Business School Research skills
1. Introduction
2. Resources –
Print – using the catalogue
Electronic journals – using Business Source Complete
Electronic books
Databases and news sources – using Nexis UK
Statistics
Business and company information
Government information
3. How to search for information – search strategies
Evaluating results
4. Using your results
Citing correctly and avoiding plagiarism
Managing your research
1. Introduction
Some of the basic questions you need to ask before starting any kind of research are:
• What kind of information do you need?
• What resources are available?
• How to search
Once you have collected your research you need to be aware
• How to evaluate the results
• How to use the results
• How to use your findings ethically and responsibly
And before writing your essay/presentation/dissertation you need to know
• How to communicate or share your findings
• How to use references correctly
What kind of information?
Is it for an essay, a dissertation or a research project?
Should it be up to date (use news sources, articles, business databases) ...
... or a general overview? (use books, journals or encyclopedias)
Remember that not everything is online – you may need to use printed sources too
For a dissertation try checking other library catalogues for more titles – especially
COPAC, the British Library, Library of Congress. These may be available on inter-library
loan. For more advanced research you may need help in finding Theses, either at Exeter
or elsewhere. If you need to look at undergraduate or Masters level dissertations you
should ask in your department for help as these are not held centrally in the Library.
2. What resources are available?
A huge amount of information is available in a range of different formats. The major
formats will be discussed in the following sections but an easy way to carry out a
preliminary literature search is by using Library Article search. The link is in the
middle of the library catalogue search screen. This allows you to search several
collections at once, including our library catalogue and many of our electronic journal
collections. This is a quick way of finding what resources are available for your research.
Print resources
Books and journals are an essential source of information. Whether you are just looking for
texts recommended on reading lists or starting your own research you can find which books
and journals are available in print at Exeter by using the Library catalogue - this allows you to
search by journal title, subject terms, author’s name, etc. as well as the standard keyword
option.
Exeter’s collections contain over 1.2 million printed books spread across our various
libraries. We also have an increasing number of electronic books to cope with the heavy
demand for some of the most popular textbooks and reference works. All of these titles
can be found via the library catalogue.
If you can’t find a particular book you need for your research it may be possible to
borrow it for you through inter-library loans. If you live near another university library
and would like to use its collections as a visitor check the details of the Sconul Access
scheme.
If you need to check the details of a book or to widen your research you can search the
catalogues of most major libraries online.
Electronic journals
Journals or periodicals are published at regular intervals and generally contain articles on
specialised subjects written by academic researchers.
Reading lists and bibliographies will often refer to journal articles. Look at the Reading
Lists tutorial to help you interpret journal article references. Your course module may
have an online reading list (linked from the right hand panel on the ELE pages). This will
help you find the references to books and journals and may include scanned copies of
relevant chapters.
Remember that the library catalogue only gives details of the titles of journals in the
library, not of individual articles. If you are asked to read a specific article, use the
library catalogue and search for the title of the journal, not the article.
Many of the journals are also available online – and sometimes we do not have them in
print. Use the catalogue to find which titles are available. You can follow the link(s) at
the bottom of the page to get access to the full text. It is best to use the catalogue as
some titles may be available on more than one service.
Our main services for electronic journals are:
EBSCO e-journals - this is our main access for electronic journals, but it does
not include access to titles in all the services we subscribe to
JSTOR is an archive service which usually does not have the most current issues
of a journal.
The main services for business journals are:
Business Source Complete It includes over 3,000 titles in full text and also
provides abstracts for articles for which we may not have full text access
ProQuest Business Collection - 6 separate databases, including ABI/INFORM,
which has over 4,000 full text titles
To use any of these services log on to the Electronic Library and select Electronic
journals as a resource type.
It is important to be aware that some titles may be available in print or on different
electronic services depending on the years you require - if in doubt, always check the
library catalogue.
For more information on journals and searching for business articles see the Library's
help pages on journals.
See search catalogue appendix 2:
Electronic books
E-books are electronic versions of the books that you might be looking for in the library
with the advantage that they are always available for you to read onscreen. You can
login via the library catalogue or the Electronic Library (resource type Electronic books)
on and off campus at any time of the day or night.
Books available in this format range from textbooks to reference works like dictionaries
and encyclopedias. They are particularly useful if you want to search through a book, or
only need it for a short extract or a specific chapter.
As far as possible the most popular books on reading lists are now bought as e-books to
make them available to more people; the University has also bought large subject
collections to extend the library’s collections. All individual titles can be found on the
library catalogue, which links to the service providers: the main suppliers used at Exeter
are Dawsonera, MyiLibrary and NetLibrary. If your lecturer has recommended just one
chapter from a book, it is worth checking the online reading list on ELE as the Library
may have scanned it.
E-books are licensed in different ways, depending on the publisher. In most cases
several readers can access the book at the same time, although occasionally use may be
limited to one user at a time. So far our suppliers do not allow books or sections of
books to be downloaded to individual readers, like the Kindle, although this may change.
E-books are designed to be read on the screen – if you want to copy from them
remember that they are subject to the same copyright restrictions as printed books or
journals. In general this means one chapter or 5% of a book (whichever is greater),
although in practice you will be only be able to print up to 10 pages from books on
MyiLibrary.
Databases
Exeter subscribes to a wide range of specialist databases – each has its own strengths
and special features. If you are searching for articles in a range of journals, use online
services like Business Source Complete or ProQuest Business Collection as these
have the text of most of our business and management journals (over 3,000 titles). Most
databases are networked and can be used anywhere: the Electronic Library portal
provides details of each database and links to the service described. It is always best to
use this link as it allows our library system to authorise you as a subscriber.
Bibliographic databases – for general research on books and articles
While library catalogues generally don’t include references to articles, specialist
bibliographic databases like ISI Web of Knowledge allow you to search for details of
books, chapters, articles and conference papers. Some of these databases also link up to
our electronic journal collections. As they cover a wide range of publications you may
find references to items which are not available at Exeter.
Subject databases - for business information
Exeter subscribes to a wide range of databases providing information on different
aspects of business. The most important are:
Business Source Complete – a business research database with the full text of
over 3,000 journals. It also provides books, reports, company and financial data
Factiva - a global news and business information service that combines the
content sets of Dow Jones Interactive and Reuters Business Briefing
Nexis UK (formerly LexisNexis (Business and News) - a comprehensive news,
business and industry information service which is updated daily.
ProQuest Business Collection provides access to a number of databases,
including ABI/INFORM Complete, Accounting & Tax, Banking Information Source,
International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS), ProQuest Asian &
Business Reference and ProQuest Entrepreneurship.
These databases provide more specialised information
CCH Online - online commentaries on accounting and auditing standards with
text and company legislation
FAME UK - information on listed companies in the UK and Ireland
IBFD Tax Research Platform (International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation)
KeyNote -
offers a combination of market research and company information, on
one easy-to-use platform
Morningstar Company Intelligence (formerly Hemscott Company Guru) financial data and analysis for over 300,000 top UK companies
OECD iLibrary has the full text of OECD publications and statistics
Passport - Euromonitor International's global market information database with
business intelligence on industries, countries and consumers
Perfect Information - a financial and capital markets database providing access
to over 14 million global company filings. Our subscription to PI
Navigator includes the two main services: Corporate finance and Perfect filings.
Click on Electronic Library and select resource type Databases or Subject area Business
to see which are relevant to your studies.
See Electronic Library appendix 3:
Newspapers and news sources
Newspapers are useful in researching current issues which may not have been dealt with
by academic writers.
Although the University Library has some newspapers in print, the news database Nexis
UK allow you to search the world’s press in English and many other European languages.
Factiva is a global news and business information service that combines the content
sets of Dow Jones Interactive and Reuters Business Briefing. It also provides access to
the Wall Street Journal.
Digital archives of the Economist (1843-2008), Financial Times (1888-2007), The
Guardian (1821-2003) and The Observer (1791-2003) New York Times (1851-2008) and
the Times (1785-1985) are also available via the Electronic Library ; select Resource
type Newspapers
For more information about news sources see the online guide
See Electronic Library appendix 4:
Other information sources
Statistics
Statistical data are needed for research in many disciplines and can be found both on
subscription databases and free websites. Some of the most important national and
international statistical databases can be searched online via ESDS (Economic and Social
Data Service) and downloaded to use in your own research. International bodies like the
World Bank and the European Union and national governments are also a valuable
source of free information. For details of what major collections can be found free online
see the guide to Statistics
Business information
Business research needs information of many different kinds, including market research,
country and industry profiles.
To find which databases you can use for your research, log on to the Electronic Library
and select subject area Business to see which will be most useful for particular kinds of
research.
Company information
Some of our networked databases are particularly helpful if you want to research
individual companies; see the guide to Researching companies for more details. You may
also need to use the specialist financial databases which only be used in the Business
School.
Government information
Official publications like government reports, statistics and legislation are a valuable
resource for many areas of research. For full details of how to find them in the Library
see the guide to Official publications
European information
Extensive information about the European Union is available free online. See the guide to
Researching EU law and policy
Internet resources
Although Google will help you find an enormous amount of information on the internet
don’t rely on it as it only indexes a small proportion of what is available and does not
evaluate the sources. Internet guides are a good way of finding important and reliable
sources. Recommendations by subject are available on the library’s Business resources
pages and under relevant subjects in the Researching… guides. The Virtual training
suite provides separate tutorials for all academic disciplines. Use the link to find the
tutorial for your subject.
3. How to search for information
Although you can get good results just by using keywords, it is useful to understand why
you may sometimes get too many, too few or irrelevant results.
Every database has different ways of helping you to improve your searches. Most allow
you to customise your search by limiting your results to articles in academic journals, by
publication date, by language, etc. It is worth looking at the help pages provided by
most online services.
Decide on your search terms
Be prepared to change them depending on the results
If you search online, get to know which special features can help you These include
Boolean terms (AND/OR/NOT) – linking your search terms lets you make more
specific searches
Truncation (use the root of a word like ethic* to find variants)
Quotation marks to search for a complete phrase, eg “World Trade Organization”,
“sustainable tourism”
For more details of how to improve your search skills, see the guide to information skills
Evaluating the results
It is important to know how to evaluate the resources you are using, as many of them are
not reliable enough for your research. While Wikipedia, for instance, can provide a useful
introduction to a subject it is not normally acceptable as an authoritative source for academic
essays.
Reliability - Check where the information comes from (government, university, etc)
Level of information – is it written for an academic audience, newspaper or for the
general public? Databases like Business Source Complete and ProQuest Business
allow you to sort out results from academic journals or news sources
Currency - How up to date is the information? It is very important in legal or business
information
Bias – be aware of possible bias from newspapers, political organizations, companies,
pressure groups, etc)
Good online guides are provided by the University of Berkeley in California and Exeter’s
Evaluating websites . Bare bones 101: a basic tutorial on searching the web is a very
comprehensive guide from Beaufort Library at the University of South Carolina.
4. Using the results
If you are using statistical or financial information you may need to use software to
manipulate the results. Various software programs and packages are available through the IT
Department, including SPSS and Excel. Courses may be run within individual departments to
help you to use them. Many other universities around the world also provide free online
tutorials, including
Free and specialised SPSS courses
Using Excel
Using results ethically and avoiding plagiarism
You should always credit other people’s work fully by providing complete references;
this applies even when you are summarising an author’s views
Avoid plagiarism – any quotation should be clearly shown and fully referenced
Respect confidentiality if you have acquired information from private sources
Provide a balanced report if your sources may display bias
Find out which referencing style is used in your department from the student
handbook or find more information here about referencing styles , including online
guides.
See our guide to Interpreting reading lists for help with citations for different kinds of
document.
Communicating your results
Be aware of different styles for different publications – a report in a newsletter or on a
blog can be more informal than a written report or essay; see the Business School
guide on the student intranet.
Network via email, subject groups, blogs, etc to find collaborators or other
researchers interested in the same topics. Our guide to Current awareness will give
you more ideas
Referencing your sources correctly
Always ensure that you keep full details of publications, especially if photocopying – it’s
very difficult to find them afterwards
If you refer to websites, download at least the first page and keep a record of the
URL as web pages frequently move or disappear without warning
If you have used a working paper, conference paper or consultation paper check
before publication that it has not been superseded by a final version. As most
universities now have collections of research material produced by their
academics ("institutional repositories") it is worth using search engines like
BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine based at Bielefeld University in
Germany) or Institutional repository search to search across the full range.
The Business School uses the Harvard style, with some local variations. Make
sure you know how to reference correctly – see University of West of England’s
online guide and the ELE guide
You can save time by using software packages like EndNote (the web version
EndNote Web is free to Exeter students), RefWorks or Reference Manager as a way
of bringing all your research together. Some free services are also available, including
Mendeley. Although these are fairly complicated, help is provided both online – see
the guide to Referencing software - and in courses.
Online help pages are provided by most major databases.
Use library subject guide to Business
Watch the online demos for practical help in using our resources