For Assessment 1, you are asked to produce an essay using information gathered from an interview you have conducted with a human resource manager.
This guide will assist you with finding relevant ideas, facts and concepts within academic sources for your Assessment 1: Essay. It also includes guidance on interviewing and essay writing.
Note: For full assessment details read the assessment details in your course website and course outline.
For this assessment, you are asked to produce an essay using information gathered from an interview you have conducted with a human resource manager. You are also instructed to read the document 'Things to think about' in your learnonline site to help you plan a rough set of questions.
See below resources to help you prepare and conduct a research interview:
Before you start searching for academic sources, plan your approach.
Start by:
A mind map or table can be a good strategy for organising ideas. As you search you will identify more terms which you can add to the table.
In this example, we explore COVID-19 AND human resources:
Key concepts | COVID-19 | Human resources |
Alternative terms |
COVID coronavirus "coronavirus disease" pandemic |
HR "human resources management" HRM "personnel management" |
Once you've identified your business and/or HR issue, you can then search for literature review materials.
Then link to Strategic Human Resources Management (SHRM) approaches
You should discuss SHRM approaches/perspectives. Try adding one or more of the following terms to your search:
Tip: Encyclopedias or handbooks can be helpful in identifying SHRM approaches/perspectives.
As well as referring to your readings for ideas, facts and concepts for this assessment you can also find academic sources to support your report. Academic sources are sometimes referred to as scholarly or peer reviewed sources. Watch this video (2 min 22 sec) to learn about scholarly sources.
Tip: Googling is not considered as a legitimate search method for this assignment nor is it a substitute for reading relevant course material.
We recommend searching the following:
Getting started | Key databases |
Library Collection | Business Source Ultimate |
Scopus |
The guide below can help you to determine whether a resource is scholarly:
The Library Collection is a useful starting point for locating academic references. It contains books, DVDs, journal and newspaper articles and more.
To perform a search, add:
Connect your terms using AND, OR and NOT
For example, a search for: "human resources" AND COVID-19
From the results list you can:
More help:
Business Source Ultimate provides information covering all areas of business including accounting and finance; banking; finance and insurance; construction; computer science; economics and more.
How to search Business Source Ultimate:
From the results page, the limits menu on the left will allow you to refine by date range and to scholarly (peer reviewed) journals.
Scopus is one of the largest multidisciplinary bibliographic databases. Scopus covers peer reviewed journals, trade journals, books and book chapters, conference papers and patents. Material chosen for inclusion meets strict selection criteria such as type of peer review and significance to the field.
Watch this video tutorial (3 min 10 sec) on the Scopus website to learn how to conduct a basic search.
Once you have all your information it is time to put everything together and write your essay.
Study Help is an online hub packed with resources to help with assignments and study skills. Watch the short video (2 min 22 sec) below on writing an essay.
When you have finished preparing your assignment, you will need to cite your references using the APA 7 style.