Business Communication

Module 4:

Using Research and Information Tools

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Affirmations

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• My time is valuable.
• I am not one who gives up.
• My motivation comes from within; I will reach my goals.

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The Power of Information

• Understand how you use research in writing business reports
• Understand the steps in the research process
• Identify the main types of data used in business reports
• Understand the difference between primary and secondary research

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Characteristics and Contents of Reports

There are two types of business reports:

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1. Analytical Reports: those used to help make a decision
2. Informational Reports: those used to inform people about something of importance.

Business reports should be:

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1. true and factual
2. concise
3. help others make decisions
4. free from extra information
5. simple, addresses one question

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Research Process

The general research process is usually as follows:

1. Determine a problem and define a question to answer.
2. Find a general background information about your problem/question.
3. Develop a research strategy to address any data, information, or knowledge gaps.
4. Conduct research.
5. Collect, read, evaluate, synthesize, and write what you have learned.
6. Cite the information you have found so that others will be able to follow your research trail.

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Data Sources

• Internal Data: employee headcount, employee demographics, financials
• External Data: number of vendors used, number of clients in a company’s book of business, size of the industry

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• Qualitative data are generally non-numeric and require context, time, or variance to have meaning or utility.
• Quantitative data are numeric and therefore largely easier to understand.

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Types of Research

Primary Research:

• Interviews: conversations where one party asks questions of another
• Surveys: documents that are sent out to individuals to fill out
• Observations: one records what they see
• Analysis: data is examined and organized

Secondary Research:

• gathering information from other people’s primary research or other secondary sources
• Analyze and summarize gathered data

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Facts and Impact

When was the last time that you did research before you made a decision?

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Choose a Report

1 IBM’s “Challenging the modern myths of remote working”

2 charity: water’s 2022 annual report

3 KIND Snacks’ impact report

4 Strada Education Network’s “Alumni Perspectives on How College Experiences Improve Their Lives”

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Discuss Facts and Impact

1 How did the research influence the recommendations and conclusions?

2 What types of research were most common across the reports?

3 Were there any reports where the research seemed insufficient or biased?

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Internal Data Sources

• Recognize different primary sources and types of internal data
• Explore different ways to gather and analyze internal data

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Sources and Collection of Data

• A primary source is a direct or firsthand evidence about an event, object, or person.
• Internal data are data about your organization derived from internal primary sources.

There are two primary concerns collecting internal data:

• Gathering information about your own organization has political and ethical considerations
• Data can be dynamic and often hard to find

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Search Techniques

• Recognize common tools and strategies for doing online searches
• Recognize tools used to find business information in secondary sources

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Preliminary Research Strategies

• Having a well-defined and scoped question is essential to a good research strategy.
• Any secondary source that does not specifically address your research question will not be relevant.
• Using secondary sources effectively can expedite research and report compilation by bypassing the time-consuming process of primary source research.

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Finding Sources

• Google Scholar and library databases are invaluable for academic information, but for many business reports, easily accessible information from Google suffices.
• Searching with keywords on Google can generate thousands or even millions of results, but they're not necessarily sorted by credibility or relevance. Narrow the search by:
• Try different keywords or various combinations
• Try using different Boolean operators like AND, OR, or NOT
• Use Google’s Advanced Search to narrow down your results

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Google Scholar

• Tells you what type of source it is right away, like a book or article.
• Able to gather free of charge awareness about what type of data may exist for your business report writing.
• Results will likely be behind a paywall, so you will need a library or a subscription for access.
• you may consider conducting your own primary source development depending on the report

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Library Databases

• In order to access professional journals, you will often need access to a subscription database. It can be a helpful tool in finding additional sources.
• Most databases will include related subject headings alongside each search result.
• As long as you find one good scholarly article or book, you can look up the works cited in the footnotes or bibliography to find the sources it’s based on.

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Just the Facts

When was the last time you had to verify information before making a decision? How did you go about it?

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Discuss Just the Facts

1 How do you determine the reliability of each source?

2 What did you learn about the research process that you didn’t know before?

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Evaluating Information Sources

• Understand the seven main aspects of information literacy
• Understand the importance of evaluating sources and identifying biases
• Understand the CRAAP (Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose) method for evaluating sources
• Learn how to effectively integrate sources into your writing

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7 Pillars of Information Literacy

1. Identify what you need to find out.
2. Assess current knowledge, identify your personal knowledge gaps, and understand what types of information are available.
3. Plan where you’ll locate data and how you’ll use it.
4. Gather data needed, keeping track of where you found your information.
5. Evaluate both your research process and the information you find
6. Manage the information you’ve gathered professionally and ethically, making sure to cite all of your sources.
7. Present the knowledge you’ve gained, disseminate information to others, and apply your knowledge to your life.

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Evaluating Websites

• Consider the URL.
• What type of website is it?
• What is the main purpose or claim of the website?

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Bracketing

The act of reviewing and gaining awareness around your preconceived beliefs about a given topic before pursuing further study

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CRAAP Analysis

• Currency: How current is the source?
• Relevance: How important is the information, and has it been consistently presented?
• Authority: What is the source of the information?
• Accuracy: Judged against other sources (which themselves will need appropriate evaluation), how correct is the source?
• Purpose: What is the goal of the source—why was it created?

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Integrating Material from Sources

• Direct quotations are words and phrases that are taken directly from another source and then used word-for-word in your text.
• Paraphrasing is when you say something in your own words that someone else has said or written.
• Summarizing is when you briefly tell the main points of something, leaving out the details.

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Incorporating Sources

• You make a claim or point
• You cite evidence
• You transition to another claim or new point

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Ethical Use of Information

• Understand the importance of professional integrity in business writing
• Learn how to properly document and cite sources

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Professional Integrity

• For decision-makers and colleagues to trust the reports you write, you have to maintain your own professional integrity.
• The researcher (or business report writer), operates at the highest levels of ethical responsibility.

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Avoiding Plagiarism

• Plagiarism is the act of using someone else’s work or ideas without giving them proper credit, presenting it as if it were your own.
• Proper citation of sources is essential to avoiding plagiarism or copyright violations. Citation styles used for academic writing include:
• American Psychological Association (APA) style, commonly used for psychology and social sciences, including business
• Modern Language Association (MLA) style, commonly used in the humanities
• The Chicago Manual of Style, also used in the humanities

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Citation Styles

Why are citations important in business writing?

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Discuss Citation Styles

1 What are the key differences you noticed between the citation styles?

2 How might the choice of citation style impact the readability and professionalism of a document?

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Closing Slide

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Questions…..

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Next steps…..

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Reminders about student hours, upcoming deadlines, campus activities ….

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Storyset Illustration Library

Find the illustrations at StorySet.com.

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Authored by: Lumen Learning. License: CC BY: Attribution

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