This guide is for ACCT 618 Week 1 Essay, start to submission. A 1,000-word reflection on your background in corporate taxation and the research tools you have used or would use.
ACCT 618 is Advanced Topics in Corporate Taxation, 3 credit hours, in Liberty University's MS in Accounting. Canvas and the course guide file print the code as ACCT618; it is the same course.
| Course | ACCT 618 Advanced Topics in Corporate Taxation |
|---|---|
| Module/Week | 1 |
| Points | 50 points |
| Length | 1,000 words |
| Sources | None required; based on your experience |
| Faith integration | Not required by the guide |
| Format | Current APA |
What ACCT 618 Week 1 Essay asks for
You write a 1,000-word reflection paper in current APA about your background in corporate taxation, explaining your experience and giving examples of research tools you have used to solve complex problems. If you have no corporate tax experience, the essay focuses on the tools you would use and how your experience in taxation has or has not prepared you for corporate taxation. No resources are required because the essay is based on your experience. It is due in Module/Week 1 with Bittker and Eustice chapters 1 and 2. Worth 50 points.
Where it fits in ACCT 618
In the published schedule, Essay is one of 8 graded written assignments in ACCT 618. It is the first written assignment in the course; the next is Week 2 Discussion Board Forum 1.
How ACCT 618 Week 1 Essay is graded
Liberty grades Essay with the rubric attached to the assignment in Canvas, worth 50 points in the published guide. That is about 5% of the course's 1,010 points. Open the rubric before you draft and read across each row: the top column describes what full credit looks like, and the gap between columns tells you what costs points.
Course grades in ACCT 618 use Liberty's point scale: an A is 940 to 1010 points of the course total. Missing the length or source minimum usually costs points on several rows at once, which is why the checklist below starts with them.
Timing in the published guide: Each course module/week begins on Monday morning at 12:00 a.m. (ET) and ends on Sunday night at 11:59 p.m. (ET). The final module/week ends at 11:59 p.m. (ET) on Friday. Check the due dates in your Canvas section, which govern.
The ACCT 618 Week 1 method, step by step
Pick one event and stay with it
Reflection writing works when it is specific. Pick one situation, one decision point, and stay with it for the whole paper.
Describe it briefly and accurately
Set the scene in a short paragraph: what happened, who was involved (without identifying details), and what your role was. Keep description to a fraction of the length.
Analyze it with course concepts
Explain the event through the course material. A reflection that never names a concept from the reading is a diary entry, not an assignment.
Bring in the evidence the guide asks for
Support the analysis with None required; based on your experience. Use the sources to show that what you saw is a known pattern and what the literature says about preventing or handling it.
Say what you would do differently
End with a specific change in practice that follows from the analysis. Graders look for growth that is tied to the evidence you cited.
Write in first person, formatted in APA
Reflection papers allow first person, but they still follow current APA format for the title page, citations and references. Stay within 1,000 words.
If you have no corporate experience, describe a complex individual or partnership tax problem you solved and explain which steps would carry over to corporate work and which would not, such as consolidated returns or Subchapter C reorganization rules you have not yet met.
A structure for ACCT 618 Week 1 Essay
Word targets are planning numbers for about 1,000 words of body text, set by the length in the guide; the rubric decides where to spend more.
| Section | What it must do | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Your background | Roles and tax work you have done. | ~260 words |
| A complex problem | One example and how you solved it. | ~320 words |
| Research tools | Databases, the Code, regulations, treatises. | ~240 words |
| Readiness and goals | What you need from the course. | ~180 words |
A topic angle that works
Tell one specific problem from start to finish: the question, where you looked, what you found and how confident you were. That shows research skill better than a list of tools.
Model paragraph with notes
An original paragraph written by our desk to show the register that earns full rubric credit. It is study material: learn the moves, then write your own.
The most complex problem I have handled was a client's question about whether a payment from her S corporation was a distribution or wages. I started with the Code's definition of wages, then searched a tax research database for cases on reasonable compensation, and found that courts look at the owner's duties, time and comparable salaries. That research changed my advice: part of the payment had to be reclassified as wages.
- A specific problem.
- The research path.
- The outcome.
Mistakes that cost points on ACCT 618 Week 1
- Listing tools without an example.
- Far under or over 1,000 words.
- Generic statements about interest in tax.
Checklist before you submit
- Length: 1,000 words
- Sources: None required; based on your experience
- No names or identifying details of patients, clients or coworkers
- At least one course concept named and applied
- Each rubric row read against the section that answers it
Questions students ask
Does the ACCT 618 essay need sources?
No. The guide states it does not require resources because it is based on your experience.
How many points is ACCT 618 Week 1 Essay worth?
50 points in Liberty's published course guide for ACCT 618, out of a course total of 1,010 points (about 5% of the grade). The rubric attached to the assignment in Canvas shows how those points are divided.
Is ACCT 618 Week 1 the same in every section of ACCT 618?
This guide follows Liberty's published course guide for ACCT 618. Liberty notes that course content can change from term to term, so if your Canvas section shows different instructions, a different week or different points, follow Canvas and your instructor.
Want a tutor to look at your draft?
Send the instructions and what you have so far. A Liberty tutor replies with what to fix first, usually within the hour.