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Michele Davies Subject librarian for School of Management. Today , we will cover. Searching for information for my business assignments Citing publications in my assignments and preparing a reference list. Did you attend your library induction in Freshers’ Week?. No Yes.
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Michele Davies Subject librarian for School of Management
Today , we will cover... Searching for information for my business assignments Citing publications in my assignments and preparing a reference list
Did you attend your library induction in Freshers’ Week? • No • Yes
Importance of trustworthy information for good decision making “Real world” Your “student world” Students need to have information which is: Accurate Independent Up to date Specific Relevant BUT ALSO Scholarly & Theoretical Bad information = loss of marks for your assignments Business managers and economists need to have information which is: Accurate Independent Up to date Specific Relevant Bad information = bad decisions = loss of profits & market share
Your module assignment: key marking criteria Your module handbook says: • Suitability of literature • Quality of literature review • Understanding of established knowledge This means Choose academic information sources (books and journals) and it will improve the quality of your literature review assignment.
Key library tools A gateway Provides links to specialist information sources A research tool to find online scholarly articles and to identify key resources for further research. Links to database guides. • The library catalogue • Use it to locate books (online and print) • Find out to which journals we subscribe • Renew items on loan • Request items • Catalogue tells you how many copies, where shelved, loan status
How to find information for your next assignment. Different types of publication = different types of information.
Textbooks, dictionaries and encyclopaedias • Getting started • Get an overview of the topic • Definitions of key terms • Understanding the essay question
Journal articles • The most important source of information • In-depth • Latest international research • Scholarly • Theories
How many journals do you think the Library subscribes to for business, finance, economics and management? GUESS! • 100 • 1,100 • 11,000
Reports • Facts and figures • Industries • Market research • Countries • Economies • Companies • Commodities
Company profiles • Mostly found on EBSCO Business Source Complete. • Good for an independent overview of a company • History, products, services, key personnel, location, forecasts, SWOT analysis
News • Current events • Latest economic crises • Latest mergers and take-overs • Stock prices • Use quality news sources, e.gThe Economist, Financial Times
Data • Finance • Economics • Banking • Labour • Markets • Employment
Market Research from Mintel Mintel Oxygen – reports • Analysis and commentary • Consumer behaviour: ownership, purchasing, usage • Brands: leading companies and products Mintel Global Markets Navigator – data • Market size; market segmentation; market share; forecast data; country data
You may not need all these types of publication for your literature review assignment, but you will need reports, data and newspapers in other future assignments. For your first assignment focus on information in books and journal articles.
Journals What is a journal exactly? • A publication which is published at regular intervals such as weekly, monthly, quarterly, bimonthly. • Contains articles (research papers) on a related theme e.g marketing or management. • Examples include The Economist, Journal of Financial Economics, Harvard Business Review
What do you think a peer-reviewed journal is? GUESS! • A research diary • A weekly magazine like PC World or the Economist • A regular publication containing research articles
What is a peer-reviewed journal? • The best quality information. • Also known as “scholarly journals” • Articles written by researchers are scrutinized before they are published. • Experts examine the methodology, the analysis, the data and the conclusions before the paper can be published.
How do I know which journals are peer-reviewed and which are not? • Magazines articles are written by journalists. • Peer-reviewed journal articles are written by academic researchers. • Peer-reviewed journals do not contain advertisements, job vacancies or glossy pictures
How do I know which journals are peer-reviewed? Peer-reviewed journals... • Look serious and academic • Most of the journals in our Library • Most of the journals in EBSCO & ProQuest – use filters in a database to eliminate the non-peer-reviewed
But how will I find these sources? Publication type Search tool iFindDiscover iFind Research, especially EBSCO & ProQuest ProQuest & Nexis FAME & Mintel GMN EBSCO company profiles • Books (including e.books) • Scholarly articles and Reports • News • Data • Company information Always access via iFindDiscover OR iFindResearch
I need information on consumer behaviour and mobile phones. Where should I search? • iFind Discover (the library catalogue) • Google • Mintel Oxygen • A newspaper • EBSCO Business Source • Mintel Global Market Navigator
I don’t understand the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs - I want a simple explanation. Where should I search? • A textbook on work psychology • A dictionary • A scholarly article • A business report
I need a SWOT analysis of a big company like Amazon. Where should I search? • A newspaper • Mintel Oxygen • EBSCO Business Source • Amazon’s website • iFind Discover
Effective search tips for searching for journal articles • Don’t just dive into a database and type in the first words which come into your head. • Plan. • Break down your complicated research topic into concepts. • Think of other search terms which mean the same thing
Planning • Consider types of information needed • Choose a database • Make a search strategy
A Search Strategy Topic: Team working? Co-operation or competition?
A Search Strategy Topic: Time management - meeting deadlines and keeping a work/life balance
Phrase searching: use “quotation marks” “teams in the workplace” “time management” “work-life balance”
Save time by using truncation – add an * onto the root of a word to pick up singulars & plurals. Competit* Competition Competitiveness Competitor
Wildcard: use ? in the middle of a word to replace one or more letters Examples Finds Wom?n woman, women Organi?ation organisation, organization Behavio?rbehavior, behaviour
Which search will find most results? • Wine OR beer OR juice • Wine AND beer AND juice
I’ve searched on globalisation and found a lot of irrelevant results – which of these searches will work best? • Globalisation • Globali*ation • Globali?ation • Globalization • Globali?ation AND business • Globali*ation AND business
What have you learnt today about searching for business information? • Always use good quality sources. • Choose a search tool through iFindResearch. • Some advanced search techniques . • Not everything is available full-text (use filters) • How to find books, scholarly articles, company profiles and reports.
Have you ever had to provide a list of references for an assignment? • Yes • No
Why isreferencing important? • Avoid accusations of plagiarism – reference all ideas and sources that you use • Traceability - ensure someone else can find your sources • Good referencing is a basic academic requisite • Demonstrate that you have read widely
APA 6th – what is it? • An example of an author-date referencing style. • Used by many subject areas at Swansea University including School of Management.
What do you find difficult about referencing? • Punctuation • Formatting • Which bits of information to include • The in-text citations • Web pages • Everything!
Three steps to successful referencing • Keep track of the sources you’ve used (the appropriate details + page numbers). • Follow the APA guidelines on Blackboard and on the APA Style website. • Pay attention to detail (punctuation & formatting).
What does APA referencing involve? • Citations in your assignment (author and date) • Reference list at the end: alphabetical order by author • E.g. (Jones, 2012)
When is a reference NOT needed? • When quoting directly from a published source • When using information that is freely available from a publicly accessible website • When summarizing undisputed and commonplace facts about the world.
The reference list A book reference (two authors) Malhotra, N. K. & Birks, D. F. (2007). Marketing research: An applied approach (3rd ed.). Harlow:FT Prentice Hall.
The reference list A chapter in a book Street, S. (2004). From Ealing comedy to the British new wave. In E. Ezra (Ed.), European cinema (pp. 176-193). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The reference list An article in a journal: Palmer, A. & Koenig-Lewis, N. (2011). The effects of pre-enrolment emotions and peer group interaction on students’ satisfaction. Journal of Marketing Management, 27, 1208-1213.