Approaching your research

In this section you will develop your online searching and researching skills. You will also develop techniques to help critically appraise and evaluate materials you will use in your research assignment.

Search tools

There are a number of tools you can use to locate information. You might need to find relevant information using internet search engines.

Search engines use algorithms to provide you with a list of internet sources based on keywords you have entered. The results listed are ordered by the search engine based on how you input your search terms.

Here are some particularly useful search engines to help you in your academic research:

Google Scholar

Google Scholar allows you to access millions of academic journal articles online. You may need a subscription to access many of these, but some are open access (available freely).

Google Books

Google Books gives you access to millions of books that have been digitised and made available online. You can access books in preview form or, in some cases, as a full text.

Bing Images

Bing Images allows you to search for images from across the internet. Bing image search also identifies which images can be reused in your work.

Collecting your materials

Once you have started to investigate a new topic you might begin to consider how to use this material to formulate your writing.

You can access a wide variety of information online: government websites, broadcasts, YouTube videos, online newspapers and journals, blogs, TEDTalks, industry reports, industry campaign groups, etc. All of these are valuable in writing your assignment.

Resources specifically on Engineering Project Management include:

Association of Project Management

Project Management Institute

International Project Management Association

Useful videos can be found from:

National Geographic Megastructures

It is likely that exploring this variety of sources will give you a range of answers and approaches to your question or topic. Getting information from a number of different sources will help you to formulate your own point of view on a topic. It will also make sure your research is informed and critical.

Evaluating your materials

The internet provides a huge amount of information on a range of topics. How can you ensure that the information you find is accurate?

Websites, journals and other sources written by organisations or individuals who are respected and well-qualified within their discipline are more likely to be reliable.

Three criteria that can help you determine the reliability of online information are: authority, timeliness and relevance.

Authority

The first step is to identify the author or source of information. If you know who the author is, you should evaluate their reliability by asking:

• Are they an expert in this area or topic?

• Have they produced other material on the same subject?

• Has their work been cited by other people?

• Are they qualified to comment on this topic?

• What organisation do they work for?

• Do they have controversial views on a particular topic?

Timeliness

The date when information is produced, published or updated can also be a useful indicator of quality and reliability. When evaluating the timeliness of information consider:

• Is it clear when the information was collated and published?

• Does the date of the information meet your research needs?

• Is it obsolete (has it been superseded)?

Relevance

It is important that you assess how relevant a source of information is to your research project. Even if a source is reputable, it does not necessarily mean that it is relevant to your research.

Skim reading is a useful way of quickly assessing how useful a source is to your research. When assessing a source you should consider:

• Is the information at the appropriate level of depth for your needs?

• Is the focus of discussion and enquiry appropriate to your research?

• Does it relate to interesting aspects of your research?

• Is it relevant in terms of the geographical or historical focus of your study (ie is it relevant to the country you are researching and are the examples used from the right time period you are investigating)?

These serve as a useful guide, but you may also need to ask different or more in-depth questions, depending on the context in which the information is being used. It is important to use information selectively, critically and appropriately when carrying out research.

Coming up...

In the next section you will be introduced to academic referencing requirements.