Should the Saudi PIF invest in Nike?

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Term Report

Sources

Finding your sources

You must use four to five sources to write your term report. Your choice of sources is very important.

Choosing ‘good’ sources makes it easier to write your report. Choosing bad sources makes it difficult.

Some sources are likely to be unsuitable. Avoid academic journals. They are usually too difficult. Avoid

blogs or ‘open’ sources. Contributors may not be experts. Good sources are encyclopedias for basic

background information, reputable websites, magazines like Popular Science and The Economist and

general-interest magazines such as Time and Newsweek. Quality newspapers such as the Arab News and

Saudi Gazette are also very good sources.

Your teacher may set particular guidelines for the sources you find. For example, he may expect

sources to be fairly new (published within, say, the last one or two years); he may expect sources to

adhere to a minimum and maximum length (e.g., between one and five pages long, he will expect you to

use reputable websites and read online sources whose authors have a relevant background; he may

forbid certain websites, such as Wikipedia. Following your teacher’s guidelines will affect your report

grade so be sure you fully understand them before you begin your research.

Find your sources through the Internet by entering specific search terms into a search engine such as

Google. Your teacher will give you some basic classroom instruction in research methodology,

particularly in the choice of effective search terms.

Evaluating your sources

Whenever you find a potential source, you must first evaluate it before you can start using it to write

your report. Using effective search terms will increase your chances of finding relevant sources but many

of the sources you find which look useful at first glance may turn out to be irrelevant after you have read

them critically. The following points set out the criteria that will help you evaluate your sources.

1. Is the source relevant?

Your chances of finding relevant sources will increase if you use more specific search terms. For example,

using “Three Gorges Dam environmental impacts” is likely to yield more relevant sources than simply

using “Three Gorges Dam. In order to write your source evaluation later, you will also need to be able to

connect specific information in the source with the corresponding topics in your evolving plan. If you

can’t, your source will not be relevant.

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2. Is the source written at an appropriate level?

Your search may turn up some sources that are too difficult to understand and others that are too

simple. Choose your sources carefully: if you cannot understand them, you cannot use them.

3. Is the article biased?

A biased article is written from one particular point of view and so does not give a balanced or objective

account of an issue. If you detect bias in an article, you may still be able to use the information in your

report but introduce such ideas as opinion rather than fact: for example, “the environmental group

claims that ... .”

4. Is the author competent?

An author could be one or more individuals, a government department, an organization, an online action

group, and so on. Often, online sources and even certain reputable magazines like The Economist publish

anonymous articles. As a general rule, it is always better to use reputable sources with named authors.

Presenting a source evaluation

You must use four sources to write your term report and you must present a source evaluation for ONE

of them as the final minute of your oral presentation.

• Source evaluation

Where did you find the article?

How old is the article?

What is the audience for the article?

Is the Author qualified?

Is there any bias?