Our Thoughts on Topic Sources
These are the sources that we suggest (for the last exercise):
- Results of 360 degree performance reviews: Organizations that do 360 appraisals, books on the subject from the local library, the Internet.
- How much succession planning New England farmers have done: We might concentrate our search in agricultural areas of New England. We could talk to farmers, to lawyers, to accountants, and to heirs.
- Efficiency of different types of project management software: Project management organizations, books on each type of software, project managers that use that software, computer or business magazines with reviews.
- Alternative energy sources that your company could use: Energy management organizations, government reports, consumer action groups, scientific studies, think-tank reports on trends and new ideas.
- Safety issues in your workplace: Your organization's safety committee, employees, supervisors, the local safety organization. If comparison information was required, you could extend this to regional and national safety organizations.
- Trends in the shipping industry: Shipping industry organizations, industry magazines, executives, or decision makers in the industry.
In answering the last exercise, you may be thinking that the Internet is a reputable source. It can be, but there is one caveat: one great aspect of the Internet is that it's open to everyone. This means that anyone can create a website in a matter of minutes and post anything they want on it. I could, for example, pretend that I am an important political figure and post radical comments.
If you are going to use the Internet as a reference source, remember these points.
- Make sure you are using reputable websites, with verifiable, reputable sources.
- If you are in doubt of the accuracy of the site, find another way of checking the fact.
- If at all possible, go back to the original source and use it as a reference.
- Always keep notes of the name of the site, the URL, and the date you visited it. You may even want to save a copy of the webpage to your local computer.
Up Next:
Session 4: The Second Stage – Planning