Research_and_Money_Managment

Researching money management for students. Students today have a plethora of problems to deal with on a day to day basis with some being more important or mentally draining than others. Money management is a large problem with students living on their own for the first time. It can be very confusing researching money management but with the proper technique of gathering and validating information a student’s research can be much less of a burden. There are thousands of different research materials out there on money management and one of the hardest steps is where to start the search. The internet is obviously the largest search engine and resource a student has to their disposal but it can be very hard to find and validate factual information obtaining to your research. Before a student starts there search on the internet for money management help they need to verify they are using an appropriate search engine, technique, and end up a credible site. So if they start their research at a site like http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html (UC Berlkley Library, Tutorial Table of Contents) it will give them directions for searching a credible source. So choosing a search engine like Librarians’ Internet Index they will search for topics like money management for students, money management, or they can break it down into a less robust topic like “budgeting for students”. Once they have found a search engine and searched for their topic they will come to multiple choices for money management. Researching this topic will need to broken down into sub-groups since there is not one great fix for money management problems. A student can research topics like budgeting, credit/debit, or even life events like buying a car or saving for a house. Gathering information on all of these topics will help in their overall goal of effectively managing their money. Once a student has effectively located a search engine, researched the various topics of money management, and gathered information on all of these topics they will then need to validate not only the information is correct but it corresponds to their goals. “Finding information on the Internet is only one part of your research: assessing the quality and timeliness of that information is the other. Not only can it be a waste of time to read through a site and implement the information and suggestions found there, only to later find that they were inaccurate, but such sites may pose a health or safety problem if that information directly affects your health and safety or that of your family, pets, employees, co-workers, or clients.” (Kaplan, Assessing and Validating Information Found on the Internet, par1). Ms. Kaplan’s site also lists a variety of web links to help validate internet related research. The first step in validating research is to double check it came from a quality web page, and again the research library from the University of Berkley has a list of questions to ask to validate a web page. Next try comparing the research found and look for similarities, if all the leading research is saying the same thing about building a budget chances are it is good information. Radical information found on cheap looking or poorly developed sites typically should be stayed away from. Once the research information has been validated and has been determined it fits their financial goals it needs to be implemented. The final step and challenge a student will have in researching money management is to take all of their new information and apply it to their lives. This step can be trickier than finding the information in the first place. Break the information down into sub-groups like what was already done in researching the topic and apply what fits them the most at the time. If they are just starting out in college then follow the information found on building a budget. If they are looking to buy a new car take use the validated information for barrowing. Money management for students is a problem that can be helped by doing a little research and validation. They need to find appropriate web sites with valid information that will help out with their goals to financial success. Once an appropriate site is found and they have used the stated resources to verify the information is good all that is left is to apply it to their daily lives.