Listen to a conversation between a student and her economics professor.

S: I know we're all supposed to research the economy of whatever country we were assigned, but I'm still not sure how...

P: Not sure how much research to do? As much as you need to develop a deep enough understanding to discuss your country's economy in class authoritatively. This will enable us to see the interplay of various national economies with regional economies and the world economy.

P: Now, yes, there's a great deal of information available online. That's why I split the assignment into different parts. You begin by simply collecting fundamental information about your country: population statistics, natural resources, leading industries. What country were you assigned again?

S: Australia. And I got all that info already.

P: Okay, good. So from here, you start looking at Australia's economic history and economic development. This is where it gets a bit trickier to find good information. So I listed a couple of possible resources in your syllabus.

S: I guess I must have missed those. It just seems like when I started looking for the demographic data, I kept running into conflicting information. I eventually found official numbers on government websites.

S: But I can only imagine what will happen when I start researching the, the less clear cut issues, such as Australia's economic history. I've taken a lot of history courses, and historical information always seems to vary, depending on the writer's politics, gender, the time in which he or she lived.

P: I know that can be challenging, but being able to sift through different sources and make judgments about their reliability and relevance is an integral part of the learning process. It's all about developing your critical reasoning skills, which is listed on the syllabus as an objective for this class.

S: I'm still not totally sure how to go about it.

P: Have you tried the library? Librarians are experts at pointing you in the right direction, helping you evaluate which sources to use. And I know the university library subscribes to various economics journals, so ask about those too. Quite frankly, you shouldn't have any problems finding what you need.

S: I guess. But it just seems like, you know, people who got smaller countries, well, it'll be easier for them, like the guy sitting next to me, got New Zealand, which has only a fifth of the population of Australia.

P: I can see why you might think that way, but a smaller country's economy might be as complex as a larger country's, and economic theories are abstract no matter the country. So everyone's dealing with the same level of complexity as far as theory is concerned. Plus, we're not concerned with geography or cultural diversity. And as I said, I want you to approach your assignment incrementally, no one expects you to become an expert right away. That'll happen as the course progresses.