Unraveling the Webs of Social Media: Nathan's Academic Journey into Researching its Impact on South African Businesses

1.1 Academic research is an organized and systematic way of investigating a specific issue or problem and seeking answers to questions specified in advance. It involves a deep understanding of a subject area through extensive study, the evaluation and presentation of theories, principles, and concepts. It's based on evidence and logical reasoning, and the findings should be objective, valid, and reliable. Academic research contributes to existing knowledge and should be properly cited, as it often builds upon the research of others. 1.2 The five steps Nathan would take in his academic research include: - Identifying and evaluating the topic: Nathan has his topic, the impact of social media on businesses in South Africa. He needs, however, to focus his topic further to ensure it's feasible for a research paper and not too broad. - Conducting a Literature Review: Nathan should study scholarly books, papers, and articles about his topic. He must understand the existing knowledge on his topic to identify gaps his research might fill. - Formulation of Research Questions: Based on the literature review, Nathan should develop a clear research question or hypothesis. - Data Collection: Nathan will need to select appropriate research methods to gather data. He might conduct surveys of South African businesses, analyze posts on South African business’ social media pages, and use databases for his research. - Analysis and Interpretation: Nathan will interpret the data based on his research methods. He should draw clear conclusions from his data relevant to his research question. - Writing and Presentation: Nathan drafts his essay, revises, and finalizes it, ensuring to cite all sources appropriately. 1.3 Example bibliographic citation based on APA 7th edition format: AuthorLastName, AuthorFirstName. (Year). Title of the article. Journal Name, Volume (Issue), pages. DOI or URL Please replace the placeholders with the specific information about the journal article. Remember to italicize the title of the journal and the volume number, and include the issue number in parentheses if available. Ensure the author's initials are used, not the full first and middle names. If the article has a DOI (Digital Object Identifier), this should be included at the end of the citation; if not, use the URL of the article.