Researching and Evaluating Information Sources for Written Report

Task Summary

Identify, summarise and evaluate four (4) sources that will be useful for completing the Assessment 2B Written Report. Please refer to the Task Instructions for details on how to complete this assessment. 

In business, you need to be able to research sources of information, read and evaluate their credibility to ensure they are appropriate when building and communicating an argument or a line of reasoning. Beyond this context, these skills will assist you for academic purposes in writing summaries and critically reviewing sources of information for your current and future studies. 

To complete this assessment task you must:

1. Select one (1) of the following topics (You will use this topic for both this assessment task (2A Source Analysis) and Assessment 2B Written Report):

a. Using Social Media in the workplace to communicate with staff.

b. Communicating a companywide employee recognition program using digital technology.

c. Boosting workplace motivation through innovative communication tools.

d. Implementing instant messaging/group messaging, discussion forums and workplace chatrooms.

e. Podcasts, internal blogs/vlogs as a means to communicate to employees.

f. Using an internal intranet/social intranet for employee interactions.

2. Conduct research on your chosen topic.

3. Identify four (4) sources that will be useful for completing Assessment 2B Written Report (read Assessment 2B Brief to inform your choice of sources).

a. Two (2) of the sources must be from reliable academic sources, such as academic journals and books. The other two (2) sources can come from YouTube or TEDtalks or other non-academic sources. 

4. Provide the following for each source:

a. Name of the source in full according to the APA 6th ed. style.

b. A brief summary of each source (100-150 words each), justifying why it is relevant to the topic of your written report.

c. Evaluate the reliability of each source by applying the Five Tests for Reliability, covered in Module 3. You must cover:

1. Authority

2. Audience

3. Transparency

4. Objectivity

5. Currency

d. Include a final reference list for all four (4) sources in APA 6th ed. style.