The third part of the section is the culmination of the previous parts of the section. It
provides the link between literature and your case organisation and the rest of your Project Report. List the research questions you are addressing in the Project Report.

Research methodology
This section of the Project Report consists of the following parts.

Research method
Here you describe what research methodology you used to conduct your study. Did you use exploratory or explanatory research? Did you use a qualitative or quantitative approach?
Did you use action research methodology or case research methodology? Why did you make these choices; why are your choices appropriate for your Project?
Give citations for your research methodologies. Your textbook for the Project is the bare minimum reference (see Section 2: How to Choose a Project); you could also cite other sources of information about how to collect data (e.g. from the recommended readings).

Data collection
You must provide precise details of the way in which you collected your data. You must describe the data collection methods used (such as the use of interviews, focus groups or a questionnaire survey) with references to the textbook and other sources to show that the methods were applied correctly.
Explain how your interview or survey questions are related to the focus and objectives of the Project. You must include a copy of the interview questions or the survey questionnaire in an appendix to the Project Report.
Describe how many interviews were done and who was involved.

Ethical considerations
Demonstrate your awareness of ethical issues and explain how ethical issues were addressed in your Project. Mention that you obtained ethics approval as part of the approval for your Project Proposal; mention that you obtained consent from participants (through organisational and individual research consent forms and that copies of these are included in an appendix. Mention that you are depersonalizing any quotes which may be sensitive (by using numbers or codes for the people being quoted).

Presentation of findings
In this section, look at the data, analyse it and describe the findings. It is often useful to separate analysis from findings.

Analysing the data
Describe the outcome of your data analysis. What does the data suggest that is going on?
What are the activities, processes and events that are happening? Describe your findings based on the data analysis. When reporting what the data showed, start with the overall picture first and then go into the details; that is, give the forest before describing the trees in the forest. When describing information from interviews first give the main finding in your own words and then occasionally use a quotation from an interviewee to prove to the reader that your interpretation is correct.

Answering the research questions
Answer your research questions one after the other. Based on the data collected, present the answer to each research question one at a time in separate paragraphs. For example, the first paragraph will cover the answer to the first research question; the second paragraph will provide the answer to the second research question; the third paragraph will include the conclusion about your third research question.
Important Note: Do not refer to the literature or compare your findings with what is in the literature while you are analysing data and presenting findings in this section. The linkages back to literature are identified in the recommendations section, not in this section.

Implications and recommendations
What are the three or four main learning points or principles that you and the reader cantake away and apply in other situations in the future?
In this section, look at the implications of your findings and make recommendations for three different targets:

the literature, that is, ideas described in your textbooks and articles•
managers in the case organisation•
other managers or other organisations.•

First, take a step back and explain how your findings relate back to the literature, that is, to your textbook or to the articles that you have cited earlier. Do your findings confirm existing ideas already written about? Did you find something new that could now be explored

further by other researchers?
Secondly, what do you recommend that managers in your case(s) do in the future? What advice do you have based on the findings of your research?
Finally, what are the implications of all that you have done, for other managers and for policy makers in your country or region? What can other managers, other organisations and other industries learn from your findings? These implications for other managers may often be the same as for the managers in the case(s) you investigated, but if the case is in an unusual industry or has an unusual structure or strategy, you may be able to develop some additional recommendations.

Remember that the assessor will look at the recommendations and their justification in your Project Report. Hence, identify clearly in this section what are the future actions you recommend should be done by managers and policy makers in your country or region.

Conclusion
In this final Project Report section, you should give a summary statement addressing and resolving the research problem. Identify the contribution made by your Project Report and tie up the whole package to show that the purpose of the Project Report (as set out in the Introduction) has been achieved.
Then, you should identify challenges or issues that remain unresolved. Note that apart from the challenges or issues that remain unresolved, there should not be any new concepts or ideas suddenly introduced in the Conclusion. The Conclusion merely ties everything that has been mentioned before into one concise package. Thus, the Conclusion section is rarely longer than one page or so in length.

References and Appendices

Finally, list your references and include your appendices. Please note that as a guide a 5,500
word Project Report would need approximately 20–25 relevant references from different sources. These should consist of a large proportion of relevant refereed academic journal articles and references from other credible sources such as books and company documents.
Please note that your grade will be adversely affected if your Project Report contains no/poor citations and/or reference list.