Target audience: Those wanting to know how to search and find information in business and management.

Learning outcomes:

1. Identify information in business and management from a variety of web-based sources, such as Google, bibliographic databases, full text electronic journals services, news aggregators, company data search engines, business directories, business intelligence tools and market analysis tools;
2. Critically evaluate information from such sources.

Duration: 10 hours over 3 weeks

Module Chair: Dr Andreas Meiszner, United Nations University, UNU-MERIT, CCG - Collaborative Creativity Group, NL | Dr James Aczel, The Open University, United Kingdom

Contents

1 Introduction

1.1 Spaces & Meetings

1.2 Assignment

2 Module Activities

2.1 Week 1

2.2 Week 2

2.3 Week 3

3 Assignment Submission & Peer Assessment

4 Acknowledgements

1 Introduction

This module will help you to identify and use web-based information in business and management. Experiment with some of the key resources in this subject area, and find what you are looking for more easily. Discover the meaning of information quality, and learn how to evaluate the information you come across.

Before you start, you might find it helpful to rate your current level of knowledge about finding and using information. To do so:

1. You can rate yourself and use Section 1 of OpenLearn module LIB_2 to assess your current level of knowledge. Questions in which you score 4 or 5 might offer opportunities to share your knowledge with fellow participants.
2. If you are not confident about searching, you might like to try Section 2 of OpenLearn module LIB_2.
3. If you would like to learn more about citing references in your work, Section 5.6 of OpenLearn module LIB_2 provides a quick overview of the importance of referencing. Section 5.7 lists some popular bibliographic software.
4. If you would like some help on staying up-to-date, Section 6 of OpenLearn module LIB_2 gives of overview of tools such as RSS feed, mailing lists and newsgroups.

1.1. Spaces & Meetings

A. Forum for general communication Module 2 - Searching for information in business and management

B. IRC Chats over Freenode on Channel: #openEd (Dates to be announced at the forum and also at the timetable!)

C. Live sessions at UStream (Dates to be announced at the forum!)

1.2. Assignment

Your assignment draws on Activity 3 (below). The assignment is to produce a summary of what you've found out about evaluating a particular category of search services. Make sure you explain how you have chosen to evaluate the search services, and why you have done it this way.

This summary should have no more than 2000 words. If you have worked collaboratively on the assignment, indicate as precisely as you can your contribution to the work.

Once you have completed your assignment you are asked to upload the Assignment to the Module 2 Assignment Directory.

Assignments will be "peer-assessed", so make sure that you present your results in a clear and logic way that is understandable for others! Criteria for assessing assignments is given in the Assignment Submission & Peer Assessment section below.

Please note: This module will show as completed in your "Self-Print Certificate" only when you have submitted your Assignment.

2 Module Activities

This module is divided into 3 activities, taking in total 8 hours to complete. You then need to allow a further 2 hours to complete the assignment. You may also want to allow additional time for IRC chats or other live interactions, depending on how many there are, perhaps around an hour a week.

2.1 Week 1

Activity 1: Categorising search services (2 hours)

There are a huge range of search engines and databases, and they change rapidly. New ones spring up. Old ones decay or are removed. Popular ones have their interfaces refreshed regularly. The first task then is to identify the key ones.

1. Generate a list of the different search engines, services, databases, resource banks, business intelligence and market analysis tools, etc. that you currently use.
2. Hunt for related search services, and add them to your list. Make sure you include Google Scholar, Google News, LexisNexis, FreeEDGAR, WorldCat, and the Directory of Open Access Journals. Section 3 of the OpenLearn module LIB_2 also provides some ideas on how to hunt for search services. In addition, the "Tour" section of the 'Intute' tutorial on using the Internet for Business and Management might be useful: this resource is focused on helping UK university students, but it does have some useful European links for professionals.
3. Cluster the search services of your list into a small number of categories. For example, the OpenLearn module LIB_2 categorises them this way.
4. Share your categorised list of search services with the other course participants in the Module 2 forum. You can post it elsewhere if you like, such as slideshare or scribd, and then link to it.

Congratulations! You have now finished Week 1. Please complete the learning reflection form for this week.

2.2 Week 2

Activity 2: Evaluating business and management information on the internet (2 hours)

What criteria are useful for evaluating business and management information on the internet?

1. Section 4 of the OpenLearn module LIB_2 offers a framework for evaluating business and management information on the internet. Read this section and do the exercises of module LIB_2.
2. Additional activity for students in higher education: Read the "Judge" section of the Intute tutorial on using the Internet for Business & Management. You might also find Intute’s Internet Detective a useful resource.

Congratulations! You have now finished Week 2. Please complete the learning reflection form for this week.

2.3 Week 3

Activity 3: Evaluating search services (4 hours)

Within Activity 3 you will be evaluating in detail a category of search service relevant to business and management.

1. With other participants, agree what category of search service you will be investigating. For example, it might be book catalogues, or full-text journal databases, or news aggregators.
2. Agree a set of criteria for evaluating the services in your chosen category. For example, you might start with:

a. Relevance to business & management

b. Search power (e.g. Boolean, phrases, wildcards)

c. Usability

d. Availability of full text

e. Premium features

1. Agree on a small number (4-5, say) of sample topic areas that you will test the services against. For example, you might choose to look for logistics, corporate values, employment law or ethics.
2. Evaluate a range of search services in your chosen category, against the agreed criteria, and using the sample topic areas.
3. Additional activity for students in higher education: search for research into the effectiveness of the shortlisted search services.
4. Additional activity for business professionals: search for case studies or expert commentary that examines the shortlisted search services.
5. Produce a 5 minute presentation (slides, audio, or video), outlining what you’ve found about the search services available in your chosen category. You might want to focus on just 2 or 3 recommended search services.
6. Make this presentation available at a public space, such as slideshare or scribd.
7. Write up and submit your assignment as detailed within the Assignment section above.

Congratulations! You have now finished Week 3. Please complete the learning reflection form for this week.

3 Assignment Submission & Peer Assessment

1. Write your Assignment as explained in the Assignment section above.

Assignments will be "peer assessed", so make sure you present your results in a clear and logic way that is understandable for others!

1. Upload your Assignment to the Module 2 Assignment Directory.

Please note: This module will show as completed in your "Self-Print Certificate" only when you have submitted your Assignment.

1. Assess others' assignments by giving marks for each of the parts of the task.

1. We kindly ask you to take the time and to provide at least one peer assessment. We can not force you to do this - but the idea of this course is to work together as peers and to help one the other!
2. Please use the Rating and Review function below each assignment for your peer review. You should rate as follows: 100% of marks = 5 Stars | 92% of marks = 4 Stars | 85% of marks = 3 Stars | 70% of marks = 2 Stars | 60% of marks = 1 Star | Less then 60% of marks = no Star. Your written review should include information on the marks you have been accredited for an assignment ***AND*** information how you have calculated such marks.
3. For each part of the task, high marks should be awarded to answers that are accurate, comprehensive, convincing, insightful and scholarly.
4. Being "scholarly" means using logical arguments; avoiding non sequiturs; substantial claims; and using accurate spelling, grammar and referencing.
5. Furthermore, each part of the task also has a specific criterion for achieving the highest marks:

4 Acknowledgements

The module links extensively to The Open University's OpenLearn module Lib 2 "Finding information in business and management", which has been made available within the Creative Commons framework under the CC Attribution – Non-commercial licence. These materials are available under the same license.

The first draft of this module was created by James Aczel and Pascale Hardy. Further edited by Andreas Meiszner.