“IT as an asset for Business Students”

Academic Year 2014

Why IT for Business students?• Helps in studying the course material easily because of fast access. • Studying the subjects with the help of online libraries and dictionaries has made

grasping and increasing the knowledge easy. • World is changing, so is the business world• Helps business personnel in adapting to the new business processes and to predict the

possible impact of new technologies. • Most employers don't have the flexibility to make investments on new staff trainings

and instead, they need graduates who are ready to work on Day 1.• This sector is growing at a fast pace and is creating ample opportunities for deserving

candidates with great pay packages. Now, are you ready for the challenges in this sector?

• E.g. http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/digital-marketing/how-marketing-has-changed/

E.g. 5 ways Marketing has changedMarketing and its tools change so quickly, that your marketing team needs to become a

research department.

What’s important in the cutting edge of

marketing?

Do you know the research on how people actually use

Facebook or any of the other platforms?

Are you aware of cutting edge developments and

case studies on social media measurement?

The changing tools of marketing mean that

your initiatives have to shift.

People use video more to introduce your website,

answer customer questions, and communicate one on one,

you’re not even using the tools to their advantage.

If your focus is totally on words, it’s as if you’re still

sticking a stamp on all your letters and taking them to the

post office.

Your entire business has to change to

accommodate the use of social media.

Today, your company needs to be an open

book.

It’s more important than ever to break down departmental silos

because your customers don’t care and they are

in control now.

Your marketing department needs to become a media and

education department.

Marketing has moved from creating punchy little messages to producing content that moves people over a period of time to make you their

provider of choice.

That means hiring differently, whether they are in house, freelance or

consultants.

Some of these talents include video production, writing, editing of text and

video, WordPress technical skills, analytical skills.

People have changed.

First, they don’t see themselves as passive consumers. They expect to get the attention of someone on Twitter or

Facebook NOW. And if not, they will get the attention of plenty of others

about their problems.

Second, their attention spans are shorter. You can’t just be providing a

wonderful product anymore. You have to use your platform as a business to

make their lives more meaningful.

Third, they don’t see themselves as the targets that marketing people have traditionally seen them as. They see

themselves as people with innumerable options. They’ll call you

when they decide.

Research skills and the importance of IT• Need to show a range of knowledge on different topics• Effective visualization of ideas • Academically – the need to show you possess the ability to

research well and present the research well

E-Research• Web• Online libraries• E-books, E-journals, White papers• Videos• Online surveys

Effective Google Search• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eEN-eXaKYE

Google Scholar

eBook

Academia

YouTube Education• But what to do with the materials

found?• Can we copy everything directly?• Why Paraphrase things?• What to do next?

Referencing

• To support an argument, to make a claim or to provide ‘evidence’• To acknowledge other peoples’ ideas or work correctly • To show evidence of the breadth and depth of your reading• To avoid plagiarism (i.e. to take other peoples’ thoughts, ideas or writings and use them

as your own)• To allow the reader of your work to locate the cited references easily, and so evaluate

your interpretation of those ideas• To avoid losing marks!

Reference list Vs Bibliography

• All the items you have made direct reference to in your essay (by the authors’ name and year of publication).

• Material that has been helpful for reading around the subject but from which you do not make specific reference to in your work.

• Confusingly some people call the ‘reference list’ the ‘bibliography’ (and only use one list). No one is right or wrong in doing either, often institutional convention will determine some aspects of style.

How to present referred material?

• You present material in two main ways:1. Paraphrasing or summarizing text • Most common way to use material. • Putting the ideas into your own words and then stating where that information came

from2. Quoting material directly from its source • Word for word as it was in its original form. • Not to be used often. • Use quotations only when you have to use the text in its original form or for presenting

a longer quote which you use to highlight and expand on ideas or issues in your essay.

How to cite authors?

• The Harvard System (sometimes called the ‘name and date system’)• Incorporated into the text of your work each time you make reference to that person’s

ideas. • This principle applies to any item that you need to reference regardless of what it is or

where it comes from – you need to find the author and date of publication.• Author/originators can be individuals or ‘corporate’. The author and date then become

part of the text of your essay. • Surname(s) only are used; initials are not included. • Names can be used as part of the sentence or placed in brackets with the year

following.

Example

• There are many factors relating to individuals perceived body image. Jones (1993) has suggested that body image is related to self-esteem.

• ... some commentators suggest that body image is related to self-esteem (Jones, 1993), others believe a more complex relationship exists ... (Philips, 1995; Norton, 1999)

• Knowles et al. (1991) showed that polymer ...

How do I use quotations?

E.g. ... whilst it is possible that ‘poor parenting has little effect on primary educational development it more profoundly affects secondary or higher educational achievement’ (Healey, 1993, p.22)

E.g. It was just a fragment, no more than 30 seconds: The Euston Road, hansoms, horse drawn trams, passers-by glancing at the camera but hurrying by without the fascination or recognition that came later. It looked like a still photograph, and had the superb picture quality found in expert work of the period, but this photograph moved!

Walkley (1995, p.83).

What will the reference list look like?

• Everything you cite in your essay will be listed once alphabetically by author (or originator) and subdivided by year and letter, if necessary.

E.g.Adams, P. J. (1995) Mill workers in Lancashire 1845-1875. London: Cambridge University

Press.Knowles, D. (1989) The way forward: historical change and revisionism. Cambridge:

Harvester Press.Salcey, B. (1996) Changes in history. The Guardian. 21st June. p9. Wilkins, R., Menzies, A., Wilder, B. and Priestley, S. (1993) Unearthing the evidence.

Derby: Derbyshire Historical Society.

Is an editor cited like an author?

• Yes. But make sure that it is the editor you are citing as the originator of the text, not one of the chapter writers

• In the reference list you should indicate editorship by using one of the following abbreviations:

Smith, L. (ed.) (1987) Statistics for engineers. London: Helman. Or: Smith, L. and Pearson, D. T. (eds.) Solving problems with algebra. Aberdeen: Falmer.

What do I do if I can’t find a named person?

• Have to use a corporate author• Corporate authors can be:1. Government bodies2. Companies3. Professional bodies4. Clubs or societies5. International organizations

E.g. Institute of Waste Management (1995) Ways to improve recycling. Northampton: Institute of Waste Management.

How to distinguish between two items by the same author in the same year• To distinguish between different articles, letters (a, b, c, etc.) are

used with the date in the text:E.g. ...Johnson (1991a) has progressed both experimental and practical aspects of software technology to the point where they provide a serious challenge to Pacific Belt dominance (Johnson, 1991b)…

What to do if details are not given?

A series of abbreviations can be used and are generally accepted for this purpose:• author/corporate author not given use [Anon.]• no date use

[n.d.]• no place (sine loco) use [s.l.]• no publisher (sine nomine) use [s.n.]• not known use [n.k.]

Example: Book

• Author/editor surname, initials. (Year) Title. Edition. Place of publication: Publisher.• E.g. Orem, D. E. (1991) Nursing: concepts of practice. 4th ed. St. Louis: Mosby-Year

Book.Note:• The title is in italics• The date is the year of publication not printing.• The edition is only mentioned if other than the first.• The place of publication is the City not the Country (normally the first stated).• Authors’ names can be in all capitals or first letter capital then lower case.

Example: E-Book

• Author, initials. (Year) Title [online]. Place of publication: Publisher. Available from: URL. [Accessed date].

• E.g. Hutcheon, L. (2002) Politics of postmodernism [online]. London: Routledge. Available from: http://reader.eblib.com/Reader.aspx?p=181639&o [Accessed: 3rd August 2009].

Example: World Wide Web

• Author/editor, initials. (Year) Title [online]. (Edition). Place of publication: Publisher (if ascertainable). Available from: URL [Accessed date].

• E.g. British Nutrition Foundation (2003) Healthy eating: a whole diet approach [online] London: British Nutrition Foundation. Available from: http://www.nutrition.org.uk/home.asp?siteId=43&sectionId=325&subSectionId=320&parentSection=299&which=1 [Accessed 11th August 2005].

Example: Youtube

• Screen name. Year. Title. [online]. Available from: URL. [Accessed date].• E.g. Leelefever. 2008. Podcasting in plain English. [online]. Available from:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-MSL42NV3c [Accessed 3 July 2008].

What tools do we have to help us?• Presentation (MS PowerPoint)• Reports (MS Word)• Balance sheets (MS Excel)• Surveys (Google docs)• Project Management (Zoho)

PowerPoint Demonstration• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05OW0Ce8rT8

Excel Shortcuts• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wZjkihOvSg

To Set Up Surveys using Google

Follow these 6 steps:1. Enter your Gmail account at http://gmail.com.2. Click on “Documents” link in the upper left.3. Click on “Create new” drop down menu (below

“Google docs” logo). Select “Form”.4. Fill out the form. Click on the “+ Add item” drop

down menu to add items.5. Click “Save” button (upper right).6. Copy URL in browser window (to edit form later) like

this … https://spreadsheets.google.com/gform?key=tXR6fgi_puFw4X8dpY61-kw&hl=en#edit

Word demonstration

Referencing Guide

Questions&

Answers

The Harvard System

Produced byInformation Services

3rd Edition, 2009.