Bachelor of Business: Getting started

Resources to assist you with getting started with your assignment.

Getting Started in the Library

Check out the new VU Start Library Guide which will show you how to use the library resources, and connect you to our services.

http://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/vu-library-start

Business Source Ultimate
Search for journal articles for your assignments. There is a variety of information in there- from magazines, case studies, SWOT analysis to scholarly papers. If you want to limit to peer reviewed journals, you need to tick the box that says Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals.

Emerald Journals
Search for journal articles for your assignments in Emerald. Emerald Journals has a collection of over 200 academic and professional journals in the areas of Management, Human Resource Management, Quality, Marketing, Operations and Production, Accounting & Finance, and Information Management, Information Management and Organisational Behaviour. 

To learn more on how to use the Emerald database, it's highly recommended you watch the following video.

How to search Emerald- VU Video

APA Referencing

VU Business School is now using the APA Referencing style.
The APA Referencing Style consists of in-text referencing and a list of references at the end of the work.

The VU APA Referencing Guide has many examples for you to follow and VU Library have classes to attend training via the Learning Hub

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of taking someone else's work or idea and passing it off as your own.  The consequences for plagiarism apply even for
unintentional plagiarism.

Types of plagiarism

  • Directly quoting other people's words from online or printed sources without acknowledgement (you also need to acknowledge using images, tables, graphs, statistics, videos, music, formulae, laboratory data) 
  • Paraphrasing or summarising someone else's thoughts or ideas without crediting and citing your source (even using someone else's ideas and rewriting it in your own words needs to be referenced) 
  • Careless or incomplete referencing of your source 
  • Copying or buying an essay and handing it in as your own work 
  • Falsely creating a reference that doesn't exist 
  • Presenting another students' research data as your own 
  • Collusion - presenting an assignment as your own independent work when it has been produced in whole or part with other people (for example another student or tutor). 

Avoiding plagiarism

The best way to avoid plagiarism is to recognise when you need to provide a reference.

  • If you have quoted directly from someone else's work, then you must place double quotation marks around the text and provide a reference.
  • If you have paraphrased someone else's work or used another persons idea or theory then you must  provide a reference.
  • If what you are writing is common knowledge or your own thought then you don't need to provide a reference.

Other strategies to avoid plagiarism include:

  • Start early! Mistakes often occur when you are rushed and there are no short cuts. Remember, you may be penalised for incorrect referencing.
  • Always note all the details you need for your reference list, particularly when printing from the Internet or electronic journal databases. Consult the referencing style guides for these details. 
  • Remember to check with your lecturer which referencing style they would prefer you to use.
  • Your teacher may ask you to use Ouriginal (Urkund) which is a plagiarism detection software you use to check your assignments
  • Use APA Referencing to acknowledge other's work https://libraryguides.vu.edu.au/apa-referencing 

Steps to a successful assignment 

  1. Collect all your information about the assignment.
  • the handout on the assignment
  • the type of resources required for your Reference List e.g. books, journal articles
  • notes from classes on how to do the assignment
  1. Analyse and prepare
  • identify the Required Reading 
  • identify keywords & search the Library for additional resources e.g. books, journal articles
  1. Read for Information
  • read Required Reading and make notes
  • read the additional articles etc for information not in the Required Reading
  • prepare each Reference as you read it.
  1. Start writing
  • collect notes from your reading and start to build your essay
  • write the correct References for each of your readings for your Reference List


Note that there are books in the library on topics such as essay writing, report writing etc.,

How to write successful Business & Management Essays
By P Tissington & M Hasel  2017
At  Footscray and City campuses and ebook
CALL NO:  808.06665 TIS
http://librarysso.vu.edu.au/record=b4120536
 
Business Writing
By E Baden 2012
E-Book
https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vu/detail.action?docID=865172