Aimed at first-year students who are independently searching for academic literature for Business Administration Economics, Marketing and Accounting the for the first time and will be using this literature in an assignment.
The module takes approximately 60 minutes.
In five clear steps, students are guided through the process of literature research.
Step 1 – Orientation on the subject
Choosing a subject: how to find a suitable subject for an academic paper.
Mind mapping: a visual technique for mapping ideas and connections.
Formulating a research question: converting interest into a concrete question.
Examples of poor research questions: to learn where things can go wrong.
Step 2 – Formulating a search strategy
Keywords versus natural language: different approaches to finding literature.
Synonyms and related terms: finding all relevant publications with a single search query.
Creating a search query: techniques for targeted and effective searching.
Step 3 – Where to search?
Google Scholar: general and free search engine for scientific literature.
LibSearch: search system of the university library, recommended for finding ebooks.
Scopus: multidisciplinary literature database for peer-reviewed scientific articles.
Business Source Elite: references and full text from over 1,000 journals in business, management, economics, finance, banking, and accounting.
AI tools: advantages and disadvantages of using AI tools to find literature.
Step 4 – Evaluating search results
Assessing search results: how to determine which search results are relevant.
Strategy for too many results: narrow your focus.
Solution for too few results: broaden your search, make your search query less specific.
Finding additional literature: via references and citations in the relevant articles you have found.
Step 5 – Using literature in your work
Paraphrasing and summarising: reproducing sources in your own words.
Quoting: when and how to use quotations.
Output from AI tools: how to deal with AI-generated texts.
Plagiarism: avoid accusations of plagiarism by citing your sources properly.
Referencing in text & bibliography: make it clear in your paper where you have used which source.
Secondary sources: how to refer to a secondary source in your paper.
Disclosure of AI use: always be transparent when using AI.
Reference styles and reference managers: each citation style has its own rules for how to refer to the literature you have used in your paper in the text and bibliography.