Assessment of essays in a management science course

The ability to communicate a problem statement and an appropriate quantitative business method are important professional skills. This paper presents an analysis of student skill in writing a final exam essay that describes how a specific organization can improve decision making using mathematical programming, the business modeling approach that was the focus of the course. Although performance on assessments of professional writing and the description of a mathematical programming model averaged less than 80% across all essays written, improved writing when students received formative feedback in 2013 suggests that teaching students to identify and articulate the development and use of business tools through written communication is an important area for future business research.Journal ArticleFinal article publishe