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Commerce Subject Guide: COMM 3401: Research Methods in Business

A guide to key databases, reference & web sources, and research & citation guides for Commerce.

Commerce 3401: Research Methods in Business

Business Topics and Research Methodologies:

The library has books on business issues and the research methods most frequently used in business and the social sciences. Search Novanet using relevant keywords (e.g. research methodology, focus groups, interviewing, etc.). E.g.

 

Reference books provide concise definitions, explanations, examples, related issues, recommended uses for methodologies, etc. For example:

Finding Articles

To find good academic journal articles, try a Novanet advanced search. Insert your keywords in the search box. Once you get your list of results, click the "peer reviewed" box in the left hand side of filters. Novanet searches most of the library's databases for articles, but you can also search database by database and get different results. Try both.

Novanet example:

screenshot of Novanet search showing how to select peer reviewed

 

To search the library's subscription article databases, go to "Databases A-Z." 


Recommended databases for academic research on business and related topics: 

ProQuest One BusinessCanadian Business & Current Affairs (CBCA) and Business Source Complete(Note: These databases include non-academic sources as well, e.g. newspapers, magazines, etc. Searches can be limited to "scholarly", "academic", or "peer-reviewed".)

Other databases that may include research articles on your topic: PsycINFO, PsycArticles, ScienceDirect, Sage, Taylor & FrancisSocINDEX.  Some of these databases can be searched together. (Within a ProQuest or EBSCO database, you can select multiple databases to search by clicking on the "Databases" or "Choose Databases" tab.)

 

ARTICLE SEARCH TIPS:

Use Boolean operators to focus searches:

Use "AND" to combine keywords (narrow the search) e.g. employees and benefits

Use "OR" to search for synonyms or variants of a term (broaden the search) e.g. stocks or shares

Use parentheses when using 2 or more Boolean operators, e.g. employees and (stocks or shares)

Use " " (quotation marks) for a phrase (2 or more words together in the same order) e.g. "stock options"

Use * (truncation symbol) to get the root word and all possible endings e.g. "organizational behavi*"

Use ? (wildcard symbol) to replace a character within a word that can vary e.g. organi?ational

Change the search field to be more specific e.g. keywords in Abstract rather than in full text, or use the Company Name field

Use subject terms where available (see in records found or by using the database thesaurus) to find articles specifically about the topic, and to search for concepts that have many keyword variants

Select methodology where possible: e.g. in PsycINFO: "empirical research". In ProQuest One Business: classification code 9130 for "experimental & theoretical treatment"

Use other limiters where relevant (e.g. NAICS code for type of industry (in BSC & PQ One Business, or classification code for broad topic areas (PQ One Business & PsycINFO)

Consider using the Creation Date limiter to select only newer articles (e.g., Creation Date 2015-2025).

Limit a search to only scholarly or peer-reviewed journal articles where available.

Take note of other relevant search terms found while searching and modify searches as needed.

No direct link to a PDF or HTML article? Click the "Find @ MTA" link to be redirected to another database or to request the item from another library.

 

Need help? Contact your Commerce Librarian, Laura Landon

Article Critique Assignment

The following resources will help you find and evaluate top quality vs. poorer quality journals for your article-critique assignment.

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More information: See ABDC Journal Quality List

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Retraction Watch is a website that tracks and documents academic articles that have been retracted. It is funded by individuals and non-profit organizations including the Center for Scientific Integrity.

The Retraction Watch Database lets you search for articles that have been retracted because of poor research. You can search by journal title and article type. TIP: Try searching Article Type: Research and doing a search for journals with the word "Business" in the title. You will then need to see if a copy of the article still exists on the Internet. 

APA Citations

Commerce assignments require in-text citation using APA citation style, with a list of references at the end of your papers.

Tip: Use citation generators within Novanet and databases, but always double check them because they often make mistakes.

TipUse APA's examples for how to format citations of books, journal articles, newspaper articles, websites, etc. found at the link below. 

 

Tip: To see where and how to place in-text citations, and how to format a list of references at the end of your assignment, see Purdue OWL's sample APA paper.