Researching Business Projects

Beyond “Googling”

ENGL 420: Business Writing

Why more than “google”?

GoogleNews delivers breaking news [but after 1 day usually have to subscribe to sources]

Google doesn’t 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]

ENGL 420: Business Writing

3 sources of online research

Type 1: Popular Press[newspapers, 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.]

ENGL 420: Business Writing

Source Type 1:Online 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]

ENGL 420: Business Writing

“News” in LexisNexis

Choose LexisNexis Academic from library database listTry quick search firstRemember that LexisNexis only retrieves 125 hits If want older news or a more precise search go to advanced search and change dates

ENGL 420: Business Writing

“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.

ENGL 420: Business Writing

“Magazines” in Business Source Premier

Choose Business Source Premier from library database listSelect advanced searchIt has list of contents you can browse or search within: Journals Reports Magazines Industry & company

profiles

ENGL 420: Business Writing

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

ENGL 420: Business Writing

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

ENGL 420: Business Writing

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

ENGL 420: Business Writing

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?

ENGL 420: Business Writing

EXAMPLE: Popular Press on Women & Mobile

You want surveys of women’s 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)

ENGL 420: Business Writing

Women & Mobile--2

You try some simple termsmobile AND genderYou want survey results so you pick the document type

Survey

ENGL 420: Business Writing

Women & Mobile--3

Your results show 27 articles. . .

&

they bring up the popular stories

you want

ENGL 420: Business Writing

Source Type 2: Scholarly Research

Scholarly Research helps to provide authoritative conclusions [ethos, logos]Business Source Premier [by EBSCO] has scholarship and much moreYou can search [by keyword, industry, company, journal]

You can browse [industry profiles, reports, and more]

ENGL 420: Business Writing

EXAMPLE: 9/11 & Business

You are researching the impact 9/11 had on American business

You search Business Source Premier using9/11impactAnd find 6958 hits

ENGL 420: Business Writing

9/11 & Business Impact--2

You add Business to the search9/11impactbusinessAnd the hits shrink to 1980. . . Still a lot of hits

ENGL 420: Business Writing

9/11 & Business Impact--3

You need some journal citations, so you filter by academic journals

305. . . That’s better

And the first page looks ok

ENGL 420: Business Writing

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 shortStill need to reduce

ENGL 420: Business Writing

Source Type 3: Online Statistics and other Numbers

Statistics and Numerical Data are quickly accepted [ethos, logos] LexisNexis Statistical --government and other statisticsLexisNexis Academic -- SEC filings; legalCompany information is common in Business Source Premier, LexisNexis Academic, and RDS Business and Industry

ENGL 420: Business Writing

“Statistics” in LexisNexis

Choose LexisNexis Statistical from library database list

Can search tablesabstracts links to other data

ENGL 420: Business Writing

EXAMPLE: Computer Use

You want data on computer use by young people

You search LexisNexis Statistical for computer useby age

ENGL 420: Business Writing

Computer Use & Age -- 2

Results come from the Census Bureau, Gallup, and others

Census numbers are usually accepted

Dates of surveys may matter

Don’t see a comparison of young and old

ENGL 420: Business Writing

Choosing among Sources

Consider:

Fit between research and problemReputation 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]

ENGL 420: Business Writing

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]