bus 360: business communication spring 2013 andrea cameron business librarian, sfu surrey...

BUS 360: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

SPRING 2013Andrea CameronBusiness Librarian, SFU Surreyamcamero@sfu.ca

THE RESEARCH PROCESS:

a)Choose a research question

b)Think of some sub-questions

c)Identify likely publishers

d)Search and cycle your search

e)Evaluate your results

f)Write your report

WHO MIGHT PUBLISH THE INFORMATION YOU WANT?

SCHOLARLY VS. POPULAR PUBLICATIONS

REVIEW:

Which is scholarly?

How do you know?

INFORMATION QUALITY

For your report, you may have difficulty finding useful scholarly articles, so you will have to evaluate every fact and opinion that you find.

What are some of the characteristics you will look for in any type of information?

INFORMATION QUALITY: THE “3 RS”

• Reliability • Is the source credible?

• Recency • How current is the information?

• Relevance • Does it apply to your topic?

RELIABILITY

When you cite a scholarly article, you seldom need to evaluate the article’s reliability.

• The peer review process does most of the work for you.

All types of sources

• Documentation = Bibliography + methodology • Authority = Author info• Completeness = Length• Purpose = Language + images

RELEVANCETransferability: How well does the information you've found transfer to your case?

• Geography• Example: Is the study you’ve found from Japan still relevant to your

topic?

• Industry• Example: Is the industry you have found information for relevant to

the one you are focusing on?

• Scalability: How well does the scale of the information you’ve found apply to your case?

• Example: Is information about Starbucks relevant to a small coffee shop in Surrey?

INFORMATION QUALITY

Remember: Decisions will be made based on the report and recommendations that you deliver.

You might not find many facts/opinions that meet the 3Rs perfectly.

• Try to anticipate (and answer) the questions that your audience will have about the information you’ve included.

• If you notice something, assume that they will notice it.• If it’s relevant, briefly explain your rationale for

including it.

EVALUATING AN ARTICLE EXCERPT

Evaluate the reliability (including the authority, documentation, completeness, and purpose) of the article on the back of your handout, “For office romance… ”

WHERE TO GET HELP

WRITE YOUR PAPER & CITE YOUR SOURCES

APA GUIDES AND PLAGIARISM TUTORIAL

APA guides

Plagiarism tutorial

AVOIDING PLAGIARISM

If you include any ideas or sentences in your paper that come from elsewhere (e.g., articles, books, websites), you need to acknowledge those sources.

Citing a document incorrectly is always better than not citing it.

Leave yourself time to cite your sources.

WRITING AND AVOIDING PLAGIARISM

If you don’t know how to correctly cite a document, feel free to ask a librarian for help.

If you want help with writing/structuring your paper or quoting/paraphrasing documents, see the Student Learning Commons.

• Workshops• One-to-one appointments• Drop-in consultations

GETTING HELP

BUS 360 WIKI

BUS 360 WIKI

BUS 360 WIKI

BUS 360 WIKI

BUS 360 WIKI

GETTING HELPAsk anyone at the reference desk in any of the three campus libraries

Use our Ask a Librarian services (via the Library home page) to contact a librarian (by phone, IM, email, text).

Contact :

Andrea Cameron

amcamero@sfu.ca

Class? Due Date? Where have you searched? How have you searched? Found anything close to what you need?