2. Who am I ?
Susan Van Alstyne, MLIS
Library Director
Newark Campus Library
sva@berkeleycollege.edu
973-642-3888 x6170
3. Why am I here?
To provide research guidance for
your assignments
This proliferation of information
requires skills to assess and evaluate
the quality of that information
Pay attention
Take notes
Ask questions
Quiz at the end of this presentation !
4. LEARNING
OBJECTIVE
Students will use appropriate
controlled vocabulary to navigate
subject/discipline-specific
databases, identify gaps in
information gathered, and employ
alternative search tools—including
bibliographies and citations to find
additional materials.
6. Assignment
Information you will need:
◦ Find company information
◦ Find business articles
◦ Find data from business websites
*Apply textbook topics to search for
information
7. Assignment
Analysis of ONE VIDEO CASE (found
at the end of the chapters in your
textbook):
Address the questions at the end of the case
Summarize & Expand on the case with articles
presenting key facts of the case
At LEAST 3 Scholarly articles
9 page report
Do not repeat information found in the textbook
Power Point presentation of the report
8. Researching a company
Public companies will have much
more information readily available
than small private companies
What we can learn…
◦ Products and services
◦ Industry and competitor companies
◦ How the company is performing
◦ Current trends with that company
9. Sources of information
Corporate site
Online databases
◦ Business Source Premier
◦ Mergent Online
◦ Plunkett Research
◦ Proquest Central
10. Why should we trust
databases?
The material has been vetted by experts
They often contain peer reviewed journal
articles
They have tools to help refine your search
They are frequently updated
11. Internet searching
Google is a powerful tool but is not
designed for research
Challenge of assessing and evaluating
information
◦ Accuracy
◦ Authority
◦ Objectivity
◦ Currency
12. Corporate website
Type into Google:
◦ Company Name or go directly to
corporate web site
◦ Public companies must communicate with
their shareholders
◦ They are required to publish detailed
information about their company in the
form of 10-K reports, SEC filings and
detailed annual reports
16. Online databases
Berkeley subscribes to over 50 of
these databases
Information found through the
databases is generally more accurate
and trustworthy
They allow you to better pinpoint the
information you need
Several of them are business-centric
Each one has unqiue content and
benefits
17. BUS Databases (some
examples)
Business Source Premier
Datamonitor reports with
SWOT analysis, article
search;
ABI Inform Complete
(ProQuest Central )
Article search
WSJ and NYT
Peer reviewed articles
18. BUS Databases (some
examples)
Plunkett Research
Industry analysis
Professional Associations
Mergent
U.S & international company data and
reports;
Lexis-Nexis Academic
articles, SWOTS, reports, legal
resources.
Reference USA
Local companies / small business
36. Limits
If you are overwhelmed with the number
of hits you can narrow your search to:
◦ Title
◦ Subject
◦ Date of publication
If you don’t have enough articles – use
different search terms (synonyms)
37. So, how do I find my search
terms?
From my textbook
Class notes
From the syllabus or assignment
From the first few articles that I find
Suggestions from the databases
54. Let’s Review
Blackboard
Databases (A-Z or by subject)
ABI Inform Complete
Advanced Search
If two many results - limit your search
by
Title
Date of publication
Format (journals only) etc.
55. Let’s Review
Preview and open the selected article
Notice citation tool
Scroll down to see references
(bibliography, work cited)
Locate your reference using TDNET –
EZ FIND (on library database A-Z)
Search for a journal and within the
journal for the your reference
56. When examining documents
Some things to think about…
Who is the author? Authority
Has the article been peer-reviewed?
Scholarly vs. Popular articles
How old is the information? Date
What is the “point of view”-
Do you think there is bias?
Is it closely related enough to my to my
topic? aka Relevance
57. What Else Have We Learned
here?
TRANSFERABLE SKILLS
How can doing this assignment help you
with
other research assignments in the future?
Let’s talk about this for a while
59. What is the term that implies the ability
to understand and evaluate information?
A. Librarian Skills
B. Information Literacy
C. Comprehensive Research
Knowledge
D. Online Reference Ability
QUIZ
60. Where to look for Datamonitor
reports?
A. Google
B. Reference U.S.A.
C. NYSE website
D. Business Source
Premier
QUIZ
61. When you have too many
articles on your topic how can
you narrow your search ?
A. By title
B. By subject
C. By date of publication
D. All the above
QUIZ
62. Which database will help you find
articles about your cases?
A. ProQuest Central (ABI
Inform Complete)
B. Business Source Premier
C. Lexis-Nexis Academic
D. All the above
QUIZ
63. What’s the name of the library service
that allows you to locate journals
within databases?
A. ebrary
B. Catalog
C. Ez Find (TDNET)
D. All the above
QUIZ
64. To avoid
plagiarismAlways include citations for wording or
ideas if they are not your own
Citations
owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue
University