T422: Business Strategies of Communication Firms

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Keys to Successful Searching

Finding relevant and high quality information resources for your particular need, whether it is for a class assignment or a personal information quest, rests on four key strategies:

     1. developing a clear understanding of what is needed;
     2. understanding how to structure a search strategy;
     3. identifying appropriate sources to search; and
     4. evaluating and documenting resources found and used.

The research process is a cyclical, reflective process, not a linear one as depicted below. As you progress through your research, you will often back track to previous steps to revise your initial information need. As you become a more experienced researcher, you will have a better sense of what step you need to begin with or jump to at the different points in your quest for information. The diagram below outlines the basic steps.

[Diagram source: Northwestern Michigan College]
1. What is needed? Define your topic

Try to state your topic as a statetment that lays out your claim. Be as specific as possible. For example, if you are interested in the roles of men and women in business, you might claim that "Evolving beliefs about appropriate roles for men and women in business are reflected in a comparison of advertisements in the 1950s with those of the1990s."  If you are having trouble defining and focusing your topic, there is a worksheet available to help you.

2. How do I structure a search strategy? Identify main concepts and keywords

Before diving in to search online resources, spend some time analzying your topic statement. What are the key concepts or big ideas that make up the topic? The key concepts in the above example include: "beliefs," "roles," "men," "women," "business," "advertisements," "1950s," and "1990s."

Generate a list of keywords that you can use to search for each of the concepts. What are relevant synonyms and broader and/or narrower terms for each of the concepts?

How will you combine your keywords when you search for resources? Do you want only results that have keywords for all of the concepts (use AND)? Do you want to create a larger set of documents for one of the concepts (use OR)? Do you want to exclude certain words (use NOT)? Click for an animated explanation on using "boolean operators."

3. What are appropriate sources to search?

The IU Libraries subscribe to a large number of online resources, many with full text. Below are selected databases that will be helpful for the assignments in this class. Before using these or other online resources, survey the territory and create a mental map of what you are searching and how.


Media

Communication and Mass Media Complete
CMMC incorporates "CommSearch" and "Mass Media Articles Index" plus additional journals in the fields of communication and mass media, over 200 journals available in full-text.


Company and Industry

Factiva
Factiva specializes in general news and business information providing access to nearly 8,000 sources in 22 languages from 118 countries. Access to detailed company and industry reports on thousands of companies is available.

Hoover's Online
Company information on the largest and most influential public & private companies.

MarketLine
Includes 10,000 company profiles, 2,000 industry profiles and 50 country profiles.

Mergent Online
Financial data and customizable reports on 10,000 U.S. public companies; SEC filings, including full color annual reports. Also data on 20,000 non-U.S. companies.


Market Research

Business Insights  
Full text database of global marketing reports from the energy, consumer goods, finance, healthcare and technology industries.

Marketresearch.com Academic  
Detailed market research reports from leading sources.

RDS Business Reference Suite  
Subjects covered include: market share, company and brand rankings, industry and product forecasts, production and consumption statistics, imports and exports, usage and capacity, number of users and outlets, trends and demographics.

Standard &Poor's NetAdvantage
Provides full-text access to a variety of corporate and industry resources produced by Standard & Poors.


4. How do I evaluate and document the resources I use?

Evaluate the information you have collected. Evaluating the information you find is an essential part of the process. There are some tips to help you.

Cite the sources you use for your assignment. No matter where your information comes from, you always need to cite your sources. APA, Chicago, and MLA are the most frequently used documentation styles.

Last modified on February 5 by Steven Sowell