When you know the exact article you are looking for
Example: Find the following article:
Goleman, D. (2000). Leadership that gets results.
Harvard Business Review, 78(2), 78-90.
When you are looking for articles on a particular topic from a particular journal
Example: Find articles on marketing in China from the Journal of International Marketing.
When you are looking for articles on a particular topic from any journal
Example: Find 5 articles on leadership styles.
Tips for Doing
a More Effective Search (advanced search syntax, printing, downloading, finding
scholarly articles, etc.)
What to do when
the journal is NOT available online
I. When you are given the citation (author's name, title of article, title of journal, year, etc.) for the article you are supposed to find, the first thing you need to do is to figure out which database has this journal in full text.
Start at the library homepage (library.weber.edu)
Select 'Ejournals' from this page.
Type in the name of the journal (NOT the article title) in the search box. ie. Harvard Business Review
The next screen will tell you which database indexes your journal in full text, and how far it goes back. The Harvard Business Review is indexed from 1922-present in the Business Source Premier database. It is only available from 2000-present in Health Source: Consumer Edition and MAS FullTEXT Ultra. If the article you need is from 1990, you'll need to go to the Business Source Premier database to locate your article.
II. Now that you know which database to look in, search for your article.
Click on the name of the database that you found your journal in.
Pull up the 'advanced search' option. This search screen should give you multiple boxes to enter search terms in.
Put the name of the journal in the first search box. Change the field (directly to the right of this box) from default to journal title or journal name. (Different databases will call this different names- sometimes it's called 'publication title'). This will tell the database you ONLY want to search this journal.
Put the article title in the second search box. It does not have to be the full title- just enough to distinguish it from other similar titles. Change the field (directly to the right of this box) from default to article title or title (again, different databases will call this different names).
See the example below from the Business Source Premier database. In this example, a student is looking for the article title Leadership that gets results from the Harvard Business Review.
I. When you are given a particular journal and need to find articles on a particular topic in that journal, the first thing you need to do is to figure out which database has this journal in full text.
Start at the library homepage (library.weber.edu)
Select 'Ejournals' from this page.
Type in the name of the journal you need in the search box. ie. Journal of International Marketing
The next screen will tell you which database indexes your journal in full text, and how far it goes back. The Journal of International Marketing is indexed from 1997-present in the ABI/Inform database. It is also available from 1993-present in the Business Source Premier database.
II. Now that you know which database your journal is in, find articles in that journal on your topic.
Click on the name of the database that you found your journal in.
Select the 'advanced search' option. This search screen should give you multiple boxes to enter search terms in.
Put the name of the journal in the first search box. Change the field (directly to the right of this box) from default to journal title or journal name. (Different databases will call this different names- it might also be called publication title). This will tell the database you ONLY want to search this journal.
Put a keyword or phrase in the second search box (ie. marketing OR marketing strategy). If you have more than one keyword or idea (ie. marketing in China), use two search boxes. Take a look at the fields (directly to the right of the search boxes) and choose fields that will help you focus your search.
If you ONLY want full text articles, be sure to check the full-text only option from the database.
See the example below from the ABI/Inform database. In this example, the student is looking for articles on marketing in China from the Journal of International Marketing. The first search box is looking for journal name, the second for a keyword, and in the third box, the student is using the 'location' field to limit the search to articles focusing on China. The student has also checked the box 'full text articles only' to weed out articles that are NOT full text. The 'Scholarly articles, including peer-reviewed' box was also checked to limit the sources to academic/scholarly sources only.
I. When you are assigned a particular topic to find articles on, the first thing to do is decide where to look.
Start at the library homepage (library.weber.edu)
Select 'Database Finder' from the main page.
From the 'Subject' tab, choose 'Business & Economics' and click the Search button for a complete list of Business and Economics databases. From this screen, read the database descriptions until you find a database that most closely matches your topic. Articles on most business topics can be found in ABI/Inform or Business Source Premier. If you aren't sure where to look, feel free to contact Shaun Spiegel at sspiegel1@weber.edu or 626-7570 OR fill out the online help form for business topics at: http://faculty.weber.edu/sspiegel/researchhelp.htm for help.
II. After you choose a database, find articles in that journal on your topic.
Select the 'advanced search' option. This search screen should give you multiple boxes to enter search terms in.
Put your search term(s) in the box(es). To narrow your search, select a field directly to the right of the search box.
See the example from Business Source Premier below. In this example, the student is searching for information on leadership styles. To narrow the search, the student is looking for articles with those words in the title of the article (Hint: If the word 'leadership styles' is in the title of the article, the article probably focuses heavily on this topic. This is an effective way to search for articles on broad topics.) The student has also chosen to limit to full text only, and peer-reviewed journals only.
The Wall Street Journal is a part of the ABI/Inform database. To search JUST the Wall Street Journal:
Start at the library homepage (library.weber.edu)
Select 'Database Finder' from the main page.
From the 'Subject' tab, choose 'Business & Economics' and click the Search button for the complete list of Business and Economics databases.
From the list of databases, select the ABI/Inform database. You may also select the link to the Wall Street Journal from the database list, but it will also take you to the ABI database.
Look just below the search tabs at the top to find link that says 'Databases selected:' Click on this link to get a list of databases. Scroll down to the bottom of this list and click on the Wall Street Journal link. This will take you back to a basic search screen; next to the Databases selected: link, it should now say Wall Street Journal.
Select the advanced search tab at the top to do a customized search of the WSJ.
To access library subscription databases from off-campus, all you have to do is click on the name of the database. You will then see a screen that prompts you to enter in your student ID (88...). After you enter in this ID, you should be able to get into the database to find what you need.
If you can't remember your ID#, go here for help.
If your ID is not working, call the library circulation desk first (626-6545) to make sure the library computer system recognizes your ID number (even if you are a currently enrolled student, the library computer system may not recognize you as being valid. Circulation staff can pull up your record on the computer and fix the problem right away).
Do NOT try to just type in a URL to access a database directly from off campus- this will not work. To get in from off campus, you need to click on the name of the database directly from the list of business databases, or from one of the research guides.
RATS (READ ALL THE SCREENS!): Be sure to read the search screens on your database carefully. Some databases (ie. Lexis-Nexis) only search a certain default time range (ie. only six months). You may have to change this in your search to find what you need. Also, look to see what field options (title, author, company name, etc.) you have in your advanced search screen- this will really help you narrow down your search.
PDF: Some full text articles come in PDF format, which requires Adobe Acrobat software. You can download this for free at home. Downloading files using Acrobat can be very slow over a 56Kb modem, but many people do it. If you are impatient, downloading articles from a student computer lab or any terminal with high-speed Internet access is a better option.
Printing, downloading, emailing: Most databases provide you with the choice of printing, downloading, or emailing the full text of the articles to your email account. Look for tabs or buttons on the database screens for these options.
Saving articles to disk: When you save articles to a floppy or zip disk, make sure that you always save the file as a text file (.txt). This way, it doesn't matter what word processing software you use (Word, Word Perfect, WordPad, NotePad, etc.); they all read text files. If you are unsure how to do this, call the reference desk at 626-6415 and ask.
If you ONLY want full text, be sure to tell the database that's what you want. On most databases, there is a 'full text only' box that can be chosen from the search screen.
Locating 'scholarly' or 'professional' journal articles: If you are required to use ONLY scholarly, academic, or professional business journals, most databases will have a 'peer-reviewed' or 'refereed' option to check on the search screen. If you check this box, you will NOT get magazines or newspapers.
Customizing your search:
To broaden your search, use truncation symbols. Truncation will pick up any ending to a particular word. For example: market* finds articles with the word market, markets, marketing, marketer, marketers, etc. Account? will find articles with the word account, accounts, accounting, accountable, accountancy, accountant, accountants, etc. The symbols may be different for each database.
ABI/Inform uses the ?
Business Source Premier uses the *
Lexis-Nexis uses the !
If you're not sure what the symbol for another database is, call the reference desk and ask (626-6415).
For a better, more customized search, always used 'advanced' search screens. These will give you multiple search boxes, instead of just one, and most will offer various fields for a more narrow search. For example, when searching for information on a specific company, use the 'company name' field instead of just typing in the company name. That way, you'll pull up articles that focus on your company, instead of those that just mention your company somewhere in the article.
1. First, make sure you have already done this...
Start at the library homepage (library.weber.edu)
Select 'Ejournals' from the main page.
Type in the name of the journal you need in the search box. ie. Journal of International Marketing
2. ...If you've done this and found that your journal is NOT available from any of our databases in full text, then check to see if WSU owns it in print...
Start at the library homepage (library.weber.edu)
Select 'Catalog' from the main page.
Select 'Journal Alphabetical' from the pull down menu.
Type in the name of the journal you want to find. If it shows up in the listing, we own it. Click on the title to see which volumes/years we own.
3. ... If we don't own it in print either, then you'll have to fill out an InterLibrary Loan form for articles. This system is called 'Illiad'. It will ask you to fill out a form if you've never used it before. Once you've filled out the form, you can access the online forms for articles, books, and other types of materials.
You don't need to know who has the journal. All you need is your student ID#, and information about the article you want:
title of article
title of journal
author(s) name(s)
volume and issue number of journal
page numbers of article
year
If you need any help finding articles or doing any other business research, feel free to contact
Shaun Spiegel
sspiegel1@weber.edu
Voice: 626-7570
Mobile: 458-1412
OR fill out the online help form for business topics at: http://faculty.weber.edu/sspiegel/researchhelp.htm
Updated 05/14/2004