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Why It Matters: Research Why learn traditional and online research methods? Business communication, done well, requires thoughtful planning and carefully crafted media. Research is a key component of building good communication, and research, while perhaps h...

Preliminary Research Strategies LEARNING OUTCOMES Evaluate preliminary research strategies As we have discussed, all research is based upon your research question. Having a well-defined and scoped question is essential to a good research strategy. If your q...

Introduction to Writing Ethically What you’ll learn to do: Discuss issues of plagiarism, copyright and fair use Developing a business report or other communication comes with certain responsibilities, namely proper citation of other people’s work. There are ...

Synthesizing Sources LEARNING OUTCOMES Describe techniques to incorporate sources into your writing. Using Your Sources There are three methods for referencing a source in your own text: quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing. Quoting Direct quotations a...

Case Study: News Media Today LEARNING OUTCOMES Discuss the importance of evaluating sources and understanding biases Describe the components of the CRAAP analysis process News media sources, such as a TV news report, must be carefully s...

CRAAP Analysis LEARNING OUTCOMES Describe the components of the CRAAP analysis process There are several methods that you can use when you’re evaluating sources. Perhaps the most common and well known is the CRAAP Analysis. The University of Santa Cruz libr...

Evaluating Sources LEARNING OUTCOMES Discuss the importance of evaluating sources and understanding biases Perhaps never before in mainstream discussion has the importance of evaluating sources been more important. The effect of “fake ne...

Information Literacy LEARNING OUTCOMES Identify the seven pillars of information literacy People will often talk about the importance of information literacy, but just what does it mean to be information literate? The American Library Association defines in...

Finding Sources LEARNING OUTCOMES Discuss common tools and strategies for completing online searches For our purposes here, and with respect to business report writing, it’s important to know how to make the most of generic online searches. While Google Sch...

Introduction to Finding Secondary Sources What you’ll learn to do: Evaluate and practice preliminary, intermediate, and advanced search techniques Have you ever heard a song, made a mental note to look up its name, but then forgot all of the words? You remem...

Introduction to Conducting Research What you’ll learn to do: Discuss the importance of data and identify its role in business Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson of MIT, discussed in a 2011 Wall Street Journal article, that “the companies that had the data t...

Working in Google Sheets LEARNING OUTCOMES Create workbooks and format data in Google Sheets Google Sheets is very similar to Microsoft Excel. Perhaps the greatest difference between the two is Google Sheets’ online functionality, which allows for real-time...

Introduction to Source Analysis What you’ll learn to do: Evaluate and practice methods of analysis to assess the quality and reliability of a source Sources come in all shapes and sizes. In order to use them effectively in your report writing, you will have ...

Working in Microsoft Excel LEARNING OUTCOMES Create workbooks and format data in Microsoft Excel Imagine that you have a lot of business data. Perhaps you have names and addresses for a mailing list. Maybe you have inventory data or quarterly sales values. ...

Primary Sources and Internal Data LEARNING OUTCOMES Identify types of primary sources and internal data Discuss methods for collecting and analyzing internal data Primary Sources Ithaca College Library defines primary sources as:[1] ...

Introduction to Internal Data What you’ll learn to do: Process information from internal sources Barron’s Business dictionary defines internal data as:[1] Information, facts and data available from within a company’s information systems. Internal data is ...

Types of Data Sources LEARNING OUTCOMES Identify common types of internal and external data used for business reports Explain the role of primary research and the most common forms that are used Explain secondary research and how it is used to pr...

Investing Time in the Research Process LEARNING OUTCOMES Discuss the steps in the research process This page discusses a general research process, one that is useful in a variety of organizations to support report writing. We borrow the process largely from...

Using Data for Impact LEARNING OUTCOMES Discuss the impact of research in business reports A business report is any formal or informal document or set of documents used to analyze a business situation and help decision-makers aid the business. Reports use d...

Professional Integrity LEARNING OUTCOMES Discuss the importance of professional integrity in written communication/reports Consider the earlier discussion on the CRAAP Test for evaluating sources: Currency Relevance Authority Accuracy Purpose ...