Newspaper, popular magazine articles and trade publication* (trade magazines/ trade journals) are not academic sources as they are not peer-reviewed. However, they can be reliable/credible sources that you can use in your assignments.
*Trade publication: contain articles written by professionals to provide practical information and to promote education and skills within a particular trade or industry and are available in paper and/or online format.
Source: https://libguides.colostate.edu/howtodo/scholarlyvspopular
To learn more about how to Evaluate Sources, see this library tutorial.
To understand What's a scholarly source, watch this video.
Your assignment rubric often informs you of the types of sources required to support your research. Check with your lecturer if you are not sure which sources are appropriate.
Types of sources include:
For more information, see this library guide on Information Search Process.
Scholarly (also called academic, peer-reviewed, or refereed) sources are in-depth and well researched, written by experts in a particular field. Scholarly sources usually include books, journal articles, conference papers and reports.
To understand more about What's a scholarly source, watch this video.
When a source has been peer-reviewed, it has gone through the process of evaluation from a panel of other professional experts in the field. Peer-reviewed sources are therefore considered more reliable compared to other sources, such as newspaper articles.
Examples of peer-reviewed sources include journal articles and conference proceedings.
You can apply C.R.A.A.P Test to evaluate the credibility of a website.
Suggested questions you can apply:
For more questions of the test, see guide on Evaluation Criteria.
‘Com’ means ‘commercial’. Therefore, .com websites are used for commercial, for-profit companies that aim to generate profit from advertising or selling goods and services. These websites often contain information for business purposes, not for academic purposes.
Academic sources are OFTEN peer-reviewed. Therefore, a peer-reviewed source is an academic source, but an academic source is not necessarily a peer-reviewed source.
Not all the resources in the databases are academic/scholarly. Some databases provide both academic and popular sources, such as videos, images, and newspaper articles. When searching in library databases, you may apply filter ‘peer-reviewed’ articles to get academic/scholarly materials.
You can use UlrichsWeb Global Serials Directory (log in with your RMIT account when required) to check peer-reviewed status of a journal in three steps:
If the icon is absent, it means the journal is not peer-reviewed.
For more support, book a Consultation with a Librarian.
Not all results in Google Scholar are peer-reviewed/scholarly as Google Scholar doesn’t have the option to filter peer-reviewed articles. You can double-check the articles using Library Search.
To understand more about What's a scholarly source, watch this video.
To reference multiple images on one page, students can use the moodboard format.
To create full citations, go to the online referencing guide EasyCite or RMIT Havard referencing printable guide.
Works in the original language (non-English)
To reference sources you read in a language other than English, follow the referencing requirements for the type of source you used (e.g., newspaper article, website, book, journal article).
For further support, book a consultation with a librarian.
The Appendix includes any documentation that has not been incorporated in the text but is relevant at some point in the text. This may include:
To create Appendices:
Notice: Appendices usually appear after the reference list. If you are not sure what is expected in your course work, check with your lecturer.
Sources:
Report writing process (RMIT – Study and Learning Center)
Australian Government Style Manual (AGSM)
To reference translated works:
E.g., Backman F and Hall F (2015) A man called Ove: a novel (Koch H and Zimmer K trans), Washington Square Press, New York.
To reference pen names (or author’s name of a newspaper article without full name) and pseudonyms:
To reference screenshots from YouTube videos:
For further support, book a consultation with a librarian.
LinkedIn Learning courses are considered online videos.
To reference a LinkedIn Learning course:
For further support, book a consultation with a librarian.
To include a survey in your report, create an Appendix for the survey to save space of your report.
Sources:
Australian Government Style Manual (AGSM)
Notice: Appendices usually appear after the reference list. If you are not sure what is expected in your course work, check with your lecturer. For your own unpublished work, it is not necessary to give a full citation in the reference list.
For further support, book a consultation with a librarian.
If the author's name is an organisation, you can use the shortened name form for your in-text references in parentheses if the organisation uses it regularly and it has become commonly accepted.
E.g., 'WHO' rather than 'World Health Organization'. This saves you space. The full name is provided in the reference list.
Include both the abbreviated (shortened name) form followed by the full version name in brackets.
E.g., Malnutrition, as well as the supply and provision of food worldwide, have worsened on account of COVID-19 and climate change (WHO 2021).
References:
WHO (World Health Organization) (2021) WHO accelerates work on nutrition targets with new commitments, WHO website, accessed 9 December 2021. https://www.who.int/news/item/07-12-2021-who-accelerates-work-on-nutrition-targets-with-new-commitments
An interview is considered personal communication.
To reference an interview:
Tips: To save space, you can create an Appendix to include the full interview into your report. To see the instruction for Appendix, go to the Search box (🔍) on the top left and search for "Appendix".
For further support, book a consultation with a librarian.
Illustrations you create are not usually referenced.
However, a caption such as ‘Figure 7: Photograph by author’ or ‘Figure 11: Initial sketches’ might be appropriate when other illustrations in your assignment are referenced. Check your lecturer’s requirements for any exceptions of format.
Make sure you refer to the figure in your writing and include the figure number. This can be in the sentence or in parentheses, for example (see Figure 1).
Captions (Own work) rule
Figure number: Description or explanation
E.g., Figure 1: Author’s photograph
Figure 2: Initial sketches of the design
Notice: For your own unpublished work, it is not necessary to give a full citation in the reference list.
For film titles
After the first mention, you can abbreviate the title as long as it makes sense. You can also omit the date in parentheses. This often happens with well-known and longer titles because it improves the flow of the text.
E.g., Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) continues to be a popular film. Joan Lindsay wrote the story that formed the basis for Picnic.
Source: Australian Government Style Manual (AGSM).
For other types
Full title citations are recommended. Check with your lecturer if there are exceptions for your course.
For further support, book a consultation with a librarian.
Commonly, RMIT Harvard referencing style is applied to courses offered at RMIT Vietnam University. However, depending on your course’s requirements, lecturers decide the referencing style that can be used.
Please check with your lecturer to make sure you are using the right referencing style.
Notice: RMIT Harvard style is different from other universities’ Harvard styles.
Edited books are books that include chapters written by different authors.
How to find book chapters:
For more information, watch this video.
To include words in your search terms, use AND between keywords. E.g., Vietnam AND “bottled water”
To exclude words, use NOT. E.g., drinks NOT beers.
To find alternative terms, use OR. E.g., bushfires OR "forest fires"
The more alternative terms you use, the larger the number of references you retrieve.
Note: AND, OR, NOT are called Boolean operators, and need to be written in capital letters.
For more information on search tips, see this library guide.
To search for peer-reviewed sources, you can try these ways:
For more information, see these library guides Scholarly Source and using Google Scholar.
How to find books:
For more information, watch this video.
To find industry/company information, you can search in these library databases:
For more information, see the Industry and Company Information subject guide.
For further support, book a Consultation with a Librarian.
Market vs. Industry Reports
The terms are often used interchangeably but market and industry reports have different focuses.
Market Reports
Industry Reports
Source: Stanford Business School
For more information, see these subject guides:
Marketing & Martket Research and Industry & Company Information.
Webpage documents: documents written in HTML and can be viewed in any web browser.
Reports: are organised around concisely identifying and examining issues, events, or findings that have happened in a physical sense, such as events that have occurred within an organisation, or findings from a research investigation. A report should have a pre-defined structure, independent sections, and reaching unbiased conclusions.
Newspaper articles: typically report news on a wide variety of topics. Most newspapers are divided into sections. Typical sections include national/international news; local news; sports; entertainment/amusements; classified advertisements; and neighbourhood news.
Sources:
Javatpoint https://www.javatpoint.com/what-is-a-webpage
Massey University https://owll.massey.ac.nz/assignment-types/what-is-a-report.php
University of North Florida https://libguides.unf.edu/articletypes/newspaper
You can search for mentions of a company’s suppliers in newspapers, business magazines, trade publications, or check sources such as company annual reports.
Some library databases you can search for include:
Please note: most companies consider information about suppliers confidential and do not publish this information. You may expand your keywords to search beyond suppliers and supply chain. For example, you can search for new contracts, partnerships, distributors, purchasing, procurement, outsourcing, logistics and operation management.
For more information, see the Industry and Company Information subject guide.
For further support, book a Consultation with a Librarian.
Euromonitor International is an international provider of strategic market research.
RMIT Library provides access to one of Euromonitor’s databases: Passport.
To access Passport:
Tip: see Passport Help and Guide Videos for efficient searches.
For more information, see the library website Databases.
To access Statista off-campus:
1. Create an account on statista.com/register:
2. If you already have an account:
For further support, contact us at library@rmit.edu.vn or use the Chat service.
To access WGSN:
Search for ‘WGSN’ on the library website, or via this link.
First time users:
Returning users:
WGSN account expires every 90 days. When your account is expired, you can reactivate your account while ON CAMPUS.
For off-campus support, contact collection.support@rmit.edu.au
Yes. Visit the library website and search for the database name in the search box e.g., EBSCO, ProQuest, JSTOR. Under ‘Online Access’ option, select the link to the database, then log in to access the database off-campus.
Not all the resources in the databases are academic/scholarly. Some databases provide both academic and popular sources, such as videos, images, and newspaper articles. When searching in library databases, you may apply filter ‘peer-reviewed’ articles to get academic/scholarly materials.
If you can’t get full-text access to the articles that you found, try these options:
For further support, contact us at library@rmit.edu.vn or use the Chat service.
LinkedIn Learning is an online learning platform which provides video courses by experts in business, creative, and technical skills. LinkedIn Learning is different from LinkedIn, which is a social media platform for professionals.
You can access LinkedIn Learning through this link or search for ‘LinkedIn Learning’ via the Library website.
Note: you can choose the option ‘Sign in with your organisation account’ and use your RMIT credentials to log in. You can keep your LinkedIn account and LinkedIn Learning account separate.
You can use UlrichsWeb Global Serials Directory (log in with your RMIT account when required) to check peer-reviewed status of a journal in three steps.
For support, book a Consultation with a Librarian.
The Library provides access to a range of newspapers and magazines. To access, you can search for the name of the newspaper/magazine using the Library website. Harvard Business Review magazine can be accessed through the library database EBSCO via this link.
RMIT Library has subscribed for over 600 databases of which users can find ebooks, journals, news, data, videos and images. You can find further instructions on searching for resources on your topics through the library website.
RMIT Library holds about 500,000 ebooks of various topics in databases. You can access the list of RMIT ebooks through RMIT Library collection guides.
You can access full text articles in Google Scholar by connecting Google Scholar with your RMIT library account. There are two ways to connect Google Scholar with your RMIT library account.
Option 1: Via the library website
This option gives you access to full text articles from the RMIT University Library databases straight from your search results list.
Go to Google Scholar (no access to Google account).
Option 2: Direct access in Google Scholar
From the Google Scholar menu:
The search results will now show the selected articles in our collections with links to FindIt@RMIT.
Go to Google Scholar (with access to Google account).
For further support, book a Consultation with a Librarian.
Not all results in Google Scholar are peer-reviewed/scholarly as Google Scholar doesn’t have the option to filter peer-reviewed articles. You can double-check the articles using Library Search.
To understand more about What's a scholarly source, watch this video.
For some Google Scholar tips, check this link.