BUS 360: BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

FALL 2013

Andrea Cameron Business Librarian, SFU Surrey [email protected]

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

RELEVANCE Transferability: 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

GETTING HELP

BUS 360 WIKI

BUS 360 WIKI

BUS 360 WIKI

BUS 360 WIKI

BUS 360 WIKI

GETTING HELP Ask 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 [email protected]

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