MBA Research Guide

Use the information on this page to cite sources properly using a style guide and read research articles strategically. 

To use the work of others ethically, you will need to avoid plagiarizing by understanding how to quote, paraphrase, and cite the work of others.

1. Citing
   1. Why cite?
      1. To give credit to those whose work you have used (whether by direct quote or by paraphrasing).
         1. Academic ethics require that writers be credited for their work and their writing.
         2. If you intentionally or unintentionally use the work of another without giving proper credit, you have plagiarized.
      2. To provide evidence to support what you are saying.
         1. A good bibliography of high-quality material demonstrates that your project is based on credible evidence.
         2. When well-integrated into your paper (or project), that evidence creates a strong and convincing paper or project.
         3. If your work is based on poor evidence, the credibility of your project is undermined.
      3. To allow your readers to find and read your sources.
         1. Professionals often trace back to the original sources to expand their own understanding and to use those sources in their own research.
   2. Why a specific citation style?
      1. Using a consistent style in a bibliography (or reference list) lets the reader know where in the citation to expect to find a title, where to expect to find an author, etc -- without actually labeling the parts of the citation. It makes it easier for your readers to understand your citations and find the sources you have cited.
      2. Although a variety of citation styles exist, each academic discipline will usually use a specific style. By using a single style such as APA or IEEE, a profession's readers are familiar with the style and understand how to read and interpret it.
   3. What do I need to know about citing sources?
      1. ​​​​​​​When to cite.
         1. When using other people's words, put quotes around the words and cite your source.
         2. When paraphrasing other people's words, cite that source.
         3. When you've borrowed an idea from someone else, cite them.
      2. How to cite sources within the body of the paper and how to create a list of sources cited in your paper -- the "bibliography" or list of "references."
         If you need help with a specific citation style, see "Guide to Citing Sources" for citation style guides such as APA, IEEE, and MLA.
         ​​​​​​​
2. Avoiding plagiarism
   1. ​​​​​​​What is plagiarism?
      1. ​​​​​​​Plagiarism is the accidental or intentional use of someone else's ideas or work without properly citing the author. Whether accidental or intentional, the consequences are the same. It is your responsibility to understand and avoid plagiarism.
         
         "There is a cultural dimension to plagiarism as well. Here in the West we put a high value on individual genius and have all sorts of laws protecting intellectual property. We own our words, feel personally attached to them, and often take it as a personal offense if someone else takes them and passes them off as their own. In other cultures less emphasis is put on individual attribution and more on the social utility of texts and ideas and these are often shared and reused without any expectation of attribution.... So social norms have a lot to do with what is considered appropriate use of sources. Consider this a little lesson in the norms for source use in our social context." [Source: "Plagiarism: What is Plagiarism." In: Information Literacy Tutorial, Carnegie-Vincent Library, Lincoln Memorial University]
          
      2. Consequences for plagiarizing. Plagiarism is considered a major offense in academia. Depending on the situation, a student might fail the assignment, fail the course, and/or be denied re-enrollment at the university.
   2. How do I avoid plagiarism? Be able to recognize it!  
      1. The Indiana University Bloomington School of Education provides a series of tutorials describing plagiarism. You can look through the tutorials at Tutorials and Practice.
          
3. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Quoting, paraphrasing and citing: examples for information systems, information assurance, and computer science
   1. Quoting and Paraphrasing, Accessible Computer Science Research Guide, Dalhousie University

APA Citation

The sources listed below provide assistance and examples of the APA style.

Best starting point on the Web for citation examples:

APA provides the following sources:

While some articles may label the sections differently, the main sections you will often find within a research article include:

Title: Provides an Overview
Paper titles are usually succinct, stand-alone overviews of a paper's contents. So, if you are new to a field and/or subject, it is useful to take note of the words used in the title as they may provide you with useful keywords to use in any literature searches you may perform.

Keywords: Key Phrases for Study
Some journals include key phrases. Key words often provide additional information about important parts of the study, such as subject population, outcome measures.

Abstract: Summarizes the Article
The purpose of the abstract is to provide the reader with a succinct summary of the article. Thus, the abstract should provide information about the specific research problem being investigated, the methods used, the results obtained, and what the results of the study mean in the larger context of the research study and in some cases the field of study. This means that the abstract is a good place to look first if you are trying to decided whether or not the paper is relevant.

Introduction: Introduces the Paper
The introduction section generally provides an overview of the research problem being studied. Hypotheses (both explicit and implicit) should be clearly presented here.

Literature Review: Provides Context for the Paper
The literature review discusses past research on the topic in order to give readers a sense of why the research is important, what has been written on the topic in the past, and how this paper will add to the research.

Methods Section: Details the Research Methodology
The experimental section will provide detailed information on how the authors accomplished the experiments/surveys described in their paper.

Results: Presents the Research Findings
Data obtained from the study are introduced. Results are typically presented either in the text or in figures/data tables.  Be sure to look at text, figures and tables to see all results.

Discussion/Conclusion: Interprets the Research Findings
Results are interpreted. Results are usually put into a broader research context and incorporated into current knowledge in the field.

Bibliography
Even the bibliography represents the scholarship of this article’s author(s). You may not know the field intimately, but you can glance and get a few ideas quickly.

Note: The structure of the article will be affected by the nature of the research being reported.  For example, research papers in science typically follow a standard format that includes sections for introduction, literature review, methods, results, and discussion. A hands-on look at the different sections of a research article can be found here: "Anatomy of a Scholarly Article."

However, the nature and range of research approaches related to information technology produces articles with more variation in structure.  For example, a design science research article, reporting on the development and evaluation of an artifact, will have section labels appropriate to that type of research.

Research articles have a formal structure that allows you to move from section to section easily. The key to effective reading of research articles is to use this formal structure to your advantage.

Tip 1. Do not read the article sequentially from first page to last. This will only get you bogged down in the details, and make it difficult to make overall sense of it.

Tip 2. Do read the following sections in order: abstract, introduction, discussion, and any tables and graphs.

• Abstract
  Gives you a quick, easy to understand overview of the research goals and findings.  
• Introduction
  Skim the background (literature review). Focus on finding the purpose of the research, and any hypotheses being tested.
  If the introduction is different from the abstract, go with the information given in the Introduction. 
• Discussion
  Explains what was found (or how successful the study was), and any problems encountered by the researchers.
  If different from the abstract, go with the information given in the Discussion.
• Tables and Graphs
  Provide data about the study population and the results (statistics).

Tip 3. Do read the entire article sequentially, after you have scanned the sections above and have decided to include it in your literature review.