ENG 103: Essentials of Professional & Business Writing
Business Articles: Three Types
- Searching for Articles
- Industries
- Careers
- Companies
- APA Citations
- Plagiarism discussion
Business Librarian: Steve Cramer
smcramer@uncg.edu
336-256-0346
AIM & Google Talk: stevebizlib
Windows Messenger: smcramer@uncg.edu
| |
Academic Journals |
Popular Magazines |
Trade Magazines
|
General
appearance |
Plain, sober, serious; may have graphs or charts, but few pictures; long articles with footnotes |
Glossy paper; lots of colorful ads & photos; short articles |
Glossy paper; business-to-business ads; heavily illustrated; short articles |
| Audience |
Professors, researchers, students |
General public |
Professionals in an industry |
| Authors |
Professors, researchers |
Reporters |
Specialized reporters |
| Publishers |
Academic associations or commercial publishers |
Media conglomerates |
Professional associations or commercial publishers |
Citations/
Footnotes? |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Peer-reviewed? |
Yes |
No |
No |
| Examples |
Journal of Marketing Research;
Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes
|
Economist;
Business Week;
Forbes; Black Enterprise |
Nation's Restaurant News;
Advertising Age;
Ward's Auto World
|
But how do you tell if an online article is academic or not?
- Consider the the name of the journal or magazine.
- Are there footnotes?
- Is the article long and detailed?
- Is it written at an advanced level? (i.e. lots of jargon, complex thoughts, statistical analysis, etc.)
Here are 3 online articles: academic, popular, or trade?
- Lessons from the financial services crisis: danger lies where questionable ethics intersect...
- Does corporate social responsibility orientation vary by position in the organizational hierarchy?
- Cranking up the outrage-o-meter; American International Group (a political uproar over bonuses)
Basic techniques for article searching:
Combine keywords with "AND"
ex: ethics AND AIG
AND
|
|
Search for related terms with "OR"
ex: banking OR finance
OR
|
With parenthesis can use OR and AND at the same time.
ex: (banking OR finance) AND ethic*
Truncate words that have various endings (put a * after the word-root).
ex: bank* would include bank, banks, banker, bankers, banking, etc.
Now turn these topics into keyword searches using Business Source Premier:
- I need articles about the ethics of giving big executive bonuses.
- Can you help me get some research on corporate ethics policies?
- Are there any recent trade magazine articles about prospects for the health care industry?
When to search Journal Finder
- When you know exactly what article you need;
- When you want to browse issues of one journal, magazine, or newspaper.
- For example, find this article:
Pleven, L. (2009, April 2). AIG Debacle Not My Fault, Says Greenberg; Testifies Today. Wall Street Journal (Eastern Edition), p. C. 1.
3. Industries
IBIS Industry Market Research
- Provides 25 to 45-page industry reports for over 720 industries.
- Each report includes statistics, industry structure, product & customer segmentation, performance analysis, major players & market share, external drivers, 5-year forecasts with forecast analysis, and more.
- Use the Outlook chapter for growth projectors, but also check out the "Industry Conditions" and "Industry Performance" chapters.
S&P NetAdvantage: Industry Surveys
- Provides 30-40 page reports on 52 industry surveys.
- Updated twice a year.
- Topics include current environment, industry profile, glossary, industry references (sources of more information), composite industry data, and comparative company analysis.
More choices
4. Careers
Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH), 2008-09
- Covers training and education requirements, earnings, job prospects, working conditions, and 100's of occupations.
- Example report (Market and Survey Researchers)
- Use the search box, browse the career categories, or use the A-Z index.
- Published every two years..
- Free from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections.
Employment Projections (BLS)
- The data used by the OOH and CGI books.
- The tables provide rankings and comparisons.
- Includes percentage change, fastest growing, and total employment
Career Guide to Industries (CGI), 2008-09
- Covers the occupations in each industry, training and advancement, earnings, job prospects, and working conditions.
- A companion to the Occupational Outlook Handbook.
- Provides an A-Z index.
- Example report (Hotels and Other Accommodations)
- Free from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Office of Occupational Statistics and Employment Projections.
Career Information Center, 2007
- Covers 694 careers, and includes employment outlook and salary range for each one.
- Use the Quick Search on the left and check "within this publication."
- This is a subscription ebook set from the Gale Virtual Reference Library database.
5. Companies
MarketLine
- Covers 10,000 international companies (mostly public), 2,000 industries, and 50 countries.
- It includes company overviews, business descriptions, company history, executive listings, product listings, locations, news, and commentary.
- Many of the profiles also provide a SWOT analysis.
Hoover's Company Records (via LexisNexis Academic)
- Look for the Hoover's link in the "Business Description" section of LexisNexis' company profiles.
- Hoovers provides several thousand profiles of public and private, U.S. and international companies.
- Provides executives, company description, history, NAICS and SIC codes, segemented sales data, and competitors.
Morningstar
- Provides stock analysis reports that covers management issues.
- But this is primarily an investment database for stocks and mutual funds.
- Provides 10 years of financial data for most US public companies and US-traded foreign companies.
Osiris
- Provides detailed financials and descriptions of 42,000 US and international public companies.
- Covers product, service, and business lines, sales by continents and product lines, balance sheets, income and cash flow statements, ratios, stock, bond, and earnings information, top shareholders, subsidiaries, board members, senior executives and their salaries, and merger and acquisitions.
- Data can be exporting into Excel
- Companies can be easily compared using the Peer Report and Peer Analysis tabs.
More choices
6. APA Citations
7. Plagiarism Discussion
Plagiarism exercise (PowerPoint)
Useful links:
