BUS7300 Week 3

Week 3: Analyze Scholarly References for Professional and Academic Reviews (10 Points)

Professional and academic research is a discipline. As with any discipline, fundamentals learned and practiced help researchers in the application of research methods. Research projects should be objective and free of author bias. Similarly, conducting literature reviews requires discipline and practice.

Academic and professional researchers have vast resources

a variety of sources. Some resources are unscholarly (non-academic), and some resources are considered scholarly (academic). The first two activities introduced resources in professional publications and discussed the use of the Internet. The topic this week focuses on scholarly resources useful for developing literature reviews for both professional and academic applications. Utilizing scholarly publications strengthens the credibility of authors.

Unscholarly resources might be tempting to use in acquiring written evidence of points to be made. As seen in earlier activities, unscholarly resources are easy to locate, generally brief, and give general ideas on topics in their titles. Scholarly resources, on the other hand, can present challenges. Often the electronic library search terms are not included directly in titles of articles, and the articles can be comprehensive and therefore contain several pages. 

Scholarly publications are examined in this activity. Methods to identify scholarly publications and why they are useful in dissertation literature reviews are in the assigned reading. This week's activity includes practice searching for and identifying articles published in scholarly peer-reviewed journals.

Be sure to review this week's resources carefully. You are expected to apply the information from these resources when you prepare your assignments.

Weekly Resources:

Comeradsamy, H. (2012, May 10). Literature based research methodology.University of Brighton.

http://www.slideshare.net/huguette_comerasamy/literature-based-research-methodology

Distinguishing scholarly from non-scholarly periodicals: A checklist of criteria: Introduction. (2016). Cornell University Library.

http://guides.library.cornell.edu/scholarlyjournals

Northcentral University. (n.d.). Evaluating Information. http://library.ncu.edu/dw/index/344

Jaidka, K., Khoo, C., & Na, J.-C. (2013). Literature review writing: How information is selected and transformed. Emerald, 65(3), 303-325. doi: 10.1108/00012531311330665

http://search.proquest.com.proxy1.ncu.edu/docview/1354332341?pq-origsite=360link

Park, J., & Brenza, A. (2015). Evaluation of semi-automatic metadata generation tools: A survey of the current state of the art. Information Technology & Libraries, 34(3), 22-42.

http://proxy1.ncu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=110231574&site=eds-live

Saan, M. C., Boeije, H. R., Sattoe, J. N. T., Bal, M. I., Missler, M., & Wesel, F. (2015). Recording and accounting for stakeholder involvement in systematic reviews. Health Information & Libraries Journal, 32(2), 95-106. doi:10.1111/hir.12099

http://proxy1.ncu.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=mnh&AN=25899465&site=eds-live

Assignment 3: Analyze Scholarly References for Professional and Academic Reviews

Up to this point in the course, activities in this course have centered on unscholarly resources for acquiring information useful for professional and academic research. In this assignment, you will learn the difference between unscholarly and scholarly resources. The assignment this week includes practice searching the library for topics and locating relevant articles related to a search topic.

This week, you will identify scholarly resources. To do this, check the box in the library aggregator for peer-reviewed journals and textbooks. Retrieve articles from the library. Make sure the articles are peer-reviewed. This can be done by locating the publication webpage, locating the publication submission instructions, and locating the publication statement that article submissions will be peer-reviewed. If you do not find this statement, assume the publication is not peer-reviewed and move on to another article search. Consider the degree to which the articles meet the criteria for scholarly publications. 

Begin by reading all resources listed for this week. Create an outline of elements identified in the assigned reading that describe elements typically contained in peer-reviewed articles. The outline will be a guide for you to create an essay where you discuss how the selected articles meet the criteria from the list of elements in the reading material.

Next, select a business topic related to your area of interest. Search the library for scholarly peer-reviewed articles. Entering a search on scholarly peer-reviewed articles will result in many articles. Review abstracts to screen articles. 

Then, select three journal articles and evaluate the degree they conform to criteria in the assigned reading. Write an essay where each of the elements of the articles is evaluated. Analyze the content of the journal articles and discuss how each criterion in the assigned reading is present or not present in the selected articles.

Finally, organize your essay with first and second level section titles. The second level titles can be each of the criteria.

Length: 3-5 pages, not including title page and reference page

References: Support your work with a minimum of 5 scholarly resources 

Your assignment should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts that are presented in the course and provide new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect doctoral-level writing and APA standards. Be sure to adhere to Northcentral University's Academic Integrity Policy.

Upload your document and click the Submit to Dropbox button.

Learning Outcomes: 2, 3, 4