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BUSS 2066: Creativity and Innovation

1. About this guide

This guide aims to assist you with finding relevant academic sources to support your report/presentation and reflective assessment. Please see your course outline and LearnOnline site for the full assessment details.

2. Wicked problems

Watch the video (3 min 52 sec) below for a quick overview on wicked problems.

3. Forming questions

A research question should:

  • Be an open ended question - not answerable by a yes or no
  • Be focused on a specific aspect - not too broad
  • Include task/instruction words like describe, discuss, compare...

Where to start:

  • Think about a topic you are interested in, that you'd like to learn more about.
  • Do some quick searching to find some background information. This can help you choose an aspect of the topic to focus on.
  • Think of some questions you could ask about the aspect you've chosen?

Look at ways to narrow down - think about:

  • a particular aspect of a broader issue (e.g. the mental health aspects of bushfires)
  • a particular country (e.g. Australia)
  • a particular group (e.g. firefighters, farmers, health care workers)
  • a particular timeframe (e.g. last 5 years)

 

For more information:

Analysis and recommendations

Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political (STEEP) illustration

 

A STEEP analysis examines factors affecting the Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, and Political landscape around your industry or company.

Try these sites for more information on conducting STEEP analysis:

The below diagram is adapted from Porter's 2008 article, The five competitive forces that shape strategy.

Diagram of Porter's five competitive forces that shape strategy

For more about Porter's Five Forces, see the suggestions below:

SWOT analysis diagram
 
SWOT analysis is a model that analyzes an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to create the foundation of a marketing strategy.
 
Have a look at these sites for help with conducting a SWOT analysis:

SMART is an acronym for the 5 steps of setting specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based goals.

For more help with SMART objectives, have a look at these sites:

5. Find Information

Google

Remember that you can find good information from plain old Google.

Use a site search (site: ) to limit to: 

  • Australian government sites:​               bushfire "mental health" site:gov.au 
  • Search within one website:                 "bushfire relief" site:abc.net.au

Explore more Google Search Tips online.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar searches only within academic or scholarly sites, rather than the whole internet. By accessing Google Scholar from within the library website, you will be able to link directly to articles that the library has access to by clicking on the Full-text at UniSA link.

Want to Know More?

Visit the Library's Searching for your Literature Review Guide for videos and tips.

Find company and industry information

 

Find news media

The Library's News Media Guide provides help searching and evaluating a wide range of Australian and International news media including newspapers, television, radio and media releases. Start your search with:

6. Study help

Visit the Study Help page or explore the report/reflective writing resources below.

Watch the report writing video (2 min 54 sec) below for further advice.

7. Referencing support

Managing your references

What do you do with all those references you have found? Use a bibliographic management software to store, organise and cite your references.

There are many free systems available. The Library supports the bibliographic management tool EndNote. For more information see the EndNote guide.