Question

Exercise 1-Determining a research strategy

Business people use secondary research to learn about market trends, business ideas, etc. They need information they can trust to make sound decisions.

RESPOND TO THE FOLLOWING SITUATION: Pretend that you are a library online help desk intern. A freshman student has emailed you asking how s/he could get started on his/her research paper in a business class. In a few paragraphs, explain the secondary research process -- from determining a search strategy, finding sources of information, evaluating sources, and taking notes.

STUDENT RESPONSE:

Answer 1

Dear Student,

If you are looking to work on a research paper for the business class, a number of steps can be initiated by you. The first step is related to the formation of the research question. In order to deal with this issue, you can use the PASS analysis. First of all, you have to search for a topic and try to relate the topic with the current problem. Thereafter the PASS analysis can be utilized to come up with the objective, audience, scope and the manner in which the communication has to be done. Developing the objective statement is the initial step of the PASS analysis. One has to find out the objectives and ho it is going to influence the audience. Determining the audience is the second step of PASS analysis. One has to respond to the questions such as who are the audiences. What could be asked from them? One has to also consider the level of organization and communication medium and it can be formal or informal.

In order to write a research paper, one can use the internet in order to get some ideas. Being the student, you can use the Library database which is a reliable and credible source of information. The various internet search engine can also be utilized for this purpose. Developing a search strategy is quite vital for the research paper. In my opinion, you should start your research paper by collecting some background information about the topic. Thereafter it is fruitful to use the database, for instance, Academic Search Premier. While using this database, one has to use a number of terms. I would recommend you not to type the questions. One can use search words such as technology and innovation, the current trend in business and so on.

The scope is the last step of PASS analysis. But before that, it is advisable to thin a list of ideas before looking for the scope. These ideas can easily be generated by thinking when what, who, where and why. You can also utilize the various books, articles, and journals available in the library. A number of question can be asked during the scope step, for instance, the required information, the information to be included, the various arguments assisting the objectives and fulfilling the queries of the audience.