Evaluating Business Information
Research
Advanced Higher Business Management
G Mooney
Learning Intentions and Success Criteria
I will develop an understanding of:
• The importance of referencing
when presenting findings &
plagiarism
• Harvard referencing in footnotes
and a bibliography
• Methods of presenting findings
• Verifying sources of evidence
• Research techniques.
I will be able to:
• Properly reference sources of
information when presenting
findings in the project with
correct use of:
o Footnotes
o A bibliography
• Present findings using
appropriate methods
• Use advanced Google search
techniques to find information
needed for the project
2
Referencing
• Referencing allows you to acknowledge other people's work. It also
allows you to demonstrate that you have:
oGathered evidence to back up your ideas and arguments;
oUsed credible, good quality sources;
oRead from a large number of sources;
oUsed sources that are appropriate to your level of study.
• It also allows your teacher and SQA to differentiate between your own
work and the work of others and also to locate and verify the sources
you have used
• There are many different styles of academic referencing used in
academic institutions throughout the world to reference sources used
within a formal piece of work.
3
Harvard Referencing
• For the project, we will use the popular Harvard referencing style
• All references that you make to other work must follow the exact
format
• The exact format used will depend upon the type of source used
oE.g. books, websites, documentaries, podcasts etc
• Refer to ‘7.2.1 - Bibliography Format Guide’ in the Project Guide for
info on how to write references for different types of sources.
4
Harvard Referencing
• For example…
Type
Books
Format
Example
<author’s surname>, <initials>. <year of publication> in brackets, <title>
Hannagan, T. (2012), Management Concepts and Practices, 3rd
in italics, <edition —if not the first>, <place of publication: publisher>,
ed, Harlow: Prentice Hall, p39
<page number (if relevant)>
Internet
<*author's/editor's surname>, <initials>. <year> in brackets, <article
Academic Services (2007), BU guide to citation in the Harvard
title> in italics, <online> in square brackets, <place of publication:
style: brief guide [online], Poole: Bournemouth University.
publisher>. <Available from: URL> <accessed date> in square brackets
Available from:
https://www1.bournemouth.ac.uk/discover/library/using-
*Note: the author may be an organisation, and you may not always be
able to find the place/publisher; provide as much detail as possible
library/how-guides/how-cite-references [accessed 06 February
2018]
*Format information and examples for other types of sources such as journals, podcasts and documentaries
can be found in the Project Guide
5
Referencing Task
Using the Bibliography Format Guide in the Project Guide, write out
references for the following sources:
1 Book
2 Website
3 Podcast
Advanced Higher Scholar Book
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49905470
https://open.spotify.com/episode/66edV3LAbUXa26HG1ZQaKB
4 Documentary https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001ks5t/inside-the-factoryseries-7-jaffa-cakes
6
Referencing Task Solutions
1
Hamilton, A. (2019). Scholar Advanced Higher Business Management, Stirling: Herriot-Watt University.
2
Jack, S. (2019), Tesco: Did 'Drastic Dave' save the UK's biggest retailer? [online], BBC News. Available
from: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-49905470 [accessed 7 November 2023]
3
Rogan, J. ‘The Joe Rogan Experience #2044’ [podcast], (7 November 2023), Spotify. Available from:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/66edV3LAbUXa26HG1ZQaKB [accessed 07 November 2023]
4
Inside the Factory: Jaffa Cakes (2023), Available from:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001ks5t/inside-the-factory-series-7-jaffa-cakes [accessed 7
November 2023]
7
Referencing in the Project
• Any information (e.g. direct quote, paraphrase, summary, diagram,
image etc) taken from a source (e.g. website, journal, annual report)
must be referenced well enough for someone else to find the source of
those ideas or words
• You will use footnotes to reference in the main body of the project and
each source will also be listed in a bibliography section at the end of
your report.
• When presenting findings in your project, if you do not reference a
source or reference it incorrectly, you will receive NO MARKS for any
analysis of the finding as well as NO MARKS for
conclusions/recommendations based on the finding.
8
Footnotes
• Footnotes are used in the main report
• A small number will be placed immediately following any reference you
make to information that has come from a secondary source (e.g. a
quote, paraphrasing, image, diagram etc)
• In the footer of the page, the same number will appear, followed by a
full Harvard reference to the source
• Footnotes should follow the same format as bibliographies, with the
important exception that in footnotes, an author’s initials or forename
precedes, rather than follows, their surname.
• E.g.
¹ G. Mooney. (2023), Business Education for Dummies, 2nd ed, Glasgow: Glasgow Caledonian University, p39
9
Footnotes Task
In Microsoft Word, simply go to References > Insert Footnote immediately following any
sourced information (e.g. direct quote, summary of information or diagram etc.) to insert a
footnote number next to this information. Word will now ask you to enter information
about this source in the footer of the page.
Try this by:
• Quoting information from each of the 4 sources from the pervious task in a new Word
document
• Inserting a footnote reference for each quote that references the source
*REMINDER: Footnotes should follow the same format as bibliographies, with the
important exception that in footnotes an author’s initials or forename precedes the
surname.
10
Tips for Footnotes in the Project
• If you use the same book or journal source for a second or subsequent
time, you should also use the author’s name, title and page number as
a new footnote
• If you use the same website reference for a second or subsequent time,
you should reinsert the URL as a new footnote
• Your footnotes should run sequentially throughout the document and
should not restart for each section.
11
Bibliography
• You should include a bibliography at the end of your report
• This is a list of every source you have referenced throughout your
report sorted A>Z by author’s surname
• You should update your bibliography as you work through your project.
12
Bibliography Task
Create a bibliography for your work created in the previous task.
To do this you should:
• Take the heading ‘Bibliography’ on a new page (in the same
document)
• List all of the sources in Harvard style (remember to change the order
of the initials/surnames from the order you presented them in the
footnote)
• Sort the list alphabetically
*REMINDER: Bibliographies should be on a separate page from the main body
of the report
13
Expressing Information from Sources
• There are several methods that you can utilise to express points from
sources such as books, websites and documentaries
• Such text-based methods include:
oDirect quotes
oParaphrasing
oSummarising
IMPORTANT:
No matter which method you use,
you must still reference the source in
a footnote and in the bibliography.
14
Direct Quotes
• Direct quotes are needed when you use another person’s ideas in their
own words. If you include information exactly as it appears in a source
you need to indicate this by using quotation marks.
• Short quotes can be included within the paragraph of text using
quotation marks. Long quotes should be treated as a separate block of
text, indented from the left margin, as the example shows. Use p. to
indicate a page number and pp. to indicate a range of pages.
15
Direct Quotes Example
Quotation marks
are essential
with a direct
quote
Footnote
“60% of those surveyed said that they had
never heard of other Highland Spring
products besides their bottled still water.
This tells me that Highland Spring do not
effectively advertise their variety of
products. This means that they could lose
out on additional profits due to their poor
advertising of these other products.”¹
¹ J. Patterson. (2014) The Great Scottish
Water Book, 2nd ed, Harlow: Prentice Hall
p.34
Paraphrasing
• Paraphrasing is when you present another person’s ideas in your own
words but without the need for quotation marks as you are not quoting
directly. Using the previous example, the paragraph below has been
paraphrased. Its meaning is the same as the original paragraph and so a
reference must be provided:
More than half of the people surveyed had never heard of other Highland
Spring products besides their bottled still water. This could imply that the
company does not effectively advertise their full product range resulting in
additional products being less profitable.¹
¹ J. Patterson. (2014) The Great Scottish Water Book, 2nd ed, Harlow: Prentice
Hall p.34
Comparison – Direct Quote vs. Paraphrasing
“60% of those surveyed said that they had never heard of other Highland Spring
products besides their bottled still water. This tells me that Highland Spring do not
effectively advertise their variety of products. This means that they could lose out
on additional profits due to their poor advertising of these other products.” ¹
More than half of the people surveyed had never heard of other Highland Spring
products besides their bottled still water. This could imply that the company does
not effectively advertise their full product range resulting in additional products
being less profitable.¹
Can you think of an advantage of paraphrasing over quoting directly?
Summarising
• Summarising is when you express another person’s ideas using less
words.
• The following example shows a passage from a book that has been
shortened.
• Its meaning, however, is the same as the original, requiring a citation.
Summarising
Original:
The Homeplus Group started in 1999 as a hypermarket only business and today
operates as a multichannel retailer. The Homeplus Group operates online and
through 1,075 outlets, of which 140 are hypermarkets, 609 are supermarkets
and 326 are convenience stores (the supermarkets and convenience stores
being a mixture of directly owned and franchised). It also operates 139
shopping malls adjacent to its hypermarkets, with over 6,500 tenant leases.¹
Summary:
The Homeplus Group have operated for over 15 years and operate a number of
outlets, consisting of hypermarkets, superstores and convenience stores.¹
Presenting Findings Task
Go back to your document from earlier in this topic.
Change some of the information so that your document now includes:
• At least 1 direct quote
• At least 1 paraphrase
• At least 1 summary
21
Scholar Task
Complete the following Unit 3 Scholar activity:
1.2 When must I provide a citation? - Asda
*ONLY CARRY OUT THE ASDA TASK*
Be prepared to share your answers with the class.
22
Plagiarism
• The definition of plagiarism is using someone else’s work and letting
people think that it is your own
• If you do not reference other people’s ideas or quotes you may be
accused of plagiarism. It is the equivalent of stealing, often referred to
as academic theft. To avoid plagiarism you should always note
accurately and fully the details of all the sources you use
• If you follow the correct referencing methods in this topic then you
should avoid allegations of plagiarism
• Be careful also that you do not give your work out to others - if they
then copy your work you could be accused of plagiarism of their work.
Verifying sources of evidence
• Just because information is published on the internet, does not
guarantee that it is true and valid
• Therefore, it is worth checking out how valid the information is
• Popular news sources such as BBC, Guardian and Telegraph are
examples of sources which must conform to press standards and
therefore they should have verified their information before they
published it
• Be wary of editorials – these are written by journalists and therefore
may be biased.
Verifying sources of evidence
• PLCs are legally required to publish accurate information about their
sales, profits and future plans
oTherefore these sources can be trusted
• Be wary of Wikipedia – do not use this as a source
oIf you find something useful on Wikipedia – click the number link
beside the information, this should take you to the footnote
reference list where you can check the source – then you can cite
the source directly rather than Wikipedia.
Google
• Google can be a very powerful tool for searching for sources– spend
some time looking at more advanced ways of searching in Google
• Remember, you can specifically search for News articles and Books in
Google – this can be useful for finding eBooks. Some of these eBooks
will not be available for free but you may be able to preview the pages
that you need!
• Spend some time learning how to use Google effectively, this will allow
you to find information from online sources more efficiently.
Google Like a Pro Task
Task 1:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0DQfwc72PM
Watch the video and take notes on how to use Google to practice the following advanced search techniques:
1. How to Google search for an exact phrase or quote.
2. How to Exclude a word/phrase from Google search results.
3. How to search for phrases/quotes with missing words.
4. How to perform a Google Reverse Image Search.
5. How to search within a single website.
6. How to search for similar websites.
7. How to search for a cached version of a website.
8. How to search for a specific file type such as PDF.
9. How to only display results that include search term in page title.
Extension
Practice these search techniques to
research information for your project
Consolidation Task – Reporting and Referencing
Using at least 3 relevant sources found in a search engine (e.g. Google), write up a short report about the
Facebook leaked documents and whistle-blower scandal from fall 2021.
Your report should include the following information:
• Details of the information that the leaked documents contained
• The response that Facebook gave to the leaked documents
• Who the whistle-blower is (e.g. their name and relationship with Facebook)
• What the whistle-blower said about Facebook
• The response that Facebook gave to the comments made by the whistle-blower
Your report does not need to contain any analysis.
Ensure you reference all sources properly using footnotes and a bibliography to do so. Refer to the Project
Guide for guidance on this.