ITS 632 Module One Essay Guidelines and Rubric

Topic: The Need for Data Mining

Overview: Over the last decade, advances in processing power and speed have enabled us to move beyond manual, tedious, and time-
consuming data mining practices to quick, easy, and automated collection for data analysis. The more complex the data sets, the more potential
there is to uncover relevant insights. Retailers, banks, manufacturers, telecommunications providers, and insurers are using data mining to
discover relationships among everything from price optimization, promotions, and demographics to how the economy, risk, competition, and
social media are affecting their business models, revenues, operations, and customer relationships.

Select one of the following industries and discuss the required topics:

 Medical
 Banking/Finance
 Marketing/Sales
 Science and Engineering
 Insurance
 Retail

Guidelines for Submission: Using APA 6th edition style standards, submit a Word document that is 2-4 pages in length (excluding title page,
references, and appendices) and include at least two credible scholarly references to support your findings. The UC Library is a good place to find
these sources. Be sure to cite and reference your work using the APA guides and essay template that are located in the courseroom.

Include the following critical elements in your essay:

I. Use Case: Present an industry use case discuss the need for data mining in this particular industry. Describe how data mining can help
organizations within the selected industry to retrieve the valuable information from the huge amount of data they collect. Explain how they
make the data usable for analytical purposes, for business use, or for strategic planning purposes as a result of data mining processes.

II. Data Mining Challenges: Describe one challenge associated with data mining practices and processes within this industry. How can
organizations overcome this challenge to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors?

III. Data Mining Techniques: Describe one data mining technique that would be useful for collecting the data required to support the industry
and foster effective data analysis processes for decision-making (clustering, classification, pattern matching, association, regression,
visualization, or meta rule-guided mining, for example). How will this technique help organizations in this industry overcome the challenge you
mentioned?

Required elements:
 Please ensure your paper complies APA 6th edition style guidelines. There is an essay template located under the Information link.
 APA basics:

o Your essay should be typed, double-spaced on standard-sized paper (8.5″ x 11″)
o Use 1” margins on all sides, first line of all paragraphs is indented ½” from the margin
o Use 12 pt. Times New Roman font
o Include and introduction and conclusion (at least one paragraph)

 Follow the outline provided above and use section headers to improve the readability of your paper. If I cannot read and understand it,
you will not earn credit for the content.

Critical Elements Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value

Use Case

Presented an industry use case.
Explains the need for data mining
and how organizations make the
data useful for analysis.

Industry use case lacks substantive
details regarding the need for data
mining or how organizations make
the data useful for analysis.

Did not present a valid industry
use case nor explain the need for
data mining. No discussion of
how organizations make the data
useful for analysis with data
mining.

30

Data Mining Challenges

Described one challenge associated
with data mining practices and
processes within the industry.

Explanation lacks substantive details
regarding how the challenge inhibits
the industry from achieving success
or gaining a competitive advantage
over its competitors.

Did not explain how the
challenge inhibits the industry
from achieving success or gaining
a competitive advantage over its
competitors.

30

Data Mining Techniques
Described one data mining
technique that would be useful for
collecting the data required to

Did not describe one data mining
technique that would be useful for
collecting the data required to

Did not describe that would be
useful for collecting the data
required to support the industry
and foster effective data analysis

30

support the industry and foster
effective data analysis processes.

support the industry and foster
effective data analysis processes.

processes. No explanation how of
this technique will help
organizations in this industry
overcome data mining
challenges.

Articulation of Response
Submission has no major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization.

Submission has major errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization that
negatively impact readability and
articulation of main ideas.

Submission has critical errors
related to citations, grammar,
spelling, syntax, or organization
that prevent understanding of
ideas.

10

EARNED TOTAL 100%