Principles of Marketing BUS 230 Professor Wolff

Accessing Library Resources from Off-Campus

Users must go through the library's main web page to access the library's resources from off-campus.

Reference Books and Electronic Reference Sources

Reference resources can give a general overview or introduction to a topic or help define terms. Also, business reference resources are extremely important in providing a variety of data like statistics, historical charts, industry overviews and company histories. Below is just a sample of what the Reference Collection has to offer.

Company Information

Company Histories, vols. 1 - 67, R338.74 I61
Quarterly and Yearly Financial Reports, Academic Universe (Lexis/Nexis) - select "Business", then "SEC Filings & Reports"

Industry Information

Statistical Abstract of the United States, 2004-2005, R317.3U58s 2004/05
Demographics USA (by City, Zip Code or County) R336.973 D383...
Markets of the United States for Business Planners, R330.973 M345 1996
United States Census - www.census.gov
CIA World Fact Book - A resource for international demographics.

Finding an Article

Each of the following databases are helpful for finding magazine/journal articles on a company, an industry or a product:

* Business Source Elite
* ABI/INFORM
* Academic Universe (Lexis/Nexis) - select "Business"
* WilsonSelectPlus
* Academic Search Elite

Each of the following are helpful for finding Business-related newspaper articles:

* Academic Universe (Lexis/Nexis) ~ clicking the News link accesses a variety of newspapers.
* Wall Street Journal ~ not available off-campus.
* Chicago Tribune ~ not available off-campus.
* Regional Business News
* Other Electronic Newspapers

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The database doesn't offer full-text for the article that I want. Now what??

The Elmhurst College Library offers articles in a variety of formats. If you can't find the full text article in a database, use the information from the citation and the following tools to find the article:

You can also call (630) 617-3173 or email the Reference Department to inquire about a specific title or ask a question.

If you cannot find an article at the College Library, you can request it through our online Interlibrary Loan article request form.

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Finding Company Web Sites

Not all search engines function the same. Reading the "help" or "tips" screens will help you understand how a search engine functions and how to create the most effective searches. Does your search engine allow the use of ...?

* Boolean operators AND, OR and NOT
* Quotation marks " " or other symbols to keep words in a phrase in order ("kraft foods")
* Special symbols like +, *, ! or - for truncation, proximity, adjacent words or plurals

So now that you understand how to put words together in the search engine, what words should you use?

*Make sure you know if the company has a parent company or not.
*Use the most precise name for the company (ex., "gap inc" instead of "the gap" or gap) - this helps eliminate "garbage results".
*Spelling counts.

WARNING: Keep in mind that all of the information that you want may not be found at the company web site. Big corporations pay fancy consultants lots of money to complete market research; often, companies aren't willing to share the information that cost so much to obtain.

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Citing Resources

Don't forget to properly cite your resources; It is an important part of the research process.

Writing & Citing - from the friendly librarians at Elmhurst College
Resources for Documenting Electronic Resources

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Created on 07 March, 2005 and last updated on 07 March, 2005
by Jennifer Paliatka, Assistant Reference/Instruction Librarian,
A.C. Buehler Library, Elmhurst College