As a UTSC Management student, you are required to have outstanding research skills for both assignments and job readiness. Follow these 10 steps to develop your research expertise.
Do some background reading so you understand your topic.
What information do you need to complete this assignment? What have you learned in class that relates to the assignment? List the information you need.
For example, do you need...
List keywords that relate each concept in your research (use a thesaurus, course readings, or lecture notes for ideas).
For example: "Is there a significant relationship between openness and employee performance?"
Keywords:
Put them together using operators. This is what you'll use to search databases.
What kind of information do you need? Every database is different. Modify your search strategy if needed.
Scan the titles and abstracts (summaries) in your result list. Assess the number of results and content.
Download articles
Off-Campus Access
After reading abstracts and articles, decide which articles to use to support the ideas and arguments in your paper.
Ask yourself:
Is it Peer-Reviewed?
Peer review is the process by which scholars critically appraise each other's work. It is intended to ensure a high level of scholarship in a journal and to improve the quality and readability of a manuscript. The terms "peer reviewed" and "refereed" mean the same thing. are the same.
How do you know if the articles in a journal are peer-reviewed?
Some databases allow you to limit to peer-reviewed articles. For other databases, you need to look up the title of the journal in Ulrich's Periodical Directory. Search for the journal title (not article title) click on to see the full record. If it says "Refereed: Yes," then you know the journal (and the articles published in it) are refereed/peer-reviewed.
Critical Reading
To read critically is to make judgments about how a text is argued. This is a highly reflective skill requiring you to “stand back” and gain some distance from the text you are reading. (You might have to read a text through once to get a basic grasp of content before you launch into an intensive critical reading.) THE KEY IS THIS:
When you are reading, highlighting, or taking notes, avoid extracting and compiling lists of evidence, lists of facts and examples. Avoid approaching a text by asking “What information can I get out of it?” Rather ask “How does this text work? How is it argued? How is the evidence (the facts, examples, etc.) used and interpreted? How does the text reach its conclusions?
Consider the following as you read through research and write your paper:
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Academic Writing by
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