Researching Business Projects

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Researching Business Projects

• Beyond Googling

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Why more than google?

• GoogleNews delivers breaking news but after 1
  day usually have to subscribe to sources
• Google doesnt gate keep so you have to judge
  quality/reliability
• Google results in too many unrelated hits and
  top hits often are bought or inflated by blogs

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3 sources of online research

• Type 1 Popular Pressnewspapers, wire services,
  magazines
• Type 2 Academic/Scholarly Research journals
  publishing research that has been peer reviewed
• Type 3 Statistics and other Numerical Data
  government stats, SEC filings, industry
  profiles, etc.

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Source Type 1Online News Magazines

• The Popular Press helps establish why it is
  important to act now exigency
• NEWS
• LexisNexis Academic
• RDS Business and Industry
• MAGAZINES
• Business Source Premier ebsco

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News in LexisNexis

• Choose LexisNexis Academic from library database
  list
• Try quick search first
• Remember that LexisNexis only retrieves 125 hits
• If want older news or a more precise search go to
  advanced search and change dates

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News in RDS Business Industry

• Choose Business Industry from library database
  list
• Search for a phrase first
• If too broad,
• work on terms
• Limit by company, concept, marketing, industry,
  type of document, product, etc.

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Magazines in Business Source Premier

• Choose Business Source Premier from library
  database list
• Select advanced search
• It has list of contents you can browse or search
  within
• Journals
• Reports
• Magazines
• Industry company profiles

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EXAMPLE Airing of 9/11

• You want to know both sides of indecency
  controversy over airing of 9/11 for the 5 year
  anniversary
• You choose Lexis/Nexis from the databases list
  and search for the keywords9/11indecency

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Airing of 9/11-- 2

• You find news about this as a way to locate the
  parties and controversy
• Next step would be to look up the FCC guidelines

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EXAMPLE Katrina Corporate Aid

• You want to find out about corporate aid for
  katrina
• You choose Business Source Premier from the
  databases list and search for the
  keywordskatrinacorporate aid

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Katrina Aid -- 2

• Your results are on track -- 5 pages -- but
  modest
• You also get some subjects to try for new
  searches
• What else might you try?

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EXAMPLE Popular Press on Women Mobile

• You want surveys of womens use of mobile devices
  discussed in the popular press
• You choose Business and Industry from the
  databases list and it takes you to RDS Business
  and Industry (which gives many searching options)

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Women Mobile--2

• You try some simple termsmobile AND gender
• You want survey results so you pick the document
  type Survey

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Women Mobile--3

• Your results show 27 articles. . .
• they bring up the popular stories
• you want

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Source Type 2 Scholarly Research

• Scholarly Research helps to provide authoritative
  conclusions ethos, logos
• Business Source Premier by EBSCO has
  scholarship and much more
• You can search by keyword, industry, company,
  journal
• You can browse industry profiles, reports, and
  more

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EXAMPLE 9/11 Business

• You are researching the impact 9/11 had on
  American business
• You search Business Source Premier
  using9/11impact
• And find 6958 hits

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9/11 Business Impact--2

• You add Business to the search9/11impactbusines
  s
• And the hits shrink to 1980. . . Still a lot of
  hits

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9/11 Business Impact--3

• You need some journal citations, so you filter by
  academic journals
• 305. . . Thats better
• And the first page looks ok

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9/11 Business Impact--4

• Actually, the academic articles look tough to
  read, so you filter bytrade publications
• 923
• While 923 are way too many, the titles look
  readable, and many are short
• Still need to reduce

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Source Type 3 Online Statistics and other Numbers

• Statistics and Numerical Data are quickly
  accepted ethos, logos
• LexisNexis Statistical --government and other
  statistics
• LexisNexis Academic -- SEC filings legal
• Company information is common in Business Source
  Premier, LexisNexis Academic, and RDS Business
  and Industry

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Statistics in LexisNexis

• Choose LexisNexis Statistical from library
  database list
• Can search tablesabstracts links to other data

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EXAMPLE Computer Use

• You want data on computer use by young people
• You search LexisNexis Statistical for computer
  useby age

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Computer Use Age -- 2

• Results come from the Census Bureau, Gallup, and
  others
• Census numbers are usually accepted
• Dates of surveys may matter
• Dont see a comparison of young and old

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Choosing among Sources

• Consider
• Fit between research and problem
• Reputation of the Sources ethos
• Quality of Content
• Gives new information logos
• Statistics, quotes, /or references backing
• Academic article authoritative conclusions
• If others talk of this piece reputation

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Documentation of Sources

• Keep records of your sources.
• Download/Print articles
• Enter reference for each article in a list of
  references can cut and paste to word file while
  researching