Choose a publicly traded company perhaps it is one that you work for now or in the past or one that you are familiar with in some way. Look it up in S&P NetAdvantage Capital IQ. What does the firm and its capital structure look like you can look at the firms ratios in Capital IQ. Has the Total Debt / Equity ratio changed over time between now and previous years? You should see several years worth of D/E here).

Also look up the firms industry and/or a competitor of the firm. How does your firm compare to the industry or a peer in terms of capital structure? Does the firms debt-to-equity ratio make sense given what you have learned about capital structure theory?