You may be assigned a research project in one of your Business classes, and the library has many resources to help you choose a topic and find supporting evidence. As you begin, consider that research in this subject area will require persistence and creativity. Proprietary information is not always available online (i.e. business models, organizational charts, supply chains, production costs). You will need to find related and relevant information to make inferences about your topic.
This guide will cover how to search the library databases, trade publications, and company or government websites.
Form a Search Strategy
The library's Business databases contain scholarly articles, e-books, newspaper articles, business reports, and even film clips. Determine what type of information you are looking for to get started. Below is just a sampling of the resources you may use.
Company Profiles & Investment Research
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Business Insights: Global
Some full-text of journals, business case studies, company and industry profiles, products and brands, financial reports, and company rankings 1980 to present.
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EDGAR Full-text financial and operations information for foreign and domestic companies. Includes registration statements, prospectuses, recent corporate events, and periodic reports filed on Forms 10-K and 10-Q.
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LexisNexis Academic (now Nexis Uni)
Some full-text of news, magazines, company profiles, market reports, SEC filings, country information, biographies, and legal cases. Includes Shepard's Supreme Court citation service, tax materials, and patents.
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Value Line Investment Survey Full-text company, market, and investment information with current stock figures and projections.
Demographics & Statistical Data
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AtoZdatabases Business profiles; demographics; reverse phone book; sales leads; mailing lists; company corporate structure. Search for a job, business, person, executive, or property. Also, tips on interviewing and writing a cover letter or resume.
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Bureau of Labor Statistics
Provides statistics on labor force demographics, consumer spending, wages and earnings, and occupations
Research in Organizational Culture or Management
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Academic Video Online: Premium (AVON)
Streaming videos with responsive transcripts 1890s to present. Previously named VAST.
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Business Abstracts with Full Text
Some full-text of journals, magazines, product evaluations, interviews, biographies of business professionals, corporate profiles, statistical rankings, and reports 1981 to present. Includes images.
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Business Collection (previously General Business File ASAP)
Some full-text of journals, magazines, ebooks, company analysis, industry events and trends, investment reports, directory listings, news, and biographies of business professionals 1980 to present.
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Films on Demand
Streaming videos with responsive transcripts 1990 to present.
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Global Issues in Context
Some full-text of journals, magazines, news, primary sources, country information, reference articles, and statistics 1900 to present. Includes images, maps, and videos.
Refine Your Search Skills
You may need to extend your search to the internet or use the library's OneSearch if you don't find what you are looking for in the databases above.
Try searching for exact phrases by using quotation marks around two or more words that belong together (i.e.: "organizational leadership skills").
Revise your search terms:
- What are similar (synonym) words that describe what you are looking for?
- Try several searches using different combinations of these synonyms.
- Are you looking too narrowly? Try searching on a broader industry category such as those used for NAICS Codes from the US Census Bureau.
- What is a similar company, product, or marketing strategy on which you can find information? Use what you find for leads to other resources or to make inferences.
Using library databases or OneSearch:
- Use an asterisk "*" to search for all alternate endings of a word (supported by most databases) e.g. manag* (will return management, manager, managed, etc)
- Use the filter features in your search results list (try limiting to just "Trade Publications" or to certain years)
- Search by NAICS Code
Using Google search engine:
- Target your search by type of website for more credible results (i.e.: site:gov AND export -- gives results for "export" from only US government websites)
- Use the Advanced Search or Tools to narrow down your results by time period.
