Library Resources

for
Economics & Business Research

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Session Content
• Tips for successful searching
• Locating quality journal articles
• Citation databases
• The Economics LibGuide and other subject guides
• Locating and requesting theses
• Working papers
• Sources of company information and market & industry reports
• Sources of statistical data and reports for Economics
• How to find Government, Legal & Intergovernmental Organizations’ publications
• EndNote – Introduction and brief overview

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Choosing a topic…
In terms of choosing a topic you might like to consider:
- Issues of interest to you
- Literature search to see if the area has been written out
- Something new to be written or investigated
- News item open to economic/business analysis
- Previous authors identifying areas of further research

How would you research the topic: the illicit trade in

antiquities?

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Tips for successful searching

• Use Skill 5-step search strategy

• Use of Boolean operators

• Use phrase searching, truncation and wildcards

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Five steps common to all database searches
• Summarise your topic in one or two sentences
• Keywords and phrases need to be highlighted
• Identify synonyms/alternative terms and variant
spellings
• Link your keywords and phrases with Boolean operators
• Locate your information

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 Boolean search operators
Using keywords in the search box is useful, be sensible about the keywords and join them with the
search operators to make your search more accurate.

Let’s have a refresher on Boolean search operators and how they work.

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Search Operators and their use
Operator Use for Examples
Truncation (Asterisk *) A truncation symbol added to the Econom* = Economic or
end of a term allows you to find Economical or Economy, etc
word variations or alternative
spellings.

Wildcards (Question mark ?) Are used for alternative spellings Organi?ation = organisation or
by substituting a symbol for a organization
single letter (character) of a word Wom?n = woman or women

Phrase searching (Quotation Allows you to search for words “civil rights”
Marks “ “) as exact phrases in the exact
order specified within the
“quotation marks”

Hyphen - indicate a range when YR(2005-2008)

searching numerical fields, such
as Publication date.
Note: Check each database
Help Instructions as some use
different symbols for this
operator
Brainstorming key concepts and keywords

Constitutional
Constitutional
recognition
recognition
of Gayofrights,
Gay rights,
and treatment
and treatment
in Courts.
in Courts.

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 Write a search string
Think of synonyms and alternate spellings
Constitut* AND (homosexual* OR gay OR lesbian) AND (“fundamental right*” OR gay Right* OR “privacy right!”)
Use AND between concepts and OR between alternative
terms.
Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3

Constit* AND Homosexual* AND Fundamental right*

OR OR OR
gay Gay right*

OR OR OR
lesbian Privacy right*

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Activity 1: GROUP WORK
Beginning with a quick
research strategy
Topic: The illegal trade in antiquities

Use 5 minutes to plan your attack!

• You can use a mind map, sticky notes, a flow

chart anything that works for you.
• The important thing to remember is that by
spending 5 minutes planning, your research
will be more effective.
• In other words you will find relevant results
more quickly. It will save you time and enable
a more comprehensive search.

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Topic: The illegal trade in antiquities

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 DISCUSSION

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 khác magazine, newspaper
1. journal article
2. Books/textbooks + conference proceedings
3. government reports and reports from other
Kỷ yếu hội thảo
bodies
4. thesis/dissertation
5. newspaper/magazine to research

database (a list of info - google) >> not

reliable, just a platform

What is acceptable in your

discipline? what
what can be used for your research?
is ur top 3 when u search for info?
which one is reliable
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submit the manuscripts, take
time to review the drafts (minor
revision from 1-3m, major
revision from 3-5m, rejected)
PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES IN
JOURNAL (assessed by a group of
experts in charge of that journal)
Rejected
Major revision (6-12 months)
Minor revision (1-2 months)
peer-reviewed/refereed journal
how do we know a journal would be a good
quality journal/paper?
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Quality journals

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Journal of Asian Business and Economic Studies - JABES
(Vietnamese journal first to be listed in Scopus)
Vietnam’s quality journal, check in:
>> http://hdgsnn.gov.vn/
Vietnam’s business quality journal:
>> http://hdgsnn.gov.vn/files/anhbaiviet/files/2022/13_%20HDGSN%20Kinh%20te-DMTCKH%202022_0001(2).pdf
 Open-Access journals:
Open Access (OA) is the practice of
providing the public with unrestricted
online access to scholarly journal articles.
Pros:
• Free access = wider audience
• Author often retains copyright
Cons:
• Author Fees
• Some predatory journals (see Beall’s List)
• Concerns about quality control and
authenticity
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Relevant journal article databases to locate quality journal
articles
• EconLit – the prime source for academic Economics articles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0wSXlF8TAk (slide 29)

• and there are also these resources ***Proquest

• ABI/Inform Global
• Business Source Complete
• PubMed - useful database for Health Economics topics
• JSTOR - a good source of full-text academic Economics journals, but does not
include current issues
• PROQUEST - Covers all academic disciplines. Search can be refined to business
resources only. Includes journals, newspapers, industry reports, dissertations and
company profiles.

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Citation databases
• Scopus
• Web of Science
•Both these databases allow you to:
– Find articles as you do in a regular database
– See how many times an article has been cited
– Obtain references (and sometimes, the full-text) for
the citing articles

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Citation databases
Why use citation databases?
• The best sources for finding articles which have cited a
key “historical” article
• Good for finding related articles you might not find with a
keyword search
• Good for multidisciplinary research

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Times cited v. Cited References
• Times cited: this article cited by subsequent
articles
• Cited references: sources this article has cited

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 -
Which Database?
Which database should I use to find journal articles on my
topic? https://youtu.be/j0wSXlF8TAk

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Review
• Have you identified keywords and synonyms?
• Used Boolean operators, truncation and wildcards?
• Have you checked all relevant databases and websites?
• Do you need to continue?
* have you come across the ‘best’ article/s for your research?
*Do you keep coming across the same materials?
• Remember to save references for your bibliography

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Journal Quality

Peer reviewed articles https://youtu.be/gPM8ybPrGvA

• Accumulated citations in Web of Science or Scopus

• Lists of ranked journals e.g. ABDC list
• Other indicators such as journal citation reports

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 Finding Working Papers
• Research Papers in
Economics – RePec

• Social Sciences Research

Network (SSRN)

https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/economics/working-papers

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Researching Companies

• Determine whether the company is public or private

• Locate financial data and/or annual reports
• Search for journal articles
• Search for analyst information
• Search for newspaper articles
• Research the company’s industry
• Explore key competitors

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 Key databases for Company, Market, or Industry information
Company data
• DatAnalysis for Australian companies
• Osiris for International companies
• Factiva for International companies

Market and Industry data

• Passport Global Market Information Database but only for markets and industries
related to everyday consumer items e.g. Food, household appliances
• IBISWorld Industry reports for Australian industries
• Business Source Complete is relevant for both areas, it contains selected Australian
and International company and industry profiles

https://guides.library.uq.edu.au/how-to-find/company-industry-information

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 Searching for Statistics and Data
“ “All academic writing involves the use of source materials. Archaeologists look in the ground for artifacts …
economic research typically begins with a (large) set of numerical data”

The Student's Guide to Writing Economics by Robert H. Neugeboren

• When reviewing the literature, see what sources/sets are cited

• When formulating a search topic check to see if a data set exists to support your research

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Statistics “How to find” guide

http://guides.library.uq.edu.au/how-to-find/statistics

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Statistics and data
Australian Bureau Statistics (www.abs.gov.au)
World Bank data
Passport Global Market Information Database

Also try these resources…

United Nations Commodity trade statistics database (http://comtrade.un.org/db/)
OECD iLibrary statistics
IMF e-library data
OFFSTATS (http://www.offstats.auckland.ac.nz/)

Data Citation Index via Web of Science

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Government, Legal & Intergovernmental Organization documents

Government Documents
http://www.australia.gov.au/publications
Hansard/Parliamentary debates
Google search for international
Legal Documents
Law library’s Legal Research Guide online
IGO Documents
World Bank e-Library
IMF e-Library publications
OECD iLibrary
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ECON7950
Brief EndNote Introduction
https://web.library.uq.edu.au/research-tools-
techniques/referencing/referencing-software/endnote
Brief Endnote Introduction – Why use referencing software?

https://youtu.be/4uPceTMnops

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Introduction to the basic functions of EndNote

https://youtu.be/C_1K_7JDSiI

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What is EndNote?
EndNote is a sophisticated citation manager. Use EndNote to:
• Create a list of references from your searches
• Insert citations into a document
• Produce a bibliography in any style within your document

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Remember
• Check all references when they have been directly exported from a database. Make changes at
this point. Remember, garbage in, garbage out.

• You must keep both the .enl & .data files for EndNote to work. When saving a back up, it is best to save
a compressed file (.enlx) to ensure both files are kept together.

• Do not save EndNote in cloud-based, file-sharing services. Use Endnote Online

• Do not copy & paste formatted Endnote citations

• Before sending a copy of your Word document for review, convert to plain text

• Only ever use ONE EndNote library.

• BACKUP. BACKUP. BACKUP.

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EndNote help
Library Basics – Why use referencing software?
• https://youtu.be/4uPceTMnops
EndNote FAQs
• http://endnote.com/support/faqs
Also online videos at
• https://www.youtube.com/user/EndNoteTraining/videos
• https://www.lynda.com/EndNote-tutorials/EndNote-Essential-Training/551484-2.html?org=uq.edu.au

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