a "research articles for the lay-person" mini lesson
Research articles and how to get to and tease out the larger order effects for the layperson! It's easier than ever with AI tools doing the hard part, but it's still not OBVIOUS how to do it for most. We can help with that!
Real talk vs. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/04/business-speak/361135/
Experience a case study as a participant. Seriously, this makes such a big difference.
Read a few other cases to get a feel for them. It's a great idea to check out some of the classics or those most often used in business courses - any library can help you find some related to a specific area of interest if you have one. (For example - my students are usually asked to write leadership cases.) Be careful - marketing calls advertising materials cases sometimes and they're not quite the same thing (though very similar).
A scenario you're interested in - you don't have to have an 'answer' either - just a real question and scenario that you're into. Eventually you will need the basic questions and their answers: What, How, and Why.
I also suggest you consider these sources for your scenario:
An organization with which you are familiar.
Draw upon a scenario you can interview some people about.
An organizational and leadership situation that has substantial news or information written about it, e.g. Wendy Kopp at Teach for America.
Having a learning objective to work backward from makes the writing much easier and can help keep you on track when it gets difficult to know what to include and the case you want to build. So you should choose a main principle or learning objective for the case to illustrate.
For example - in the Psychology of Leadership course I teach (this assignment and course were originally shared with me by the wonderful Dr. Laura Lunsford)