Research Assignments for BUSN 51
Depending on your instructor, you may have a research paper or presentation assigned in this class. Go to the "Library Databases" link on the left navigation bar to search the databases highlighted below:
- Company Research: If you are researching an aspect of a company, start with the Business Insights: Global database. Here, you can access general profiles, SWOT analysis, case studies and more. Then, jump over to the other Business databases to gather magazine and newspaper articles.
- Industry Research: Using the Business Insights: Global database, you can compare companies within an industry and retrieve market share data. Updated information may be found in the Wall Street Journal or the other Business databases.
- Controversial Issues that affect US businesses: Your instructor may assign a paper where you choose a current topic. We have a number of databases that will help you in the Library Databases --> Issues category. I recommend browsing by category in some of the databases to get some ideas on topics. All of them are objective and show the Pro/Con sides of all the issues they cover.
- Required length of the paper/presentation: How long does the paper/presentation have to be? That will determine how in-depth your research needs to be. For example, if it is a 2 page paper, you don't want to inundate yourself with too many articles. Pick 3-5 articles to reference. If your paper is 8-10 pages long, I recommend finding 5-10 sources including scholarly articles, books and reputable web sites.
- Citation format: How should you display the list of resources (articles, books, websites) you used to write your paper? It is important to list the resources at the end of your paper in the citation format required by your instructor. Your instructor may call it a bibliography, a references list or a works cited list. Find out what your instructor requires and use the Citation Guides link to help you get started.
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