ENC 3213
June 10, 2005
Finding Information Resources on Companies & Industries
Librarian: Ken Frankel
I. Locating Books in the Library:
1. WebLUIS (the Library’s catalog): click on “Catalog” or “Books”.
The following types of searches are available:
A. Keywords: This search looks for a word anywhere in the record. This
results in more hits but some may not be relevant. Keywords can be truncated
with a ? E.G. manage? will search for manage, management, managerial, etc.
Also, you can search for a keyword phrase this way: personnel ADJ management
(ADJ stands for adjacent)
B. Author’s Name: Enter the last name first, you don’t need
to capitalize.
C. Title: if a title starts with “The,” “A,” or “An,” omit
that and skip to the next word.
D. Subject: This search looks for items classified by a subject heading
and organizes the results into sub-topics. Subjects must be entered in
a specific manner. You may get a cross- reference, for example: participatory
management gives a cross reference to use: management—employee participation.
Also, books on companies and industries can be searched using their name
as a subject.
*If you’re not finding anything using a subject search try a keyword
search instead*
E. Journal/Magazine Title: This search will tell you if the library owns
a periodical title, but does not list individual articles. Be sure to check
the “Library Has” link to see which dates the Library owns.
Note: not all electronic journals we have are cataloged in WebLUIS. There
is also a link to a list of all electronic journals available at FAU.)
II. Finding Journal & Magazine Articles:
Click on Indexes/Databases or Articles. Important Note: first log into EZ-Proxy if using these databases from off-campus.
1. ABI/INFORM: consists of 4 subfiles: Global (covers major worldwide
business periodicals), Trade & Industry (covers specialized trade publications),
Dateline (covers local and regional business news) and a Complete Archive,
which covers the period from 1971 to 1986. Searches may be limited to retrieve
full-text results only and/or refereed (also known as scholarly) periodicals
only.
2. LexisNexis Academic: click on “Business” to search files
on business, industry & market news, as well as accounting journals
and literature. All material in the database is full text.
3. Wall
Street Journal: this database contains the full text of the newspaper
going back to 1984. Also, Historical
Wall Street Journal includes all issues
going back to 1889.
III. Finding Information about Companies:
1. Business and
Company Resource Center: this comprehensive database includes
company profiles, brand information, rankings, investment reports, company
histories, chronologies and periodicals. Predicast's PROMT, Newsletters
ASAP and Thomson Financials' Investext Plus databases are fully integrated
in this database.
2. LexisNexis Academic: besides being a source for articles (see above),
clicking on “Business” also allows for retrieval of SEC filings
and reports, detailed financial data about companies, and comparison of
companies based on a variety of criteria.
3. Mergent
Online: (formerly known as Moody’s) contains massive
amounts of U.S. and International company data, including annual reports,
institutional holdings, insider trading, expanded long-term debt information,
equity portraits, etc.
4. Companies’ Web Sites: can provide useful information about management
strategies, corporate organizational structure, products, information for
potential investors, etc. Additionally, they often provide information
about career opportunities, benefits, etc. Remember that this information
is not unbiased!
IV. Finding Information about Industries:
The first two databases listed in section III above may be used to locate
information on
industries as well as companies.
1. Standard and Poor’s NetAdvantage: NetAdvantage provides the full
text of several S&P
publications including Industry Surveys, a rich source of information on individual
industries.
V. Evaluating Web Sites:
http://www.library.fau.edu/depts/ref/instsrv/tutorial/web1.htm
For further assistance contact:
FAU Library Reference Desk (561) 297-3785
or use the Ask a Librarian Web Page at:
http://www.library.fau.edu/depts/ref/askpol.htm
