Case studies must demonstrate the application of systems thinking to a problem situation or project. This analysis may be current or historical. It must demonstrate how systems thinking was applied or could be applied to improve understanding of the problem and/or development of a solution.

Subject Matter

For 2009, the Case Study competition will specifically focus on problems in the area of National Security.

Analytic Framework

The Conceptagon (see figure below) is recommended as the basic framework for case study analysis. The Conceptagon is a useful tool for ensuring that all major aspects of the problem space have been considered. There are seven areas with the Conceptagon, each of which has three related and supporting attributes.
 

A good systems thinking case study will address each of the characteristics described in the Conceptagon model, as well as the interactions between these characteristics, for the problem being examined. Whether these characteristics are discussed as ordered in the Conceptagon is at the discretion of the author. However, the utilization of the concepts must be clear.

Additional information on the use of the Conceptagon can be found in Systems Thinking. Applied. A Primer

Formatting

Case studies should be no more than 20 pages in length. This page limit includes the title, author information, and all figures and references.

Papers should be single-spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman font, with 1” margins top and bottom and 1.25” margins left and right. Figures and tables should be embedded in the text and numbered sequentially. References should be cited parenthetically (e.g. (Smith et. al, 2008)); footnotes should be used only for explanations or notes. References should be listed using standard MLA formatting.

Case Study file names should use the following taxonomy: AuthorLast_ShortTitle_CaseStudy

All case studies must be submitted in Word 2003/2007 file format.