This guide can be used to help you identify where you can find information for your Team Project. You will likely need to consult resources not mentioned in this guide, however this is a great place to start searching.
1. Begin by scouring the company's website for information:
You may be able to find a lot of the information you need on the company website. Including information about the company's: organizational structure, products and services, history, and current executives. You may also be able to infer a lot about their customers and targeted demographic by analyzing the website.
2. You may also need to search the following "library" resources:
1. Searching online:
Most of you will choose to start searching online for information about your CEO. And for an assignment like this, that works! However, some sources are inappropriate for college-level research (see the note about Wikipedia to the side), so select your open-web sources carefully.
2. Searching library resources:
You can search for your CEO in the library resources listed above. You will likely encounter interview transcripts, articles, mini bios, and more. Scholarly articles may be of special interest to you when you are trying to determine how your leader handled a major challenge, as they will offer you a critical assessment (rather than a flashy news headline).
3. Searching for books:
Consider looking for a book on your leader. When it comes to biographical info, books are a great format. And most biographies will cover the elements you need to cover in your project.
Before you submit your final project, you need to complete a list of the sources you use.
Citing your sources is an important step in any research assignment. It helps your reader see how you are building on the work of others (as opposed to stealing the work of others). It also demonstrates to your professor that you know how to find good information, and that you took the time to thoughtfully complete the assignment.
For the project, you are allowed to choose which citation style you use. But you must use the same citation style throughout the entire project.
You can find resources for helping you cite sources here.
If you neglect to cite your sources (both in-text and in a list of citations), your work is essentially plagiarized. Plagiarism in college is a pretty big deal. It can result in failing the assignment or the course, being reported to Student Conduct, or worse.
Okay, we all use Wikipedia.
And we admit, it has value. However, Wikipedia is NOT a good source for research.
The reason?
Wikipedia is essential crowd-sourced. Anyone can edit an entry (seriously), which means that at any given time, the information may or may not be verifiable. So, it's fine for generating ideas for searching, but it's not the place you get your official information from.
So how can you use Wikipedia for this assignment?
Follow the citations listed in the Wiki entry to the original source, then decide if that original source is legit and suitable for inclusion in your project.
Did you know that you can access the databases at Clarkson University?
All you need to do is take your student ID with you, and ask for guest access at their circulation desk.
Clarkson has a lot of great resources for students in business, you can see a complete list here.
