UO COMM 2086: Communication and Organisational Practices - Assessment 1: Journal
1. What do you need to do?
This guide will assist you with finding relevant resources for your Assessment 1: Journal.
It also includes guidance on reflective writing.
For full assessment details read the assessment details in your course website and course outline.
2. Plan your search
Before you start searching for academic sources, plan your approach.
Start by:
- Identifying the key concepts to search for your topic.
- Then brainstorm alternative terms that may be used. Consider:
- plurals and various word endings (e.g. work, workplace, workplaces)
- common acronyms (e.g. HR)
- different word spellings (e.g. organisation, organization)
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 causes of workplace miscommunication:
| Key concepts | miscommunication | workplace |
| Alternative terms |
miscommunicated misunderstanding/s communication barrier/s communication distortion/s |
work organization organisation job/s |
Link to Communication Theory
You will need to discuss communication theories in your assignments. Try adding one or more of the following terms to your search:
- The terms: theory OR theories
- The name of a specific theory: "Transactional model" OR "linear model" OR "interactional model" etc.
- The name of a theorist: Lewin OR Lasswell OR Lazarsfeld
Tip: Encyclopedias or handbooks can be helpful in identifying theories or theorists.
More Help
3. Choose where to search
As well as referring to your readings for topics for both assessments you must also find academic sources to support your analysis. Academic sources are sometimes referred to as scholarly or peer reviewed sources (video: 2 min 22 sec).
We recommend searching the following:
| Getting Started | Key databases |
| Library Collection Help | Business Source Ultimate |
| Google Scholar |
More help:
4. How to search
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:
- double quotes (" ") for phrases
- truncation (*) to find the plural and other forms of a word
Connect your terms using AND, OR and NOT
- Use AND to combine different concepts (all terms must appear in results)
- Use OR to combine alternative words (any term can appear in results)
From the results list you can:
- Limit to articles from Peer Reviewed publications
- Limit by Date e.g. 2012 to 2024
- View the full text for many items
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:
- Type each of your different concepts into a search field. Using the connector AND will include both concepts in your search results.
- You can broaden your search by adding synonyms or alternative concepts using the connector OR.
From the results page, the limits menu on the left will allow you to refine by date range and to scholarly (peer reviewed) journals.
Google Scholar searches only within academic or scholarly sites, rather than over the whole internet like a regular Google Search.
Access Google Scholar from the Library website to get full access to articles subscribed to by the Library. View by clicking on the Full-text at UniSA link.
Watch the video: Why use Google Scholar? (2 min 13 sec) to find out more.
5. Write your journal
Once you have all your information it is time to put everything together. The below resources will help you with some specific requirements.
Assessment 1: Writing reflectively
Reflective writing is about exploring your reactions, thoughts and questions to an experience. Watch this video (2 min 15 sec) to learn more.
6. Referencing support
- Referencing website
Help with various referencing styles. Find in-text citations and reference examples from different sources such as articles, books and chapters, websites and more.
Always check your Course Outline or LearnOnline site for the citation style required for your course.
- APA referencingGuidance on APA 7 referencing by the Learning Advisers.
- EndNote GuideWhat do you do with all those references you have found? You can use a bibliographic management software to store, organise and cite your references. The Library supports the bibliographic management tool EndNote. There are also many free systems available.
A Note on Your Textbook Access
The required textbook for this course is:
- Dwyer, J 2020, Communication for Business and the Professions: Strategies and Skills, 7th edition, Pearson Australia, Victoria.
The Library holds an ebook copy of this textbook under a limited user license. This means that only 3 people can access the book at any one time.
To maximise access, download the required chapter to view offline and close the browser. Your download limit resets every 24 hours, so you can then return for more.
Should this access be insufficient, your course coordinator encourages you to purchase your own copy. You can purchase this text directly from Pearson Education.