You will write an essay of 2500 words on a contemporary issue affecting the hospitality industry. This paper will utilise a number of sources from books, journals and other scholarly articles.

The focus of this course is on professional as well as personal development. You need to select one topic discussed in class or choose a topic of your own and ask my permission to write about it. The purpose of this essay is to enable you to select a contemporary issue in the hospitality industry and explore it in depth. Both your topic’s relevance to the current work culture and the affect this trend will have on your career must be discussed.

You must summarise the main points of the topic in general, show insight in the field (i.e. what is it about? how much impact will it have?), and synthesise other’s thoughts (i.e. does researcher X’s opinions differ from researcher Y’s opinion? How is this important?). This will demonstrate to me that you are aware of the issues involved. Show that you can relate ideas these to your own professional development.  

Assessment Guidance

• Choose a contemporary issue presented in class or discuss with me any other issue and how you wish to approach it.
• Make a critical assessment of how this issue relates to you in your professional development and may influence your career.
• In the paper you must state how this issue is personally relevant to your future career in the hospitality industry (ie. when you are in a management position, what will you do and how will you try to change things?). 

In the introduction you must present the trend and explain why it is relevant to the hospitality industry. You should also mention in one or two sentences what the following sections of your paper will discuss. 

The main body of your work should start with definitions. Do not use the words 'Main Body' as your heading, rather choose something more specific ( ie. 'LGBT Trends in Europe'). Use numbered headings and sub-headings to separate different sections (ie. 1.0 Introduction; 2.0 Renewable Energy; 2.1 Solar Power). 

Answer these basic questions: why, what, how, when and where. 

• Why is this trend important?
• What are the drivers of this trend that justify these particular points you discuss?
• Ensure you have clearly set out evidence of how this trend is affecting the hospitality industry.
• Include at least one important case study to demonstrate when and where this trend is most pronounced, and present what this case study found.

The majority of the work should be related to the work of others from a variety of sources, including books and research papers. Explore in depth and justify how this impacts the industry.

Please discuss in one short paragraph before the conclusion how this trend might affect you in your future career. What will be new or different for you as this trend becomes more pronounced? Your grade will strongly depend on how you discuss your future career in relation to the trend you chose to write about. 

You must have a bibliography at the end of your paper, listing all the references that you mention in the text. Be consistent with your bibliography, with author last name first, then first initial, then title and journal name or book. The list must be in alphabetical order. Do not use numbering or bullet points in your reference list. Use the Harvard Referencing System. 

choose 1 topic: 

• Ageing and its Effects
• Artificial Intelligence 
• Bees and Colony Collapse Disorder
• Choice Overload problem in the world today and what to do about it
• Climate Change and its effects
• Education and new trends
• Emerging Markets-India, Africa, or Indonesia
• Energy for the future - solar, wind, batteries, nuclear power
• Farming practices (including fish, cattle, or chicken)
• Food Trends - slow food, local food, or any other
• Gamification
• Gender Equality in a specific country or countries
• LGBT Tourism
• Millennials
• Organic Food in a Specific Country
• Payment Technology: Biometric Fingerprint, Wearable Bracelets, etc.
• Peak Oil
• Pesticides and mono-culture farming practices
• Population Explosion
• Technology Trends
• Water Scarcity in a particular country