BCM 1420 Informational Writing Guide

Overview

Contact the Central Reference desk, 387-5178 or the Business/Economics Librarian Donna Ring, at 387-5153 for additional help.

Introduction

Many of the assignments for your courses may ask you to use specific sources or types of sources such as popular magazine articles or scholarly (peer-reviewed) journal articles. There are some basic ways that you can identify these types of periodicals. How to Guide for Finding Articles is a great place to start.


How to Find Articles



To find articles on business topics, click the Services tab located on the main navigation menu (top of your screen), then select For Undergraduates. From this page click on Subject Guides to find the Subject Guides--Business.

Popular, Scholarly, and Trade Journals Many of the assignments for your courses may require you to use specific sources or types of sources such as popular or trade magazines or scholarly/ professional journals. There are some basic ways you can identify these types of periodicals. Click on the link above to find a chart comparing the types of sources available in the library or electronically.

Popular, Scholarly, and Trade Journals: Video A short video from Vanderbilt University explaining the difference between popular, trade, and scholarly sources.

Article Databases


ABI/INFORM Global An index of over 1,800 publications with abstracts, and full text from over 700 of these titles, selected from newspapers, trade publications, and journals on business including, for example, administration, economics, computers, finance, human resources, management, and marketing. Full-text of Wall Street Journal articles available from 1984. Otherwise coverage is from 1971 to the present with some older material available. Updated daily.

General Business File ASAP An index of business publications that includes trade publications, newspapers, journals, broker research reports, and company profiles, some articles with full text and images. Coverage 1980 - present.

ProQuest Research Library Indexes popular magazines, scholarly journals, newspapers and trade publications in a wide range of subject areas, including business, education, humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Full-text available for over 2,500 journals. Coverage from 1971.

Trade and Industry Contains business periodicals and newsletters with a trade or industry focus providing users with industry news, product and competitive information, marketing trends, and more. Includes in-depth coverage of companies, products, executives, trends, and other topics for more than 1,200 publications, most in full-text. Coverage: 1971 to date.

News Articles


Business NewsBank Provides hard to find local, regional and national business news articles containing in-depth company, industry, product and executive news, both private and public companies from more than 500 business journals, newspapers and wires. Coverage is from 1993 to date. Updated daily.

InfoTrac Custom Newspapers Index to the full text from almost 500 newspapers from around the country and world, including the Grand Rapids Press, Detroit Free Press, London Times and the New York Times. Searches can be restricted to particular newspapers. Coverage varies.

National Newspaper Abstracts Index and abstracts for New York Times (1980- ), USA Today (1989- ), and Wall Street Journal (1984- ). Direct links to full text for Wall Street Journal.

Finding Books




Use WestCat, WMU Libraries' online catalog, to locate books, videos, films, sound recordings, slides and journals owned by WMU Libraries. (Now called the "Classic Catalog."

If you know the title or author of the book, use the Basic Search, otherwise use Advanced Search to find books on your topic.

  • Truncation symbol in keyword searching is the question mark: ?
  • Write down the location and call number
  • Check the maps, if you are in Waldo library, to find the correct floor and location of your book
  • If WMU Libraries do not have the book, you can borrow it from another library through Interlibrary Loan. You must register first.
  • We have a new library catalog in addition to the "Classic Catalog" called "New Catalog" accessed from the library home page.

Evaluating Web Sites

There is a difference between the materials you can get from the general Web by searching Google, and the resources that are purchased by the University Libraries, but are provided to you through the Web. Quality general Web sites can be found in our Subject Guides--Business and Quick Answers.
Module 5 of Searchpath explains how to use and evaluate the Web.

Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages Provides guidance for evaluating the quality of Web information.

Examples of good and bad sites:
Smoking Section
Smoking & Tobacco Issues

Citing Your Sources


Guide to Writing Styles Contains links to many practical examples for formatting citations in APA, Chicago, MLA, Turabian, and other writing styles. Examples include citations to both online or print materials. Call numbers for printed manuals are also given. Ask your instructor which writing style is required for your class assignment.

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Ask A Librarian

Donna M. Ring
donna.ring@wmich.edu
269-387-5153
Last updated: February 2009