Ultimate Guide to the Successful Case Study Template

By: Henrique Bertulino

13 min

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10.04.2022

Ultimate Guide to the Successful Case Study Template

Studying at college or university can be the brightest period of your life. And not because of endless parties only, it is the time when you can improve your knowledge, develop skills, lay a foundation for a future successful career.

Now, when you’re young and full of energy, you can devote your time to studies and get the most out of each assignment. Be sure your professors will provide you with a variety of tasks. Some of them can be easy enough, while others are more challenging. However, development is not impossible without difficulties. It would help if you overcame them to become a better professional, to gain new insights.

One of the most popular and exciting assignments is case study writing. We want to provide you with actionable tips to complete this task. Please read this article to find out what a case study in research methodology is, and follow our recommendations to come up with a decent result.

Defining the Purposes of Any Case Study

You may think that professors assign you a lot of assignments since they want to make you struggle. Students often don’t realize how important each task is. You may think it is a regular essay, but it can be an essential brick in your educational foundation.

Any case study may have many purposes. Below you’ll find a list of the most popular ones. However, it is crucial to understand what the concrete professor expects. During studies, you’ll deal with different case study topics, and if you want to get an A-grade, you need to meet one’s expectations.

So, what are the primary purposes of this assignment?

Learn By Experience

You’re the future business manager, marketer, CEO, and you’ll face real challenges in the career. When your company deals with a crisis, you need to know how to overcome it, to develop an efficient strategy, to communicate with the client.

Of course, you shouldn’t wait until you find yourself in such a situation. To develop the right solution, you need to learn by example, in advance. Understanding how other businesses act in similar obstacles, you’ll use the best practice or develop a plan of action.

Master And Implement New Solutions

Such companies as Apple, Google, Tesla are famous not just because they provide people with cut edge technologies. They have experienced and, what is the most important, creative leaders who generate exciting ideas.

Most cases related to great enterprises were not about everyday situations when they needed to earn more. They are about real challenges, e.g., developing and launching a unique product, attracting huge investments, standing out among competitors.

Provide Brief But Informative Content

It is important to remember that the case study is a writing assignment. It means you should deal not with business or marketing tasks only. It is important to conduct research, make conclusions, and create the document according to academic requirements. It should be well-structured, informative, and engaging. You’re writing a case study not just to learn new skills but to provide readers with an expert view.

Understand How to Apply Theoretical Knowledge

Graduating from university, many students feel a lack of practical skills. Even outstanding academic performance can’t help when you have only theoretical knowledge and don’t know how to implement it to achieve real results.

Crafting a case study, you should perceive not as a writing assignment only but as a project that has different stages. It may go about the past or the current case you need to find a solution to. Approach this task responsible for gaining new helpful insights.

How to Choose a Case Subject

In our experience, one of the most typical reasons a student’s case study assignment has gone off the rails is the plan of their writing was flawed from the early beginning. In other words, many students choose the wrong subject to explore.

The most useful tip is to follow your professor’s instructions. Most likely, one will provide you with a particular subject: whether it is a company that has overcome an issue, an efficient marketing campaign, a successful brand positioning, etc. However, you may also face the situation when the choice is up to you. And we want to provide you with essential features to consider.

Product Knowledge

It is a great idea to select a company with expertise in your field and the product you would like to work with. That way, you can better describe the case's value in a way that makes sense for your target audience. Make sure you understand what you’re going to write about. If it is rocket science for you, choose another subject since you can’t cover all nuances in the short period you have until the deadline.

Remarkable Results

Companies that have achieved outstanding results are going to make the most powerful case studies. If they develop products or services with a good ROI, you’re more likely to get inspired and share your enthusiasm in the paper.

One central part of choosing the subject for your project is to find a company that has experienced unexpected success. You and your readers are interested in not typical cases since they are the source of insights and new solutions.

Famous Names

While small companies can have inspirational stories, more significant enterprises, and notable brands are more powerful. However, it would help if you were careful since such cases may be too famous, and it doesn’t let you provide a unique paper with fresh ideas. You’ll attract the readers’ attention, but it is more challenging to keep it.

Writing a Good Case Study Template

So, if you’re assigned with this task, you should do your best to impress the professor. Try to get the most out of the case study, and we are not about just an A-grade. You can boost your academic performance by delivering a good paper, but what is essential, you can develop your skills.

Most likely, you know about the problem that is common for many students. It is procrastination. The main secret to overcome it is to organize your time. Divide the whole project into several small tasks.

Understanding Your Case Objective

All student case studies are intended to demonstrate the value of the company’s experience, and it is impossible without an understanding of the main objectives. What were the final goals of the enterprise? Defining them is your first step because you need to make your paper clear and understandable. You’ll analyze all the content considering these objectives.

There is a list of possible options:

  • Dealing with government regulation;
  • Lowering costs;
  • Profit-making;
  • Attracting more prospects;
  • Boosting the customers’ loyalty;
  • Launching the product into a new market;
  • Realizing social important projects;
  • Becoming more energy-efficient.

Choose Your Own Goal

It is essential to know the objectives of not only the case but of the study as well. There may be different types of student papers, depending on your goal.

For example, you can write a descriptive text when your task provides as many details about the case as possible. It can be an explanatory piece when you need to explain the causes and the consequences of this situation. Or an analytical paper where you’ll critically provide your evaluation.

It would help if you understood what you want from your readers. Do you want them to learn new information? To be surprised by some unusual facts? The informational and the inspirational papers will be different, so choose the approach before you start writing.

Gather the Information

Once you’ve decided on your case study subject, its objectives, and your goals, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and conduct thorough research.

It would help if you found answers to many questions. Use all trustworthy sources that you can see, including books, articles, interviews, etc. Some data you can gather online or in the library, but sometimes it is necessary to speak with other people. You need to understand:

  • What is this company? What does this enterprise do?
  • What problem did it need to solve?
  • What was the chosen strategy?
  • How did the company approach the challenge?
  • What were the obstacles?
  • Was there an ultimate solution?
  • How long did it take to implement the plan of action?
  • Who were the people who affected the final result?
  • Were there any mistakes? What can other companies learn from this situation?
  • Was there something unusual, untypical, contradictory?
  • Can you find a client with an honest testimonial?

Answering these questions, you delve deeper into developing the information that can make your case study enjoyable.

Outline Your Case Study

Now, when you have enough information to compile the document, you need to outline your paper.

The outline is the plan of action, the structure of the content with all sections and subsections. Until you’re an experienced author, you can’t just write from your head. Even seasoned authors can’t just follow the flow of thoughts.

Introduction

The introduction is the section that contains the necessary information. Approach it with responsibility since you need to grab your target audience’s attention. If the first sentences are not good enough, your readers won’t be interested in the whole paper.

In this paragraph, you should describe the case briefly, explain its importance. Why do you think this situation is worth considering? How does it differ from other similar cases?

Think of how you can make the introduction enjoyable. Choose some facts, e.g., the shocking statistics about the company’s success. You can rely on another approach, describing the worst situation this enterprise has ever faced. If you’ve conducted several interviews with persons involved, you can involve a quote in your introduction.

Background

Your next task is to provide readers with additional information about the case. It goes about the background: the reasons, the participants, the main challenges, and hurdles. You can also explain the limitations to get the full picture. Especially when it went about older situations when people didn’t have access to the Internet. It can also be relevant when the company wanted to launch the product at the new market with its peculiarities.

Case Evaluation

Once your readers know the situation details, you should go more in-depth and analyze the available problem.

Provide your evaluation, and try to cover the topic from different angles. However, remember about the focus you’ve chosen in the beginning. You can’t write about all things simultaneously, even if you think all of them are important. That’s why you need to outline the paper and to follow this plan.

Proposed Solution and Changes

The final stage of writing is a section with solutions. There are 2 ways to go:

  1. Write about the steps taken by a company. Evaluate them: were they successful? What exactly helped to achieve a result?
  2. Provide your ideas. If you think that the company failed, or it could benefit much more, explain why you think so.

These assignments are important to analyze different situations. There are no two identical cases, so you’ll deal with various objectives. Always ask yourself: why have the professor assigned you this task? What can you learn from it?

Format Your Case Study Appropriately

When you deal with academic assignments, it is important not just to craft informative content but also to format it appropriately.

All publications should have a similar structure and design. It goes about the title page, reference page, abstract, bibliography, and other paper sections. You should also consider the font type and size, margins, intends, etc.

Depending on the discipline and your educational institution, you should adhere to a particular style. For example, if you’re a future psychologist, linguist, sociologist, or economist, you’ll deal with the APA style. Students of humanities disciplines deal with the MLA style. There are also Harvard, Chicago, Turabian, and other accepted formats in the U.S. educational institutions.

Proofread the Document

Your first draft won’t be perfect. Of course, it will contain some mistakes and typos. Writing a paper, you may not mention that some of your sentences are not clear. You may miss compelling statements or forget about the ideas you wanted to share.

That’s why you have finished the writing, you need to pause and reread the content. Take several attempts with different purposes. For example, when reading the text for the first time, eliminate typos. Then pay attention to the structure, the correct formatting, etc.

Add Visual Data to Make Your Case Study More Powerful

Sometimes words are not enough. A lot of people are visuals, and they need some illustrations to understand the information better. Especially when it goes about complicated terms and figures.

You can make the paper brighter and more interesting if you add some visual data. Of course, it should be appropriate. Of course, you can’t add a picture to an academic paper. But what you can do is provide a diagram, charts, graph, table with data, etc. Don’t forget to format them appropriately.

Additional Tips To Come Up With an Amazing Paper

Some people are good writers by nature, they can quickly generate new ideas and choose the correct words to convey them. However, it doesn’t mean you can’t develop this skill. We offer to you explore some professional tips and tricks to reach a new level.

Practice Makes Better

It is impossible to write well if you don’t write. If you have an assignment and enough time before the deadline, try to develop several drafts. Experiment with your writing style, literary devices, creative techniques, and any other methods to develop your skills.

Follow Good Samples

If you don’t know how to write a good paper, you should have a sample to follow. Look for some case study examples written by other students or expert authors.

These papers will help you understand what your professor expects of you and how your final draft should look. However, don’t copy someone else’s ideas since you need to provide unique content.

Try to generate a list of your thoughts before you start exploring samples. Reading them, highlight the most critical aspects, and write down ideas that come to your mind. Think of how you would improve this content, what would you add or get rid of.

Ask For Feedback

Creators are usually biased since it is not so easy to evaluate one’s content objectively. That’s why you may miss some crucial details, and you need someone who will provide you with an honest opinion.

Ask your friends, relatives, fellow students, for feedback. You can also find a mentor who will teach you to write better. It can be a professional tutor with appropriate education, a degree in your field, and substantial experience.

Of course, it doesn’t mean you should follow this feedback without any doubts. Especially if you discuss a paper with a person who doesn’t belong to your target audience.

However, other people can draw your attention to something you need to improve. Or you can look at the content with their eyes.

Hire a Professional Author

If you understand that you can’t come up with an outstanding paper or lack time or effort, hire the best case study writing service to help you with this assignment.

Perceive this way as an opportunity to impress your professor with a guarantee. You’ll receive a structured and informative piece crafted just for you. Without any doubt, it will be unique and well-formatted.

There are some other benefits of professional services. For example, you can save your time and devote it to tasks you like more.

Or you can receive the A-level document and analyze it to come up with new ideas for your future assignments. Each client receives an individual approach.

In any case, if you need support, rely on our company, and we’ll always provide you with qualified assistance.

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Henrique Bertulino

Head of Customer Success

I'm a medical doctor and brand manager. The process of getting into Med school and studying at it made me learn and apply many strategies to keep my productivity high while spending less time and effort. As a working student, I had to figure out how to study smarter, not harder. During this period, my interest in neurology and psychiatry, as well as my aspiration to help others, intensified. At Studybay, I use my knowledge, skills, and experience to develop helpful solutions for students and make their study paths more productive and fun.

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