| Finding Relevant Sources: Explain why this source is relevant for your writing purpose. 250-350 words | This source is relevant because it highlights the benefits of cross-cultural competencies in global contexts, which is the key purpose of the paragraph. Moreover, the benefits the article mentions relate to people’s effectiveness in unfamiliar contexts, which is important for my point that global business operations are often in unfamiliar contexts and companies require employees to be effective there. The authors review research in the area to summarise these benefits of cross-cultural competencies. The quotation i use is the main idea from different studies rather than a subjective opinion or a result of a study in one context. I will discuss the importance of personal effectiveness, relationship management and business demands (or the organisation goals, as i call it), and this quotation highlights the effects of cross-cultural competencies on all these areas, and so is very relevant for introducing these topics as well as supporting this point. My previous paragraph highlighted challenges of current global business contexts, and this one introduces something hr management can offer to overcome these challenges. After this paragraph, i identify hr managers’ most effective strategies to improve cross-cultural competencies in an organisation, and therefore it is important to clearly show the reasons why it is important to improve. The most important reasons that this source is credible which makes the content relevant for my purpose is that it gives an up-to-date overview of research into cross-cultural competencies within the area of business. The article’s introduction and literature review have a similar purpose to my paragraph: showing the importance of cross-cultural competencies. One of these points was on the topic of human resource management, which is my focus, and the others were on culture and education, which suggests that the theories discussed here are respected in other fields. Therefore, i think this source is relevant for my purpose. |
| Using Sources Effectively: Explain how you used the source to enhance your writing*. * Enhance your writing includes how your writing allows the source to perform a useful function in the paragraph, and possibly beyond the paragraph. You might refer to the structure of the paragraph you wrote, and state why the way you used it enhances the meaning you want to communicate. 250-350 words | I think i used this source effectively: it is carefully referenced, where i used a quotation as an accurate way of communicating the input from the source as it makes my meaning clear. The source is quoted, and the same words as the authors used are inside quotation marks (“cross-culturally competent individuals can effectively manage themselves, their relationships, and their business demands while in an unfamiliar cultural context”) to show these are their exact words, because i did not want the meaning to change. This selection was a precise way because i wanted to express the main ideas carefully and did not want any ambiguity. The use of the source is effective, because the main point about what cross-culturally competent individuals can do contains important words for my points that follow. The authors’ claim was similar to my point. One example is the phrase “an unfamiliar cultural context” which is important for my writing and that is why i used this source to show what hr managers should consider (not a small possibility of success, but a clear ability), in relation to the global business environment, which contains many “unfamiliar cultural contexts”. I also used this effectively because i use each part of the quotation and later used other pertinent sources in my writing as i believed this showed different perspectives or views. For example, the paragraphs that follow focus on the different areas of effectiveness, but i also support each area in the following sentences, to explain, with other sources as support, why it is important to consider each area for businesses. I use legg (2009) to show that employees need to be able to manage themselves, as it is harder for businesses to manage the employees internationally, and i use hall (2015, p. 112) to show that cultural issues exist for businesses in communication and operational choices (which link to “relationships” and “business demands” in the quotation). The quotation adds the main content of the paragraph, which i explain below it, and introduce above it, both in my own voice. The conclusion of the paragraph is effectively supported and reached by this quotation. |
EXAMPLE 2
| Finding Relevant Sources: Explain why this source is relevant for your writing purpose. 250-350 words | The article is relevant as it introduces and supports my main topic in the paragraph, which, in my essay, is also one of the main strategies of addressing risk in the e-commerce market for luxury fashion brands. The risk i identified in the previous paragraph was that expensive online transactions are perceived as risky and can reduce purchase intention online, which links to the strategy that this source suggests of providing visible security notices and assurance seals to reduce perceived risk. This study is not perfectly relevant for my exact point, as it is not researching luxury brand fashion, and does not mention other research that looks at this industry. It does, however, provide an overview of research in the area of risk and e-commerce to show that high-cost transactions are associated with greater risk, and reduced purchase intentions online, and that security seals and security notices have overcome these issues in a number of other industries. The fact that they mention a range of industries and researchers shows that the point affects different products and transactions, and is relevant for high-fashion retailers to consider. I also use other sources to show that this issue exists for luxury fashion brands, and other industries with similar priced products are seen as high risk transactions online. These other sources show that my main ideas, taken from this article, are supported (that luxury fashion brands face risk online and that this is a good strategy for dealing with that risk). |
| Using Sources Effectively: Explain how you used the source to enhance your writing*. * Enhance your writing includes how your writing allows the source to perform a useful function in the paragraph, and possibly beyond the paragraph. You might refer to the structure of the paragraph you wrote, and state why the way you used it enhances the meaning you want to communicate. 250-350 words | I chose not to paraphrase a sentence from the text, which is clear from the fact that the article states “there appears to be an association between assurance seals and risk perception”, whereas my sentence states “these have been found to reduce consumer perceptions of risk in cases where high-risk perception is likely.” I believe that this paraphrase still effectively shows that the article made the point that the “association” they mention means that it reduces the perceived risk for high-price products, so it communicates the idea of the source without using the same words, making it an effective paraphrase. For my purposes, i use my own voice to explain the value of security notices and assurance seals. Therefore, it is appropriate for me to state what they wrote in clearer terms for my purpose, which is to point out the positive role of security notices and assurance seals on high-value purchases in the luxury fashion e-commerce context. I use this source effectively because it supports my main solution to the issue of risk perception in high-fashion online purchases (security notices and assurance seals). I show it is an important point because this is mentioned in the first sentence of the paragraph and the last concluding point. I also build supported ideas before it by showing, with support, that fashion high fashion has issues with purchase intention online, and i suggest why in my own voice, as i could not find clear evidence that it is because of perceived risk. I support my claim that the issue might be risk by showing, with support, that other industries have had problems with e-commerce because products with similar prices have been perceived as risky purchases in the online context. I conclude these points with “therefore, online purchases of high-fashion products could be perceived as risky”, which introduces the point that i use the source for well. The final sentence links the use of all sources together. The issue with purchase intention that high-fashion brands face could be because of perceived risk, and perceived risk could be reduced by using this strategy. I think it is clear, and i use sources that research a range of industries alongside a source that researched fashion e-commerce to make an interesting and original point. I think this leads to an effective conclusion to the essay, and i then go on to offer another strategy for improving luxury fashion’s e-commerce performance. |
