Finding and Evaluating Information: Tips and Resources
Understanding the question
The first thing you should do when you are given a new assessment is make sure you understand the question. Read the assessment brief carefully. Look for any describing words, key concepts and any qualifying pieces of information. Watch the video below for more details about understanding your question and identifying search terms.
Using Business Dictionaries
If you come across key terms or phrases you are unfamiliar with, look them up in a business dictionary. Business dictionaries contain authoritative and concise explanations of key business terms. Definitions are designed to be quick and easy to understand. Some good business dictionaries you can refer to are:
- The AMA Dictionary of Business and Management
- Business Balls Glossary and Terminology
- A Dictionary of Business and Management
Need help understanding the question?
Contact your MMM132 Tutor, Unit Chair or the Language and Learning Advisors for help understanding the assessment task, and writing in an academic setting.
Searching by keyword
Use the Deakin Library website to retrieve academic and peer review articles. This search covers 80% of our subscription content. Need more help on finding information by keywords? This video can help!
What are academic journals?
Academic journals publish articles that have been rigorously researched and written by experts in the field. They are written for students, professors and researchers. They are usually focused on a specific topic, for example the Journal of Management focuses on management. Still not sure you understand what an academic journal is? Watch the video below for a detailed explanation.
Searching in Databases
You can also use subject specific databases to find articles for your assessment. A database is a collection of resources (journals, books, newspapers, etc) that are subject specific, up-to-date and easy to access. You can search for databases using A-Z databases. Some useful databases for locating management articles are:
- Business Source Complete
- Business Collection (Informit) - specifically for Australian content
- Emerald
- ABI Inform
What is Peer Review?
For your assessment, you are required to cite peer-reviewed (or scholarly) articles. What are peer-reviewed or scholarly articles? How can you identify them? Watch the video below to help you answer some of these questions. See the Peer Review Guide on how to find them.
Evaluating sources
Once you have found some articles for your assessment, you need to evaluate them to check if they are a quality source of information and relevant to your question. A good method to help you determine whether a source is good is to use the Dependability checklist.
The Dependability Checklist can help you make decisions about the credibility of resources you want to use in your assessments.
The checklist contains ten questions to get you thinking critically about the resource in front of you. Once you have developed the skills, you won’t need to rely on the checklist.
News and Media (micro and macro environment)
Your assessment requires you to look at a specific organisation. The best source of information on companies and organisations is grey literature such as media and government reports. Grey literature is usually produced by organisations, governments and other institutions, and is not published in an academic journal. Looking at media on your company can provide insights into the general and specific environment of your chosen organisation. The library subscribes to some media databases you can use to search multiple newspapers at once:
The library also subscribes to some individual Australian media publications:
- Australian Financial Review
- You can also subscribe to News Limited publications using your Deakin credentials. Visit the Library A-Z Journals and Newspapers page for more details.
Government Reports
Governments, departments, organisations and your chosen company can be an additional source of information for your assessment. The easiest way to search these sources is either by going directly to their website, or by doing a Google Advanced Search.
The benefit of doing a Google advanced search is that you can search over a specific website by doing a site search, or over a number of websites by doing a domain search (searching websites ending with .org, .gov, etc).
Company profiles
Company profiles and information may include intelligence on industries, executive and corporate family structures, market share and size, industry outlook and analyst's reports. This information may be useful for your assessment as it will give you context to your chosen organisation in regards to the industry and market they are situated in. Some useful databases you could use for your assessment are:
For further information on finding company profiles and information, visit our Companies, Industries and Country Information Resource Guide.