Bus 365 - Consumer Behavior (Prof. Artz)

Intro & Finding Articles | Internet Resources | Writing the Paper

Reference Librarian Zip Kellogg/e-mail zkellogg@usm.maine.edu /tel. 780-4272 would be glad to help you find information at any time.

Professor Nancy Artz's Consumer Behavior class requires facility with proprietary library databases, and refined searching of the Net. Reference Librarian Zip Kellogg will gladly work with students individually or in groups anytime during the semester.

Need to get to your e-reserve readings?

There are two main types of periodicals:

Scholarly periodicals contain articles written by experts for other researchers/scholars

Popular periodicals articles are written in easily understood language that appeals to a varied audience

Here are a few databases selected specifically because they are likely to be useful for students in the Consumer Behavior course.

Business Source Premier
This is a good general purpose business index For many students and faculty alike it is the first place to search for articles in business and trade journals. Many of the cited items are in full text (the entire article shows on your computer screen).

Wall Street Journal
Index to and full text coverage of the nation's leading business daily from 1984.

ProQuest Newspapers
For up to date newspaper articles on specific companies, industries, business trends, etc. Cover s the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Christian Science Monitor, etc.  This is a full-text database.

Academic Search Premier
Provides full text for nearly 4,000 scholarly publications of which 3,100 are peer reviewed. Contains both scholarly and popular press articles providing insight into the behaviors of consumers.

Business and Company Resource Center
The BCRC is actually a collection of databases organized specifically for the business community.  One can search for information about a specific company, about an entire industry, or for current articles about any business topic.  After the initial search, it's easy to follow links to varied business information, such as company histories, rankings within the industry, business and trade associations related to the search, etc.

Regional Business News
A collection of news stories from several news wire services and current business and trade journals.  Up to the minute articles and briefs from around and nation and the world.

Maine Newsstand
This index helps you find current newspaper articles about Maine business topics, Maine businesses, etc. It covers, among other newspapers, the Portland Press Herald, Maine Sunday Telegram, and the Bangor Daily News. It is a full text database.

Many people search Google or other search engines poorly. If Google is finding 25 million results you may have to wade through much irrelevant material before finding something useful. Here are a few quick tips to improve your Net searching:

1. try searching from Google's Advanced Search screen
2. limit by "domain." For example, limit to .org or .edu or .net if appropriate
3. limit by date. For example the last year or the last six months
4. limit by language. Ask for only English language results if that is what you want

By improving your search you are much more likely to get better results.

The following books provide guidance on how to create outlines, how to structure your paper, how to write well, etc. The Learning Center at 253 Luther Bonney Hall also will help you with your writing. Call 780-4228 to make an appointment.

Writing Handbooks

St. Martin's Handbook
POR Reference PE1112 .L86
Contains sections on the writing process, sentence construction, punctuation, doing research, and academic writing.

A Writer's Reference
POR Reference PE1408 .H2778
Includes sections on composing and revising, design, sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, writing, and documentation.

Citation Style

Need to see examples of bibliographies, footnotes, etc.?
How to cite periodicals and web sites?
Try Research and Documentation Online

Plagiarism

Plagiarism Examples (Indiana University School of Education)

Zip Kellogg
Feb. 11, 2008