Skip to Main Content

Finding scholarly information for your case study 

1. What you need to do

For this assessment you need to find scholarly information to support your case study.

Remember to read all the information on your course website related to your assessment to understand exactly what you need to do.

2. Plan your search

Once you have read the case study, think about the key ideas and issues it raises. 

Try mapping these out in a table or mind map. Think of alternative concepts or synonyms you can incorporate into different searches.

Here is an example table: 

Concept Synonyms or alternative concepts 
aboriginal
  • indigenous
  • first nation people
  • traditional owners
tourism
  • tourists, visitors, travellers
sustainability
  • sustainable
  • polluting, pollution
  • environment, environmental degradation
ethics
  • ethical behaviour
  • cultural sensitivity
  • cultural values
  • cultural engagement
  • cultural awareness
  • values, entitlement, respect, beliefs, attitudes
  • economic benefits
  • economic opportunities

This table is not comprehensive. Once you start searching you may come across more keywords.

For more help creating a search plan see:

3. Where to search

For your previous assignment you may have used the Library Collection or Google Scholar to find relevant information. You can still use these to do some quick searches to help you understand your topic area.
 

Library collection search example:

Tip: Use the 'Tweak my results' menu to limit your search to books or articles.


However, we recommend you use these key business databases:

For more help watch:

4. Building your search

Apply the keywords you brainstormed earlier to databases to find relevant references.

Business Source Ultimate

Business Source Ultimate is a key business database that you should become familiar with. It will be useful throughout your studies.

  1. Start by entering each of your different concepts into a new search box. Notice these are connected with AND.

     
  2. Incorporate any synonyms into your search. Connect these with OR.

     
  3. Apply limits if you want.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These can help to narrow your search.

Informit Indigenous Australia

Search this database the same way you search Business Source Ultimate. It is really useful for finding Australian content.

  • If you want you can use truncation, the star * symbol, to find word stems. For example ethic* will find ethics OR ethical.
  • Double quotes are used to keep phrases together, for example "first nations".

5. More help

For help writing your assignments or referencing see:

Rate this resource