MIS716 Artificial Intelligence for Business
This guide is designed to help you find resources for the MIS176 assessment. Use Library databases and open access resources to locate relevant information. To supplement and use quality resources to support your research, look at tips on using the Advanced Search to locate journal articles, newspaper/media articles and company information/data.
Planning your search
Before you begin looking for resources for your research, invest some time planning your search strategy. Spending a small amount of time now will save you time and frustration later. This sounds obvious, but to begin searching you should be clear about the topic of your research or assessment.
- Read the assessment brief carefully. Consult your lecturer if you are unclear on what is required.
- If the assessment brief tells you to use academic literature and industry reports, you must include those.
- Your resources have to be credible and of good quality. Academic literature consists of scholarly or peer reviewed journal articles. Not sure what that means? Check out the Peer Review Guide.
What resources to use?
This will depend on your assessment. If you are required to use academic literature (scholarly or peer reviewed articles) or industry reports then you must include them.
Identify keywords or similar concepts
Highlight, underline or circle the keywords or main concepts in your summary. These words can help you build your search strategy and set parameters.
These can be synonyms, related words, abbreviations, acronyms and other words that are specific to your topic. For example,
- AI or artificial intelligence
- AI techniques or AI applications
- digital media
Library Advanced Search
Use Advanced Search to improve your search strategy.
The predictive text function in Library Advanced Search will generate similar keywords and concepts. This can also help refine your research. Look at the Advanced Search Techniques tab for tips on searching effectively.
Doing a literature review for peer reviewed articles
What is a literature review?
A literature review is an exploration of the published literature on a particular topic. By “literature” we mean books, academic journal articles, book chapters, and other sources.
It is different to an essay in that it does not require you to build an argument on a particular issue. Rather it requires you to analyse and evaluate key literature on a given topic – to identify, compare and contrast common themes explored in the literature.
Much like an essay, it has an introduction, a body and a conclusion.
What is the difference between a literature review and a critical review or annotated bibliography?
These three assessment types often get confused!
A critical review is like a literature review in that it requires a summary, analysis and evaluation of a source; however, the focus is often on a single source (e.g. an article or book chapter), so there is no scope to compare and contrast sources.
An annotated bibliography is a list of short descriptive summaries of number of readings on a particular topic or area of research. An annotated bibliography does not compare and contrast sources. The list is ordered alphabetically according to bibliographic details (e.g. author name). It does not have an introduction/body/conclusion format.
What is it?
Your literature review will describe, analyse, summarise and evaluate research on a particular topic. You will also put forward a conclusion - based on your analysis of those studies.
What is it?
Your literature review will describe, analyse, summarise and evaluate research on a particular topic. You will also put forward a conclusion - based on your analysis of those studies.
How to write one
First, develop a plan. It will make your search more efficient.
Consider:
- What is your angle on the topic?
- How many sources will you need?
- What are the subheadings you need to cover?
Once you’ve got a focus, it’s time to start researching and compiling your review.
- Read and complete the activities available on our Learn pages to learn how to find, access, and evaluate resources for your literature review.
- Visit academic skills for tips on the writing process
- Get familiar with the Deakin referencing guide. It breaks down everything you need to know for your citations and reference lists. You can also use reference management tools like Endnoteto keep track of your sources.
What are the assessors looking for?
As a general rule, your literature review should:
- Show that you understand the topic and why it is important.
- Demonstrate your ability to access relevant and current literature in the field.
- Objectively evaluate research and highlight trends in the area.
- Provide an overview of the topic with clear and justified links to your conclusion.
For more specific details, like word count and referencing style, check your unit guide and speak with your tutor or lecturer.
Get help
- Contact Study Support for assistance writing, referencing and understanding your assessment criteria.
- Contact your Scholarly Services Librarian for help finding resources.
Here is a screenshot of the Deakin Library search results screen which shows the peer review checkbox highlighted.
You can use this limiter to restrict your search results so they only show content from peer reviewed journals.
This image shows the Deakin Library Advanced Search screen with the peer review checkbox highlighted.
In this example, the researcher has entered their search criteria on the Advanced Search panel and has selected the peer review limiter before pressing the Search button.
Other databases may include a function to limit your search results to peer reviewed content. If the function exists it will usually be visible on the Advanced Search screen. The position and appearance of the limiter can vary as the examples below show.
Tips on Searching - Advanced Search Techniques
Phrase searching narrows a search to show results that contain an exact phrase e.g. "artificial intelligence"
To conduct a phrase search, add double quote marks around two or more words you want to search for.
For example: searching for "machine learning" will only return records that contain this exact term. The search will not return results where the word 'machine' or 'learning' appear alone.
