Section 1 - Introduction

Section 1 - Introduction

Welcome to the Library guidebook for HRMT11010, Organisational Behaviour. This guidebook has been written by Library staff in conjunction with your Lecturer to help you develop the skills needed to complete your assignments at Central Queensland University. The skills taught in this guidebook are not just to help in this course but to help with all the courses you complete for your degree.

We suggest you print this guidebook since the information provided in it will be useful for other courses in your degree. However once you have completed HRMT11010, Organisational Behaviour, you will no longer have access to this guidebook.

It wasn’t that long ago that the library was seen only as a place to store books. Things have changed and libraries have changed with the times. A library is now an

“information gateway”: a place you can visit, either physically or electronically, to access information. A lot of information is now accessed through the use of computers, rather than books. Yes, the library still has many books, but it is now so much more.

There have been changes in the way information is distributed. Information is now being developed and distributed faster than ever. As a student, you need to develop confidence in using electronic and print resources to find this information and evaluate it. The aim of this guidebook is to help you achieve this.

This guidebook has been divided into ten sections. Each section provides examples of the concepts you will be exploring. There are also exercises for you to complete to check your understanding. These exercises will NOT be examined. Answers to some of these exercises are provided at the end of this guidebook. Some of the exercises relate to your assignments for the course.

Throughout the guidebook you will notice the light bulb icon. The information following the icon is a tip to help you.

If you have difficulty with any of the sections, please contact the Business Liaison Librarian for help:

Samantha Rannard Ph 1300 369 038

Email: [email protected]

Section 2 Starting your Search Strategy -Keywords

Objectives

On completion of this section you will have:

 Analysed an assignment question and identified a list of relevant keywords In order to successfully find information for your assignment in the library catalogue, databases or the Internet, you need to analyse your assignment question. This includes deciding what keywords best describe your assignment question. Keywords are the main words or phrases that outline what your topic is about.

Example Assignment Question

Discuss the influence of “groupthink” in decision making.

The keywords in the above example are “groupthink” and decision making. These are the two terms you would use to start searching catalogues, databases and the Internet.

The other words are not keywords as they do not provide meaning. Using them in a search would not direct you to information relevant to your assignment/topic.

Exercise 1

Choose the keywords from the following assignment topic:

Discuss the differences between Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs Theory” and Alderfer’s “ERG Theory”

Exercise 2

Identify and write down the keywords for your chosen topic for the Online

Analytical Submission

Section 3 Synonyms

Objectives

On completion of this section you will have:

 Understood the importance of synonyms in your search strategy

 Identified where and how to find synonyms for keywords

One of the biggest challenges when searching for information is finding the right words to use. Often there are many words that describe the same concept. For example, an organisation can also be described as a company, association, or institution. You should also be aware of alternative spellings, eg. organisation and organization.

Words that have the same or similar meaning are called synonyms. Once you have chosen your keywords, you will need to identify as many synonyms as you can. It is important to identify synonyms because catalogues, databases and websites often use different terms to describe the same concept.

There are several ways of identifying synonyms;

 Use a dictionary

 Use a thesaurus

 Use an encyclopaedia

 Talk to other people (lecturers, tutors, friends).

For example, “The Blackwell encyclopedic dictionary of organizational behaviour” by Nigel Nicholson and the “Dictionary of Synonyms and Antonyms” by Alan Spooner are good books for finding synonyms. The Oxford Reference Online is also an excellent source to find synonyms. This online dictionary provides access to 100 language and subject dictionaries as well as some reference works. To access the Oxford Reference Library:

1. Go to www.library.cqu.edu.au.

2. Click on SearchSMART under Finding Information

3. Using the Select a database to search for journal & newspaper articles box, go to Browse Databases by Title and select the letter “O”.

4. Scroll down until you find Oxford Reference Online.

It sometimes helps if you do up a table with your keywords and synonyms.

Example keyword/synonym table

Identify four group decision making techniques used by organisations:

Keyword 1 Keyword 2 Keyword 3

Group Decision making Organisations

Synonym/related term:

Synonym/related term:

Synonym/related term:

Employee Decisions Companies

Team Planning Business

Committee Group Decisions Organizations

Work team - Groups

Work unit - Association

- Institution

Organisational

Exercise 3

Identify synonyms for the keywords you identified in Exercise 2:

Keyword 1 Keyword 2 Keyword 3 Keyword

Synonym/related term: Synonym/related term: Synonym/related term: Synonym/related term:

- - - -

Need more help getting started on your search Look at the library’s online tutorial “Compass”

http://www.library.cqu.edu.au/finding/compass/section-one/introduction.htm

Section 4 Search Strategies

Objectives

On completion of this section you will have:

 Learnt how to combine your keywords/synonyms using Boolean Operators (AND/OR)

 Understood how and when to use truncation

 Understood how and when to use phrase searching

Once you have developed your keywords and synonyms, you need to develop a search strategy that will help you find the information in the catalogue, databases and the Internet efficiently and effectively. To develop a search strategy, there are several tools that make searching easier. The most common tools are:

1) Boolean Operators 2) Truncation and 3) Phrase searching

When using these search tools correctly, you can find information on your topic faster and the information is more closely related to your keywords. We will look at each tool separately.

4.1 Boolean Operators

Boolean operators are used to combine terms together to tell the search facility how to combine the search terms. “AND” “OR” “NEAR” and “NOT” are the most common Boolean operators. This section will explore two of these – “AND” and “OR”.

And

When you combine keywords/phrases with “AND” you are searching for records of books, articles, or webpages that include both keywords (I want this AND I want that).

Using “AND” allows you to narrow your search and gain more specific search results.

Example: “AND” Search

Group AND decision making searches for all records that contain BOTH keywords.

These are represented by the red area in the following diagram.

You can combine more than two keywords with “AND” in the following way:

Organization AND Decision Making AND Group

This search would retrieve records that include all 3 keywords. This is represented by the shaded area in the following diagram:

OR

When you combine Keywords with “OR” you are searching for books, articles or web sites that include any of the terms. (I want one of these OR I want one of those) “OR”

is used to combine your synonyms or similar concepts. Using “OR” will broaden your search. It is also useful when there are alternative ways to spell a keyword, eg. colour OR color

Example: “OR” Search

1. Organisation OR organization will search for all records which contain EITHER of these terms

2. Institution OR Company will search for all records which contain EITHER, of these

terms

AND/OR

Sometimes the catalogue, databases or the Internet may use different words or symbols to represent “AND” or “OR”. In order to know what to use in your search strategy to combine your keywords, use the “help” or “search tips”

function of the catalogue, database or Internet search engine you are using.

Not all databases and search engines require you to enter the words AND in a search. Google for example automatically inserts the word AND between your search terms. However it is a good idea to always use AND as some databases have different rules. For example, some search services automatically use OR between each search term, and in Proquest, it depends how many search terms you use. If you only use two terms in a box, it will automatically look for a phrase, whereas if there are three or more words in a box, AND will automatically be inserted between each term. If you use AND where it is not required, the search will still work.

Truncation

Truncation is a tool that allows us to find different variations of the same word. For example, the word manage can have the following variations or ‘extensions’:

 Managing

 Manager

 Managers

 Management

 Managerial

Instead of combining all these words with “OR”, we truncate the word (sometimes this is referred to as stemming). To do this, we type the beginning of the word that is common to all the different variations followed by the truncation symbol (the

truncation symbol varies from one database to another – but it is often an asterisk *, eg.

manag*

Using the truncated term manag* will search for all of the above extensions of the word manage. Notice that the truncation symbol “*” was used in place of the “e”. If we had placed it after the “e”, the term “managing” would not be retrieved.

Not all catalogues, databases or Internet search engines allow the use of truncation. To find out if you can use truncation and what symbol is used (sometimes it is not the asterix “*”, but another symbol), go to the “help” or “search tips” function of the catalogue/database/Internet search engine you are using.

Phrase Searching

Phrase searching allows two or more words to be searched together without separating

them. For example, if we wanted to search for decision making, we need to put double

quotation marks (“ ”) around the phrase to force the database, catalogue or Internet

search engine to find the words beside each other, eg “decision making”.

If we didn’t use double quotation marks, then the catalogue, database or Internet may separate the words and find decision in one paragraph and making in a separate paragraph further down the page.

Exercise 4

Identify which boolean operator (OR/AND) to use to combine the following Keywords A) Your Lecturer has set an assignment on “Maslow’s Theory of Motivation”.

Which boolean operator would you use to combine the keywords:

Motivation, Maslow, Theory

B) Your Lecturer has given you an assignment on Marketing. She has suggested that the following words are synonyms for marketing. Which boolean operator would you use to combine these synonyms:

Advertise, promote, publicise, market

Exercise 5

A) Where would you place the truncation symbol (the asterix *) so you can search for all the following variations of the keyword motivation:

 Motivate

 Motivated

 Motivating

 Motivational

B) Where would you place the truncation symbol (the asterix *) so you can search for the keyword family and also search for families

Need more help in formulating a search strategy? Look at the Library’s online

tutorial “Compass” http://www.library.cqu.edu.au/finding/compass/section-

two/start-search.htm

Section 5 - Catalogue Searching

Objectives

On completion of this section you will have learnt:

 how to perform title searches for items in the catalogue

 how to perform author searches in the catalogue

 how to perform a keyword search in the catalogue The Library Catalogue provides details and the locations of:

 books,

 cd-roms,

 videos

 journals (the catalogue only provides details of call numbers and publishing details of the journal titles, not the articles within the journals. To find journal articles you need to search the databases.)

 maps

 newspapers

There are several ways to search the catalogue. The three main ways are Title, Author and Keyword searching. We will look at each individually.

5.1 Title search

A title search is useful when you already have the citation of an item or know the title of the item you want (a citation or reference, consists of the publication details of the book/video/cd-rom/journal; it includes the author, title, publisher, and the date of publication).

To do a title search:

1. Go to the CQU Library home page www.library.cqu.edu.au 2. Click on SearchSMART under Finding Information 3. Click on the link for Library Catalogue

4. Click on Title in the left column.

5. Enter the title

6. A list of titles will be retrieved for you. Click on the relevant title to retrieve its record.

You will be presented with a record for the title. In this case, there is more than one

record available for this title. If you look at the records, you will notice that they are

different editions of the same book.

To see where the 2nd edition is located, click on the copies held link. The copy

information page will provide details of which campus library the book is located and what the call number is.

Use the Author and title search if the book you are looking for has a very common title, such as Human Resource Management, as there may be many books with exactly the same title and it may be difficult to identify the correct item.

Exercise 6

Perform a title search to find the following book:

Gibson, J.L., 2003 “Organizations: behavior, structure, processes”

.

A) What is the call number?

B) Is it available at the Bundaberg campus library?

5.2 Author search

To perform an Author search:

1. Go to the CQU Library home page www.library.cqu.edu.au,

2. Click on SearchSMART under Finding Information

3. Click on Library catalogue

4. Select Author from the left column.

5. For the best search results, type in the author’s last name, leave a space, and then type the first initial or the author’s first name if you know it.

6. Click on the author you want from the list. In this case, the first name of the author you want is Jerald

You will be provided with the list of books by the author that the library holds. If there is more than one edition, each edition will have a separate record.

Exercise 7

Try an author search for Bowditch, James L. He authored “A primer on organizational behaviour”.

A) What is the call number of the 5

edition of this book?

B) How many books by this author are held across all campuses of the CQU Library?

Do not include - The, an, or a when they are the first word of a title.

For example, if you search for The psychology of behaviour at work :

the individual in the organization, you will not find the book. If you

search for psychology of behaviour at work : the individual in the organization, you will find the item.

When doing title searches you don’t need to include punctuation.

It does not matter if you use capitals or not in title or author searches.

If you can’t find the title you are looking for, consider any variations in spelling, eg, if you can’t find “Organisational behaviour”, try searching for

“Organizational Behavior”

Beware of different variations of a person’s name, eg. Johnstone vs Johnson, Brooke vs Brook, Le Brun vs Lebrun.

5.3 Keyword searching

Having identified your keywords in your search strategy, you can now conduct a keyword search in the catalogue.

To do a Keyword search:

1. go to the CQU Library home page www.library.cqu.edu.au, 2. Click on SearchSMART under Finding Information 3. Select Library Catalogue

4. Click on Keyword in the left column

5. Type in the keywords you have identified (don’t forget to use Boolean, synonyms, truncation and phrase searching as explained in sections 3 and 4).

You will be presented with a series of records to choose from. If what you are looking

for is not there, try other synonyms.

Exercise 8

Perform a keyword search in the library catalogue to find items relating to one your assignment topics. Write down your search strategy.

Need more help in searching the catalogue?

Look at the library’s online tutorial “Compass”

http://www.library.cqu.edu.au/finding/compass/section-four/find-books.htm

Section 6 Journals

Objectives

On completion of this section you will have:

 Learnt how to locate a journal in the catalogue

 Understood how to differentiate between print and electronic access to journals

 Identified the different types of journals

 Understood what a citation is What are journals?

Journal is the name for any publication that is published on an ongoing basis, eg.

weekly, monthly, quarterly, annually. Because they usually focus on a very specific area of interest or research, journals often provide more in-depth information than books. They also offer the latest published research in a particular field. Journals are also called serials, periodicals, magazines and newspapers.

A journal is usually made up of a series of volumes, and each volume is usually made up of a series of issues (or ‘numbers’). Each issue contains a number of journal articles.

Why use a journal

Journals can offer more detailed and often, more current information than books

because they are published regularly. They are also a useful source of current news and information about a particular field of research or profession.

How do I find them?

Journals can be accessed in two formats: print journals (most are shelved in the serials section of the CQU Rockhampton Campus Library) and online (electronic) journals, which are usually accessed through CQU Library’s journal databases. In some instances, a journal may be available in both print and electronic versions.

Print and electronic journals are both listed by title in the library catalogue. However, details for electronic journals change constantly, so it is always wise to also check the listing of e-journals and newspapers which is accessible from the menu on the left hand side of SearchSMART.

6.1 Journal Citations

A citation provides the basic information needed to locate an item (eg, title, author etc).

Citations are used in bibliographies and reference lists, and are also called References.

Typically, a journal citation should include:

 author/s surname and initials

 year of publication

 article title

 journal title

 volume number

 issue number

 page numbers

 database used to access the journal and date accessed or viewed (for electronic journals )

If you need to read a specific article, you will need the citation to help you locate it.

Similarly, if you refer to a journal article in your assignment, you will need to include a citation in your bibliography. A typical journal citation looks like this:

Author Year of publication Article Title

Ogasawara, Y

. (2003)

,

Journal Title Volume Issue Page

6.2 Journal Types - Definitions

There are different types of journals as shown in the list below. This is a guide only;

keep in mind that sometimes there are exceptions. Physical appearance can give you clues as to the type of periodical, but it is also important to evaluate the content of each article to determine its credibility and usefulness. Lecturers are more likely to want you to use academic and trade journals in your assignments. Other types of journals often do not provide the authority required for university level assignments.

Academic / Scholarly Journals

These journals are generally seen to have a higher level of credibility, reliability and quality. They are generally concerned with academic study and research. Articles in these journals should always include a bibliography or reference list. Many of them undergo a review or refereeing process, involving experts in the subject areas. You can find more information about peer reviewed (or refereed) journals and how to locate them here.

Purpose: To inform, report, and make available original research and new findings.

Example: Australian Journal of Psychology Trade Journals

Trade journals specialise in news and information for professionals in a certain occupation. They can be a useful source of information about professional/technical issues or procedures or policies.

Purpose: To report on industry trends, new products or techniques to people in a specific profession, trade or business.

Example: Business Review Weekly Current Affairs / Opinion

These provide news, reviews and opinions of general interest. Although they are written for a general audience, they can be useful as an introduction to your topic.

These may be appropriate to use in a university assignment, depending on your topic and focus, but should usually be supported by academic and trade journals.

Purpose: To offer in-depth reporting and feature articles without scholarly conventions.

Example: Bulletin [Sydney]

Popular Magazines [consumer publication]

Articles in these journals are mainly written for the general public, and their main purpose is to entertain. They generally contain elements of popular culture, consumer news and advice for domestic life.

Purpose: To entertain and inform without providing in-depth analysis.

Example: National Geographic, New Idea, Women’s Day Newspapers

Newspapers provide a journalistic perspective of specific events and issues. They are a useful source of information concerning current affairs and issues.

Purpose: To disseminate news on a daily or weekly basis.

Example: Australian Financial Review, The Courier Mail

6.3 Finding Journals in the catalogue via title search

In order to find a journal in the catalogue, you need to know the title of the journal you are looking for. It is important to realise that the catalogue only allows you to search for journal titles. You will not find article titles in the catalogue. To find journal articles, you will need to search the journal databases (this will be outlined in the next section).

To find a journal:

1. Go to the library home page www.library.cqu.edu.au, 2. Click on SearchSMART under Finding Information 3. Click on Library Catalogue

4. Select Journal title from the left column

5. Two listings are provided for this journal. This is because there are two

versions of the journal; print and electronic.

6. If you click on the first link for HRMagazine, you will be shown details for the print version. The second link is for the electronic version of the journal.

The electronic version allows you to link to the database that has the full text of articles. Once in the database, you will need to use the databases search functions to find the individual article you want. If you are having difficulty finding the article, go to the database’s help or search tips screen.

Selecting a record for the print version

You will be presented with a record for the item. In this case, there are two items.

Holdings

Clicking on the holdings will display the volumes and issues of the journal are

available and at which campuses. Note that the print journal is currently received.

It is important to check that the Library has a current print subscription to ensure the date you require is available.

Holdings view

Selecting an Electronic Record

Clicking on the link next to View Online here will take you to the e-journals and newspapers record for that journal. This page will indicate the dates for which the journal is available. Click on the link to the database to access fulltext articles from that journal.

Be aware that just because we have access to some of the fulltext articles for a journal, it does not mean we have access to all the articles from this journal.

You will need to check what volumes and issues are available in fulltext once you are in the database.

Sometimes, an electronic journal is available via more than one database. It does not

matter which one you use as long as it has access to the full text of the volume and

issue you are looking for.

Exercise 9

Perform a journal title search for “Management Learning”.

A)

What is the journal’s call number?

B)

Using the electronic version of the journal, find the fulltext article “An examination of managers' beliefs about their roles as facilitators of learning” by Andrea D Ellinger and Robert P Bostrom, Volume 33 Issue 2 p 147 – 179

Need more help in searching for journals?

Look at the library’s online tutorial “Compass”

http://www.library.cqu.edu.au/finding/compass/section-four/find-journals.htm

Section 7 - Databases

Objectives

On completion of this section you will:

 Know how to access the databases

 Know how to conduct a basic search of Proquest

 Know how to conduct a basic search of Emerald

In today’s “information society”, there is an enormous amount of information written on different subjects. A large percentage of that information is provided in journals. In the past, people needed to spend hours upon hours browsing through the print journals to find articles on topics they were interested in. Today, databases make this much easier. Databases contain references (or citations) to journal articles from many different journals, magazines, newspapers, and in some cases, even chapters from books. When you search a database, you are searching hundreds of different journals at the same time for articles on your topic.

We will be looking at three databases in particular; Proquest, Emerald and CSA.

However these are not the only databases that have a business component. For information on how to search other databases, go to their help or Search tips pages.

How to find a database

The University subscribes to many databases. To find them:

1.

Go to the Library home page www.library.cqu.edu.au

2.

Click on SearchSMART under Finding Information

3.

There are three ways to find a database.

a.

If you don’t know which database to choose, go to Browse Databases by

Subject and select your subject heading from the drop down box:

You will be presented with a list of subject-specific databases

Note there is no listing for Human Resource Management. Select the Management subject list.

b.

The second way to find a database is to Browse Databases by Title and click on the letter that the databases starts with

A list of all the databases beginning with that letter is then provided. Click on the database you want.

c.

The third way to access a database is to use the Quick Links section. In SearchSMART, select Databases from the left hand side menu. Refer to the Quick Links box for commonly used databases.

When trying to access a database off campus, you will be asked to authenticate yourself by entering your student number and password (either your e.rolment PIN or the barcode number on your student card).

Searching Proquest

We will now look at how to search in Proquest using the keywords we identified in the example in section 3 – Synonyms.

Example: searching Proquest

1. Type in the keywords you have identified

2. Select what Boolean option you want to use (AND/OR) from the drop

down boxes

3. Click on search

Note that I have truncated the keyword group and searched “decision making”as a Phrase.

If you need more than three rows for searching (if you have more than three keywords you need to combine), you can click on Add a row and more rows for keywords are provided.

fgdgfgf

When you click on search, you will get a list of the articles that match your search terms. We are told how many articles are retrieved and what search terms were used.

In our example search, we have too many articles to look through, so we will need to limit the number of articles retrieved. A good way of doing this is selecting Scholarly Journals or trade Publications, which limits the search results to articles from those types of journals/publications only.

1.

2.

3.

Click on to provide more

search boxes

We select scholarly or trade journals because, as outlined in Section 6.2 Journal type definitions, these types of journals provide articles that are of higher quality and credibility. These types of articles are preferred by lecturers in university assignments.

Having chosen scholarly journals, we get the following results:

Notice that record 4 has fulltext options available (full-text, or text + graphics or Page Image- PDF). The fulltext of these articles can be accessed on your computer by clicking on them. Records 1, 2 and 3 only have an abstract available in Proquest.

No. of articles Search terms / keywords

Fulltext article available via these links

Abstract only available via Proquest. Use the Article Linker to check for alternative access or check the Library Catalogue.

Scholarly / Trade journals

However, we may have access to these articles either in print or via another database.

To check if you can get an article only available as an abstract in ProQuest, first search for it by clicking on the Article Linker button. Article Linker enables cross-database searching for full-text journal articles.

If for some reason you cannot cross-reference using Article Linker, do a Journal title search in the CQU Library Catalogue to see if CQU Library holds the journal (as explained in section 6).

Exercise 10

Using the keywords and synonyms you identified in Exercise One, perform a search in Proquest. Write your search strategy here.

Example: searching Emerald

Using the same search strategy we used in Proquest (“decision making” and group* and organization), we will search Emerald. When you access Emerald, you are presented with the Advanced Search screen.

To use the Advanced Search Screen

1. Choose the fields you want to search for. Notice the drop down box has been changed from keywords to All fields (excluding fulltext).

2. Type in the keywords you have identified and select the phrase searching box as needed.

3. In the last search box the terms organization OR organisation have been entered in order to obtain the two different spellings of the word in the search results.

4. Select the Boolean terms from the drop down boxes (AND/OR)

5. Click on Search

Click on the article title to read the abstract or click directly on the link to the pdf or html full text version of the article.

You may have noticed that Emerald retrieved fewer results that Proquest. You will also

find several of the articles do not help answer the assignment question. This is because

Emerald is a much smaller database and the articles are catalogued in a different way to

Proquest. Often the keywords that are successful in Proquest will not work in Emerald.

If the articles retrieved do not answer your assignment questions, use the synonyms you identified earlier to find more helpful articles.

Exercise 11

Using the keywords and synonyms you identified in Exercise One perform a search in Emerald. Write your search strategy here.

Example: Searching CSA (PsycArticles and Management & Organization Studies: A SAGE Full-Text Collection)

The CSA platform provides access to two databases useful for organisational behaviour topics.

The Management & Organization Studies collection from Sage provides access to journals covering topics on Organizations studies, management, business, human resource, marketing, public policy, public administration, industrial relations

PsycArticles contains journals on topics such as Applied psychology, developmental psychology and personality, which includes topics such as organisational behaviour, motivation, achievement, judgement, communication etc.

To access the CSA platform, go to the SearchSmart page and select CSA from the

Quicklinks menu or go to the Management list of databases to locate the individual

databases.

Tick the checkboxes next to the databases you wish to search and click Continue to Search.

To search (“decision making” and group* and organization):

1. Choose the fields you want to search for. Notice the drop down box has been changed from Anywhere to Keywords

2. Type in the keywords you have identified

3. In the last search box the terms organization OR organisation have been entered in order to obtain the two different spellings of the word in the search results.

4. Select the Boolean terms from the drop down boxes (AND/OR) 5. Click on Search

There were 48 results for this search. Note this search was undertaken on 18 February

2008, so the number of results may differ.

To expand the number of results, there are a number of options:

1. Choose the fields you want to search for. Change the box from Keywords to Anywhere.

Note - You may get a very large number of results. In this case, there were 13,068 results for the same search using Anywhere, compared to 48 searching Keywords.

2. Remove keywords from your search. For example, if the word

‘organisation’ is not included in the search, the number of results expands from 48 to 891 results.

3. Use synonyms such as business and company as well as organisation to find other related terms

4. Use truncation symbols to find variants of a word e.g organi* will find organisation or organization or organizational. Searching for the term organi* will find 304 results compared to 48 results when searching for organization alone .

Exercise 11

Using the keywords and synonyms you identified in Exercise One perform a search in

Emerald. Write your search strategy here.

Section 8 Finding Peer Reviewed Sources

Objectives

On completion of this section you will:

 Have an understanding of peer reviewed articles and refereed journals

 Be able to determine if an article is peer reviewed or if a journal is refereed.

Many assignments ask you to locate peer reviewed articles. These articles have been reviewed, edited and approved by recognised experts in a relevant field of study. Peer reviewed articles are published in refereed journals. You will often find that these words are used synonymously.

Many databases allow you to search for academic or scholarly sources. However, not all scholarly sources are refereed, therefore you may still need to check whether a particular journal contains peer reviewed articles.

To identify whether a journal is refereed, search the Ulrichsweb database. This database contains information about journals, such as the cost, publisher details, indexing and full text options and other information.

To access Ulrichsweb, go to SearchSmart and then select the letter 'U' under Browse Databases by Title.

To search for a journal title change the drop down menu from Keyword to Title [Exact]

and then enter the name of the journal – e.g. organizational dynamics

The journal should appear on the results list.

The Legend explains what each symbol in front of the title means

Refereed journals are identified by a symbol that looks like a black and white striped shirt. Note that the journal ‘Organizational Dynamics’ does not have this symbol. It is not a refereed journal.

If a journal does not appear in the results list, try searching again using the Title [Keyword] option on the drop down menu.

Some journals will not appear in Ulrichsweb. In this case, check the journal webpage for information about the journal.

To find a journal webpage, use a search engine such as Google. Search for the name of

the journal, using a phrase search e.g. “Organizational Dynamics”. If the name of the

journal is a common phrase, such as “Human Resource Management”, include the word

journal as a keyword to narrow the results to journal titles and not all sites on human

resource management.

Notice in the search above there are a number of journal titles that are similar:



Human Resource Management



Human Resource Management Journal



International Journal of Human Resource Management

To identify the correct journal, use the citation you have found for the journal to check the volume and issue numbers match the years in which it was published.

When you locate a journal website, look for the description of the journal or the

instructions for authors to find out if there is a review process.

Section 9 Web/Internet

Objectives

On completion of this section you will:

 Understand the three main ways of finding web pages

 Understand the different parts of a web/Internet address

When searching the Internet, please remember it does not provide all the information needed for university study. People often assume that everything they need is available on the Web. This is incorrect. It is also incorrect that all information on the internet it free.

The main sources of information at university are books and journals. To find these materials, please refer to the sections of this guide relating to the library catalogue and the databases. There are search engines available that locate scholarly information such as journal articles and books, as well as reports and research papers. However, these search engines do not locate all of the journals contained in the library databases.

Therefore it is important to remember to search both the databases and the internet to find the most relevant results.

The Internet is often able to provide alternative material to either support what is in books and journals or can be used to verify information already found. Sources such as Wikipedia can be useful for providing an introduction to a topic, however these sources should always be backed up with authoritative literature from scholarly sources such as journals and books.

Care also needs to be taken about the information provided on web pages. Anyone can publish a web page on any topic. Just because it is on the Internet does not mean it is correct information. I can create a web page about Australian politics and say that the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, is 6 feet tall, has ten children and played soccer for Australia. We know most of this is incorrect. However, unless you are familiar with Australian politics or you checked this information elsewhere, you may believe it to be true. It is very important that once a website is found that it is carefully evaluated for accuracy. In Section 10 we will be looking at ways to evaluate the information you find. You will be provided with a checklist to assist you to evaluate this information

There are three main ways to search for material on the Internet:

1 Websites

2 Subject Directories 3 Search Engines

3.1 Specialist Search Engines

9.1 Exploring Web sites

Often your first introduction to the Web is through a web address (URL) that you have identified or have been given. The components in a web address often give you some insights or clues about the website - even before you start searching. If we look at the components from the following URL, we can make some assumptions about the following web site:

http://www.cqu.edu.au/

http:// - indicates the method by which the file is transferred over the web. It stands for hypertext transfer protocol and most web addresses start with this. Other alternatives include ftp or gopher.

www.cqu.edu.au – the domain name, or location of the computer, called a server, which hosts the page.

The domain name can be divided into the following components:

www - the www indicates the site is on 'world wide web' server. Not all addresses start with www because not all web servers are named www. For example, the university handbook address is http://handbook.cqu.edu.au/Handbook/

cqu - this is the institution/organisation name (in this case, CQU) edu - this is the structure or purpose code (in this case, education) au - this is the country code (in this case, Australia)

The table below gives examples of how a URL often indicates the content of an Internet site. :

URL includes:

Type of page URL (uniform resource locator)

Examples .gov government

departments http://www.det.qld.gov.au/ Department of employment and training

.edu.au

.ac.uk

Educational Institutions in Australia

Educational Institutions in the United Kingdom

http://www.cqu.edu.au Central Queensland University

.com Commercial organisation

http://www.mcdonalds.com McDonald

.org Non-profit organisations http:www.arcbs.redcross.org.au Red Cross .mil Military insitutions http://www.af.mil Air Force Link

.net networks http://www.acn.net.au Australia’s Cultural

Network

Of all the URLs in the table above, government (.gov) and educational institutions (.edu) are often more reliable. Usually the information provided by government

departments or educational institutions are checked and verified before they are allowed to be placed on the Internet. As a general rule, lecturers prefer you to use these types of web sites. Web sites created by commercial organisations (.com) are often written to persuade you to use, buy or promote something that they are involved with.

For example: a Government organisation might publish a report on the Internet

outlining the good and bad effects of fast foods on people’s health. This is likely to be unbiased and more factual than material on the McDonalds’ web site. McDonalds is unlikely to write about the bad effects of its fast foods, but would promote the benefits of its products.

9.2 Subject Directories

Many organisations and individuals have created directories and indexes to information on the Web/Internet. These are often subject or discipline-based, and can be quite useful. Each subject directory has a broad heading and is then broken down to smaller sub headings. For example:

- Business

o Accounting o Banks

o Small business o Marketing o Tourism o Management

 Human resource management

 Industrial relations

 Leadership

The advantages of using subject directories are:

 Dedicated to one topic, e.g. Business

 Often compiled by experts

 Often have both search and browse options

 Links may have abstracts describing what the webpage is about

 Links to all types of materials

 Unwanted material is excluded (if you click on a business link, all websites will be about business).

Some examples of subject directories Intute: Social Sciences

http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/

includes resources for business, management, economics and law

Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org/

Infomine

http://infomine.ucr.edu/

Academic Info

http://www.academicinfo.net/

resources picked for academic audience

WebLaw - a subject gateway to Australian legal resources http://www.weblaw.edu.au/weblaw/index.phtml

9.3 Search Engines

Search engines are like catalogues for the Internet. You can type in your keywords and then the search engine hunts around the Internet for websites that have those keywords.

There are many different search engines and each one is different in the way it wants you to enter search terms. To see how to use different search engines, go to the help or search tips section of the search engine. Be aware that no search engine searches the entire Web. When you search two different search engines, you will get some results that are the same, but you will retrieve different results as well. We will be looking at how to search Google.

To access Google go to: www.google.com.au

Tips on how to search Google are available by selecting About Google

from the home page:

Then choose Help and How to Search

When searching Google, it is important to search using keywords not sentences.

Searching is similar to the catalogue and databases. However, Google does not require you to use “AND” to combine the words. It automatically does it for you. If you need to combine words with “OR” you need to put OR in capitals, eg. organisation OR organization.

Use the Advanced Search to structure your search better or to restrict your

search to a particular type of domain e.g. .edu

Example: Google

Using the same search strategy as before, we will attempt to find web sites on Group decision making in organisations:

Note – because of the constantly changing nature of the Web, the results bellow will differ from a search you do when you read this guide

You will notice that some items returned on Google were not really what we require, but some are links to web sites that help answer our questions.

9.3.1 Specialist Search Engines

There are a number of specialist search engines available. Some search for sites on particular domains, such as government search engines, for particular formats, such as news search engines or particular regions, such as Google Australia. There are also some search engines that search for academic information.

Google Scholar is an example of an academic search engine. Using this search engine you can locate journal articles, theses, books, abstracts and other scholarly literature across all areas of research.

Google Scholar searches a range of free and subscription databases. Note that many of the sources included in Google Scholar are subscription sources and you may not be able to access them unless the Library has a subscription to that source. If you are taken to a page which requires a password, the article is often not freely available. Some sites may also require you to register to get free access to articles.

To be able to access articles that are available in library databases, please login to Google Scholar through the library webpage. Go to SearchSmart and then select the letter 'G' under Browse Databases by Title. When you click on the link to Google Scholar you will be asked to login with your e.rolment details. Then when you search, you should be able to access any articles held in CQU databases.

If you find a result that you cannot access, please check the Library Catalogue to see if

CQU has access to the article or book. For articles, use the Journal Title search and

search for the name of the journal the article is published in. You may need to do this if

the article is available in a database that is not searched by Google Scholar, such as

Proquest.

Example: Google Scholar

We will use the same strategy for finding resources on Group decision making in organisations:

Access Google Scholar via SearchSmart

Click on Advanced Scholar Search

Enter your keywords

article title article authors journal date publisher site

Note the results from this search are mainly journal articles. You may also find research

papers and other documents from authoritative sources.

Section 10 Evaluating Information Sources

Objectives

On completion of this section you will have:

 An understanding of the general principles of evaluating sources of information

 An understanding of the principles of evaluating websites

It is very important to evaluate all of your sources of information to ensure they are appropriate for your assignment. Sources of information include books, journals, magazines, newspapers, conference reports, music scores and a variety of other items.

Use the following guidelines when evaluating sources of information:

Criteria Questions to ask Tips

Currency

 When was the information written or made available?

 Check the copyright or publication date. Some subjects require the most recent information available; other subjects may be covered adequately in earlier published

materials.

Reliability  What are the credentials of the author?

 Is the author widely published on this subject?

 Has the author made conclusions using personal opinion, interviews, research, experience?

 How valid are the conclusions reached?

 Who published or funded

 Check the qualifications of the author by doing a general WWW search.

 Perform an author search of the journal database for other articles by the same author.

 Check for sponsor links in the acknowledgements or journal website.

 Check if the journal is peer-

reviewed by looking at

author guidelines in the

the information / writing?

 Has the information been reviewed / edited?

 Is there the possibility of any bias in the writing?

journal website or using Ulrichsweb.

Coverage



Is there sufficient depth to the information presented?

Is this source too

elementary, too technical, too advanced, or just right for your needs?

 Has the information been abridged (shortened)?

 Does the information support other sources or update information already found?

 Is the reference list / bibliography appropriate?

 Is the material primary or secondary in nature?

 Check the reference list for scholarly journal citations.

 Check if the information is from a primary or

secondary source. Primary sources are the raw material of the research process e.g.

research paper reporting results of a study.

Secondary sources are based on primary sources e.g. Literature review reporting on numerous research papers.

Audience



What type of audience is the author addressing?



Is the publication aimed at a specialized or a general audience?

 Check the description of the journal or book

 Check the language. Do you need to be an expert to understand it or is it aimed at a general audience?

Scope

What is the breadth of the article, book, website or other material?



Is it a general work that provides an overview of the topic or is it specifically focused on only one aspect of your topic?

 Check other resources to see if the whole topic is covered or just aspects of the topic

 Check more updated

materials to see if there are

more recent developments

on the topic.



Does the breadth of the work match your own expectations?



Does the resource cover the right time period that you are interested in?

Accuracy

 Is the information verifiable by research, statistics or studies?

 Are there any obvious errors in the presentation / content?

 Is the information referenced?

 Is a reference list / bibliography included?

 Check the methodology used. If no methodology is mentioned, question the validity of the results.

Author credentials



Who is the author?



What are the author's credentials on this subject?



Is the author qualified to write on this subject?



Perform a WWW search on the author's name. He/she may have a personal webpage providing a summary of their research and employment history.



Perform a database search to find other articles written by the author

Evaluating websites

As noted in earlier modules, anyone can create a web page. As a result, there is a lot of inaccurate material available on the Internet. The checklist above provides general information for evaluting any source of information. However, when evaluating websites, there are some additional criteria that should be considered. The checklist below provides some useful criteria for evaluating websites in particular.

Evaluating Information from a webpage I. Accuracy

 Is the information reliable and error-free?

 Is there an editor or someone who verifies/checks the information?

Rationale

1. Anyone can publish anything on the Web.

2. Unlike traditional print resources, like journals or books, web resources rarely have editors or fact-checkers.

3. Currently, no web standards exist to ensure accuracy.

II. Authority

 Is there an author? Is the page signed?

 Is the author qualified? An expert?

 Who is the sponsor?

 Is the sponsor of the page reputable? How reputable?

 Is there a link to information about the author or the sponsor?

 If the page includes neither a signature nor indicates a sponsor, is there any other way to determine its origin?

 Look for a header or footer showing affiliations.

 Look at the URL. http://www.fbi.gov

 Look at the domain. .edu, .com, .ac.uk, .org, .net Rationale

1. Anyone can publish anything on the Web.

2. It's often hard to determine a web page's authorship.

3. Even if a page is signed, qualifications aren't usually given.

4. Sponsorship isn't usually indicated.

III. Objectivity

 Does the information show a minimum of bias?

 Is the page designed to sway opinion?

 Is there any advertising on the page?

Rationale

1. Frequently the goals of the sponsors/authors aren't clearly stated.

2. Often the Web serves as a virtual "Hyde Park Corner", a ‘soapbox’, where anyone can have their say about anything.

IV. Currency

 Is the page dated?

 If so, when was the last update?

 How current are the links? Have some expired or moved?

Rationale

1. Publication or revision dates not always provided.

2. If a date is provided, this may be for one of various reasons. For example,

 It may indicate when the material was first written.

 It may indicate when the material was first placed on the Web.

 It may indicate when the material was last revised.

V. Coverage

 What topics are covered?

 What does this page offer that is not found elsewhere?

 How in-depth is the material?

Rationale

1. Web coverage often differs from print coverage.

2. Frequently, it's difficult to determine the extent of coverage.

3. Sometimes web information is for entertainment purposes only.

[Adapted from: Beck, S. (1997). Evaluation criteria. The good, the bad & the ugly: or, Why it’s a good idea to evaluate web sources. Retrieved 29 August, 2003 from

http://lib.nmsu.edu/instruction/evalcrit.html

Exercise 12

Look at the following webpages and evaluate them. Two of the websites provide false information. Identify them.

The Flat-out Truth: Earth Orbits? Moon Landings? A Fraud!

http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/fe-scidi.htm Aspartame Toxicity Information Center http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame/

Diabetes Mellitus - One of Australia's top six health priorities

http://www.healthinsite.gov.au/content/internal/page.cfm?ObjID=00001FB3- 0318-1D2D-81CF83032BFA006D

Need more help in understanding how to evaluate websites?

Look at the library’s online tutorial “Compass”

http://www.library.cqu.edu.au/finding/websearch/evaluating.htm

Congratulations! You have completed this guidebook.

Answers to Exercises

Answers to Exercise 1

Keywords: -Maslow,

-Hierarchy of needs or Hierarchy of needs theory, -Alderfer,

-ERG Theory

Note that words such as discuss, differences and between are not keywords. This is because they are not topics or concepts. They are words describing or asking us to do something with the keywords.

Answers to Exercise 4

4 A) Motivation AND Maslow AND Theory

4 B) Advertise OR promote OR publicise OR market

Answers to Exercise 5

5 A) Motivat*

5 B) Famil* (note although this will find family and families, it will also find familiar)

Answers to Exercise 6

6. A) The call number is 302.35 27/2003

6. B) Yes, it is available at the Bundaberg campus

Answers to Exercise 7

7. A) The call number is 658.4 268/2001

7. B) There are 6 books written by James Bowditch

Answers to Exercise 12

“Diabetes Mellitus - One of Australia's top six health priorities” is the website that provides true and accurate information. A brief evaluation of all websites is provided below.

Brief Evaluation of: The Flat-out Truth: Earth Orbits? Moon Landings? A Fraud!

1. Accuracy

 There is no journal called “Science Digest” that was published in 1980. Science Digest started being published in 1996.

 There are large volumes of information that dispute the information in this web page.

 At no time does the Author prove his theories right; they are personal opinion.

2. Authority

 The Author is given, but information about the Author is not provided. We do not know who the person is and what he is associated with. We do not know the Authors expertise.

 Although the web page indicates a university website (.edu), if you follow the links back, the web page we are evaluating is linked from a University website about hoax web pages.

3. Objectivity

 The content of the web page seems to have a strong bias and is designed to sway the opinion of the reader away from current thought.

4. Currency

 The article was written in 1996, but due to the content of the article currency is not an issue.

5. Coverage

 The material covered in this article is not supported by any facts and a quick Google search of the Internet indicates that there are no other documents on this topic other than articles written by this author to support the view of the article.

 The article is an opinion of a person who does not appear (with the

evidence provided) to be an expert in the area.

Brief Evaluation of: Aspartame Toxicity Information Center

1. Accuracy

 The information provided appears to be backed up by several other linked articles. On closer inspection, over 90% of these linked articles are written by the author that supports this website

(www.holisticmed.com), so it is difficult to ascertain the accuracy of this website. It will need to be supported by other resources (books and journal articles).

 There does not appear to be an editor who verifies the information.

2. Authority

 The individual author is not identified, but it is clear by the web address that the owner of the website is www.holisticmed.com.

 There is no indication of the expertise or qualifications of the author of the web site.

 The web site has been written by a commercial organisation (.com) and not by a government or educational institution (.gov or .edu), so we will need to verify information provided.

3. Objectivity

 There is a strong bias against using “Aspartame” and there does not appear to be information that supports the use of it. Therefore, this is likely to be a one-sided view.

4. Currency

 There is nothing to indicate when this article was written or last updated. The references used are out of date as the latest scientific material cited appears to be 1996.

5. Coverage

 The material covered in this article is clearly against the use of

“Aspartame” and has a very negative view without current specific references supporting its views. It is very one-sided in the

information it provides.

Brief Evaluation of: Diabetes Mellitus - One of Australia's top six health priorities

1. Accuracy

 The material provided appears to be reliable and it is referenced with current data.

 The web site is hosted by the Federal Government so it is safe to assume it is checked and verified by an editor.

2. Authority

 The author is clearly stated and a quick search of the Internet establishes him as a leading expert on diabetes.

 The article is on an Australian government health web page so it should be reliable.

3. Objectivity

 The content appears to be objective and does not show bias.

4. Currency

 The article was last updated in November 2002, so would be considered reasonably current. However, as medicine is a fast changing environment, it would be useful to do a quick scan of resources to see if there is new information or studies on the topic.

5. Coverage

 The material covered gives a good overview of the topic and would

be a good article to refer to.