As documents (books, journals, articles etc.) Styles of Writing, See Also: Although some documents referred to here apply directly to you and your job, others apply to employees with whom you may work frequently. A small business absolutely must have sources of information regarding what its major competitors are doing -- including changes in strategy, expansion plans, and new products or services they are introducing. 6.3 PRIMAR Y SOURCES OF INFORMA TION You already know that primary sources are those sources which contain original information. Tertiary documents usually act as pointers to primary and secondary documents.  They are indexes, directories, bibliographies and other categorised collections of information - documents that you can turn to and be guided to other, potentially relevant, documents on a particular subject.  For example, checking the bibliography of books can help to lead you to further research material or to looking at a list of similar stories on a news website.  There are, however, many other sources of information which should not be overlooked.  Such sources include: the internet, newspapers, journals, transcripts from radio or TV programmes, leaflets, photographs and other artefacts (man-made objects). Encyclopedias. The most effective small-business owners know the importance of listening to all the members of their teams. Another way of locating information, books or publications, which might have a bearing on the topic being researched is to check through the bibliography of core texts or related books.  Authors will have consulted other scholars and by checking their bibliography you will discover related publications which may well enhance your own research.  Some authors will also provide a list of recommended reading and since they have already researched the subject area it may be worth taking note of their findings. You'll get our 5 free 'One Minute Life Skills' and our weekly newsletter. Primary sources are documents that were written or created during the time period under study. Why Is It Important To Evaluate Sources? A company must develop sources of information regarding trends in its industry, emerging trends in consumer taste and preferences, and demographic trends such as changes in income and age. Secondary literature provides a more digested overview of a subject e.g. Nevertheless, it is generally accepted that information use is personal and therefore subjective and that it is naíve to assume that if people have access to information they will use it. The documents available electronically may be limited.  This will depend, to an extent, on which documents your university has subscribed to or bought electronic versions of.  Older and historic documents may not be available electronically. There are countless reasons that can account for this as clearly indicated in the passage. Effective Reading  To get a fuller idea of the event you may look at more than one primary source of information – taking into account biases, points-of-view and personal or cultural perceptions. 3 Research methods There is a dearth of empirical research relating to health travellers. The more complete and accurate these forecasts are, the better they will guide the company's decisions about how aggressive or conservative to be with their strategies in the upcoming year. For the rest of your professional and personal life, you will be using the critical thinking skills that make choosing the right sources possible. A primary source of information is one that provides data from an original source document. are held electronically, numerous people can be reading the same document at the same time. An article on techcrunch.com, titled “Twitter: 1 Billion Items Delivered A Day Is Nice, Google+. Selecting the Best Information Sources All information sources are not the same The best information for a particular information need might be found in a variety of different places Selecting the best information source for your topic is part of evaluating your sources To be a well-educated college student, you need to know how to identify, select, access, search for, utilize, Information Literacy (IL) is an important skill, not just now, but throughout your life. Are there references (e.g., citations, … And your future employers will expect you to have learned how to do it. Flow of information When searching for information it is always important to keep in mind the information timeline. They are full of easy-to-follow practical information that will help you to learn more effectively and get better grades. A finance-oriented CEO, for example, can begin to see the company from the marketing department's point of view. If you are studying formally, in a school, college or university, you should check what your institution’s guidelines are for using internet sources in your work.  Some institutions may penalise you, by marking down your work, if your references are mainly from online sources – especially sources that have not been specifically ‘approved’ by your tutor. This page explores the different types of documents available and how you may access them.  Our further pages: Effective Reading and Critical Reading provide more information about how interpret the various sources of information. Inc.: Competitive Intelligence on a Shoestring, Inc.: Everything You Know About Marketing to Women is Wrong. Ibadan. There are also some potential disadvantages of the ‘digital library’: It is good practice to use a combination of library resources, familiarise yourself with the library facilities available to you and the type of documents that are available. Sometimes called competitive intelligence, this information must be collected on an ongoing basis, not just once a year, when the company's annual business plan is created. We'll never share your email address and you can unsubscribe at any time. Different topics will require different types of information sources. Copyright 2021 Leaf Group Ltd. / Leaf Group Media, All Rights Reserved. Important information when preparing the company's business plan, for example, includes sources of forecasts about the general economy and the growth of the industry. The importance of sources. Information can be categorized in any number of different ways, and with unlimited information sources available, it can be challenging to find the best sources to meet your information needs. This point is a simple … Scholarly sources include a range of documents, source types, and formats, but they share an important quality: credibility. Notice the similarities between them. for writing stories can give you accurate information about what happened or what was said. 2013, Hanefeld, Lunt et al. A company uses internal sources of information -- its own employees and managers -- as well as outside sources including customers, vendors, industry experts and the news media. And, when I say a lot of information, I mean a lot of information. In the case of books and journals you should take especial care to note page numbers if you intend to use a quote or to paraphrase or summarise from any publication.Â. This means they are extremely useful sources of information for academic research. The University of Hong Kong 4 ... six-week course will help learners develop their critical thinking skills to enable them to better identify reliable information in news reports and to become better informed about the world in which we live. They aim to explain research for a general audience. Use good judgement and common sense when researching online.  Whether or not a source is appropriate or useful will largely depend on your area of study.  Some quick tips for general internet research: As a start, you may find it useful to use the Google Scholar search (rather than the regular Google).  Google Scholar returns results from books, journals and other academic sources - https://scholar.google.com/. When you do research, you want to find the best information to support your ideas. Mutawakilu A. Tiamiyu. The use of material found at skillsyouneed.com is free provided that copyright is acknowledged and a reference or link is included to the page/s where the information was found. The truth is that citing reputable sources is important in any academic paper. Evaluating Information: Validity, Reliability, Accuracy, Triangulation 83 gathered from a number of separate, primary sources and may contain authoritative commentary and analysis. Information can come from virtually anywhere — media, blogs, personal experiences, books, journal and magazine articles, expert opinions, encyclopedias, and web pages — and the type of information you need will change depending on the question you are trying to answer. Degree of validity or otherwise to reference correctly please see our page academic.. To gather information about policy-related resources that are different from your own knowledge base academic and! Contact Us | about Us 's use of various types of information sources varies according to factors! To understand that all information will have a firm foundation in marketplace reality,... Sources and ( 2 ) non-scholarly or popular sources a primary source of information sources reliable to the... Means they are full of easy-to-follow practical information that will help you to become familiar those. And, when I say a lot of information 2011 journals journals are published at regular intervals throughout the.. 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