"Current Topics" Research and Writing Instructions

For this assignment, you will find a scholarly journal article on an HR-related topic (Training and Career Development ). When finding articles on line, click on “Peer Reviewed Articles” and full text [PDF is needed for stats tables]. Make sure it contains rigorous quantitative analysis. Structural equation modeling [SEM] is vastly preferred as easier to understand and to present [usually has a diagram]. Use regression analysis if you cannot find anything suitable that uses SEM. Try to avoid experimental design as the stats are far less intuitive and the settings far less realistic.

The choice of a good article is the most important part of this assignment. You must get the article pre-approved by me in person or by email in advance, and meet with me at least twice after you have read it a few times to discuss the statistics. See Step by step instructions for finding your “Current Topics” article for details. In general, you will:

1. Start with a Journal Search [visual review of the Table of Contents within one or more of the following]:
   1. Personnel Psychology [“P-Psych”]
   2. Academy of Management Journal [“AMJ”]
   3. Journal of Applied Psychology [“JAP”]
   4. Human Resource Management Journal [“HRMJ”]
2. A Journal Search is by far your best bet for finding a usable article, and will help acquaint you with research topics/areas of which you may not have been previously aware [that’s why we’re doing this!]; if and only if you cannot find something recent and of practical value related to your area with a journal search, you can try a Database Search [electronic Google-type search using topic search terms that cut across multiple sources]. Either way,
3. Try very hard to find an article from one of the journals on my above list before defaulting to other sources
4. Make sure the article’s publication date [vs. journal copyright date] is within the last 5 years for current developments
5. Make sure the article contains actual quantitative data and performs statistical analysis [i.e., SEM or regression] on that data
6. Make sure the data [vs. the article] are not too old or irrelevant context [e.g., surveys workers in a 1985 Yugoslavian manufacturing plant]
7. Make sure you can extract a specific, practical, non-obvious take-home message that adds value to our knowledge of good HRM [Hint: If your take-home message is little more than a Bus150-level platitude that cannot survive the question “What would you pay a consultant for this advice?” you should keep looking!]
8. When sending articles for possible approval, do not send me more than one article at a time; you are the one who needs to apply these criteria before asking me to confirm that the article is ok. Reread the criteria above and reevaluate your article one more time before sending it to me for approval. You have an absolute maximum of 3 chances to get an article approved, so make your choices count! Follow these directions carefully. Then see me during office hours or after class to let me help you understand what you’ve got.
9. PDF is required; if you forward an article by email from a library database or other source, make sure YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS is included. Copy yourself with the message so you can tell if it’s gone through with the attached article. Don’t forget to include your topic area in the subject line and a proposed take home message in the body of the email so I can tell if the article is relevant. Emails that do not meet these requirements will not be responded to.
10. (the purpose to find this article is to written a formal paper on it。 Use the following format: Major research issue dealt with, summary of previous research on the topic [what we knew and didn't know before; the gap to be filled by this research], why the issue is important to contemporary organizations and HRM, how the research was designed and conducted, the results (see me twice for help on the statistics tables, but the narrative results or discussion are key to understanding the research), and, most importantly, a specific, useful, non-obvious take-home message for managers and HR professionals for improving employment practices overall. Attach hard copies of your article.）

Step-by-Step Instructions for Finding your “Current Topics” Article

Journal search* [highly recommended and preferred]:

1. Go to the joint library portal at http://www.sjlibrary.org/ and click on “San Jose State University library” in the lower right corner
2. Click on “Journal Titles” and enter the name of the journal you would like to search where it says “Find online journals by title” (e.g., Personnel Psychology, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Human Resource Management Journal, etc.)
3. Hit “Go” and then click on one of the database sources for the journal shown in the results (e.g., Business Source Complete)
4. Click on one of the years at the far right to open the journal Table of Contents for that year; then click on one of the issues within that year to see what sort of research areas are being explored in our field. Continue this process chronologically until you find an article of interest that you think fits in your topic area
5. You can also try “Search within this publication” on the upper left of the database page for that journal and use normal search techniques to find something in your topic area; however, you may miss newer research that uses terminology you haven’t thought of yet, which is why the previous method is recommended
6. Take care that any article you find is actually in this journal [vs. containing the journal’s name in the references and therefore coming up in your search], and that it otherwise meets the criteria for the assignment in terms of recency, quantitative research methods, and a usable take-home message for HR practice
7. Email me the article [one at a time] as a pdf attachment and include your proposed take-home message [if you can’t extract one, find a different article!]
8. Make sure to cc yourself via email to make sure the article comes through, and that you are not just attaching a link to the library that won’t work for me

Database search* [backup only]:

If and only if you cannot find a suitable article in one of the preferred journals should you default to a general database search

1. Go back to the library portal at http://www.sjlibrary.org/ and click on “San Jose State University library” in the lower right corner as before
2. Click on “Articles and Databases” in the upper right corner
3. Click on “Business” in the left-hand column
4. Click on one of the databases shown (e.g., Business Source Complete)
5. Click the boxes for Full text, Article, Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Journals, and Academic Journal, then select the appropriate date range for the assignment
6. Enter search terms appropriate to your topic area at the top of the page and hope for the best; however, you will soon see that there are a lot of journals out there that do not meet our requirements in terms of quality,recency, quantitative research methods, and a usable take-home message for HR practice
7. Read the article carefully before sending it to me; if it is not in one of our preferred journals, I will exercise much stricter scrutiny before giving the go-ahead

*Please follow directions carefully; emails containing more than one article at a time or an article but no proposed take home message will be ignored. Good luck!