A library training session was held for the BCom Honours in Marketing Management class of 2019 on 18 February, led by Mr Thulani Mahlangu, the Marketing Management Information Specialist in the Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences Library, to assist students towards the completion of the Research Methodology module. Honours students are required to complete two complementary modules in Semester 1 and 2 respectively.
The Research Methodology module enables students to compile a research proposal which will culminate into a Research Report module, in which students will collect and analyse data to write a research article for examination at the end of the year. Students are working in groups on the broad research theme of mobile marketing, with specific reference to drivers and inhibitors for adopting mobile technologies in various contexts, including mobile advertising, mobile learning, mobile commerce, mobile banking and mobile payments.
As part of the research module, lecturer Dr Michael Humbani organised a training session with Mr Mahlangu to equip the students with the requisite skills needed to initiate and implement effective research studies and to avoid errors commonplace among novice researchers. The primary purpose of the training session was to expose students to the available library resources so that they can utilise these resources to produce quality research outputs.
The training session covered important areas, including a snapshot of all library resources available to students, mobile applications (apps), databases, plagiarism policy, and the Harvard referencing technique as stipulated by the Department of Marketing Management.
The training specifically aimed to assist students in identifying appropriate literature sources for their research projects using keywords, and alert students to the databases available on UP’s website that are relevant to marketing management, such as Google Scholar, Emerald, Springer Link, ProQuest, and EBSCOhost, to mention but a few. Students further learnt how to navigate the University library website in order to access important documents, such as plagiarism policy, Harvard style of referencing and how to change Google settings to access University resources while off-campus.
After the training, students are also able to access e-textbooks and extract relevant chapters from the e-textbook for in-text citation and referencing, and find print books in the library for further reading.
The participatory approach encouraged fruitful interaction among students as they were taken on a tour of the library website, while Mr Mahlangu addressed several questions raised by students adequately. Most importantly, students were taken through the process of downloading a library mobile app and how to practically apply the app. By downloading the app, students can access the library catalogue to search for available print books, order books online, access and view subject guides, library events, and order and renew library resources while off-campus.
The honours students expressed profound gratitude for attending the training session and requested that such training be part of the curriculum for the honours students in all faculties, to assist students in gaining important research skills for a better research career. Students also received a schedule of library training sessions, such as End Note Training, Finding Appropirate Journal, and Academic Writing, which they could attend should they wish to calibrate their research skills and expand their horizons.
The Marketing Management honours class during the library training session by Mr Mahlangu
The Marketing Management honours class during the library training session by Mr Mahlangu
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