Responsible Business

This page covers the basics of general business research for students. 

Library databases are collections of articles, reports, or information that are not easily available for free via a Google search. These licensed resources are purchased by the library and university for use by our students, faculty, and staff -- therefore you are required to login with your Rowan credentials. Click the links below to start your research on companies, industries, consumers, and more! 

So how do I get started? Actually, there are three ways we use library resources most frequently in Business:

1. Use the Library Search box on the Campbell Library home page to type in some keywords related to your topic and narrow to peer reviewed journals, (on left filter menu) add newspapers to your results (at bottom of search results), or many other options like the Sort-by boxes for Date-Newest. 
2. Use the Database Finder to choose a database in which to search for your topic (ABI Inform, ProQuest Central, Academic Search Complete, and Business Source Elite are the ones which have many full text articles on a variety of subjects in Business, or choose any other Business ones with different types of info; their descriptions are included)
3. Use the Journal Finder (to find an article in a specific publication), useful if your professor suggests a specific journal or newspaper to browse, or if you already have a citation. (Yes, all three of these start from the same place, the library's home page)

Additional specialized databases for students in the Rohrer College of Business, such as Bloomberg (terminals in Trading Room in Business Hall) or Capital IQ and Wharton Research Data Service/WRDS (online access by specially assigned username/password only) are available to business students for certain courses. Contact your professors for more information on these. POM for Excel, SAP, Salesforce and other software applications can be accessed via your Rowan NetID. Search on Rowan's home page for specific directions. 

Most Common Newspapers

The websites of major newspapers often do not have the same contents as the printed or subscribed versions of those newspapers. Websites often include user-generated content like comments, blogs, etc. in addition to real articles from journalists. BOTH of these types of articles will often appear in the library's holdings. Use the Library Search (to enter a topic) or the Journal Finder to query a specific periodical (journal, newspaper, magazine) by its title or ISSN #. Sometimes it is helpful to include the title of the journal in quotes (such as "Financial Times"). Then be sure to choose the right version of that newspaper from the results list.

Library Databases to Find Even More Newspapers

In addition, some library databases serve as aggregators for newswire articles and newspaper articles from around the country or around the world. As an alternate way to search, choose a newspaper database first, then see if that database has the particular newspaper titles, dates, or topics that you need. Below are some library databases that have business news articles, both current and historical:

As always, request other newspaper articles that Rowan does not own by using the forms for Interlibrary Loan on Campbell Library's main page menus.

Remember to always start your search from the Campbell Library home page, where you will log in with your Rowan credentials in order to access all of our database subscriptions.

1. Company research is found in library databases like Mergent Online, PrivCo, ReferenceSolutions DataAxle (formerly named ReferenceUSA), and PassportGMID. (These are all listed in the 'best databases' for Business). For nonprofits, try searching The Foundation Center/Candid's 990 Finder websites (to look for their tax filings). Need Hoover's content for companies?  It is now in the database called Business Market Research Collection from ProQuest. Check the box for company information (which appears halfway down the page below the search boxes).
2. If you need to research an industry and its major companies and trends, use the IBISWorld Global Industry Research database (United States focus) or Passport GMID database (international focus). IBISWorld has more graphs, while Passport has more tables. Three places to look for NAICS code ideas: U.S. Census NAICS lookup website, IBIS World Global Industry Reports database and ReferenceSolutions DataAxle database (advanced search tab).
3. SWOT analyses can be found in multiple library databases: In Business Source Elite, choose 'Company Profiles' from top blue menu before searching, then choose a company from the list by starting to type it in. Each company's MarketLine PDF contains a SWOT section. You can also look for the ABI/Inform SWOT tutorial. In Mergent Online, look at the 'Government Filings' tab to find companies' annual 10-K reports to the SEC, in which they will also explain some of their business risks.
4. Data from consumer surveys, or market research data, is found in the Simmons Insights database and in some free data resources located on the Marketing Research Guide on the Campbell Library home page. In the statistical information in Sage Data Powered by Data Planet database, you can choose 'browse by source' to view the EASI marketing data there.
5. Some useful market share data is in a multi volume series called Market Share Reporter in the database called Directory Library (Gale). Once you have navigated to the Market Share Reporter option (near the bottom of the list), choose its most recent year and then type your industry/topic/company in the usual way, testing out possible synonyms (e.g., trying the term 'fitness' for example, will provide reports on Top Fitness Equipment Makers, Largest Gym Companies Worldwide, Gym Industry Revenue, etc.). If the statistics for your topic seem old, use the list of company names to help you search in other news or business databases.
6. Search Google to find the Census Business Builder: Regional Edition website or use the PolicyMap library database for demographics of our local area. Choose the 'businesses' tab or the 'consumer spending' tab to see counts of total payroll, employees, and revenue of local businesses in a particular industry, or to find out annual consumer expenditures on financial investments, housing, local transportation, etc. Like Reference Solutions Data Axle, where you would use their database's "Search Businesses" -- or like PolicyMap, where you would specify a geographic location -- can also create heat maps of different consumer lifestyle choices, demographic densities or company locations.
7. The popular "NOLO Business Start-up" book series are all online in the Small Business Reference Center database. These will describe how to do most of the initial functions of starting a business, including legal, marketing, and personnel issues.  Need something more sophisticated than this, or if your business client already established? Use the "search glass tool" on the left menu within PrivCo to also look for Investors, Fundings, and Deals!
8. How do you find books again? Use the main search box on the Campbell Library home page at https://www.lib.rowan.edu/campbell 
   Type a title or topic or book title into the big box there called Library Search.  On the subsequent results screen, choose "available online" and "books" from the resource type filters, which will give you links to our online ebooks, Just start a fresh search if it seems to have no good results at first... or of course, chat with us for more help.
9. To get business plan examples for a variety of industries from the library's main search screen, search the 'big box' Library Search with the terms "Business Plans Handbook" and your topic. Business Plan examples for every industry are in this annual series, which are online ebooks whose chapters are indexed as well (e.g., if you type "business plans handbook" trucking -- it gives you that section).  If you're not getting chapters on the items you need, you can use the link in the first sentence to get the full text of the whole Gale ebook.  Once on the Gale ebook / Business Plans Handbook screen, then you can type your business idea in the box, then choose to search 'within this publication' and "all volumes" on top right of the screen (e.g., the terms 'gym' or 'fitness' will give examples of market size, funding amounts, etc. for that type of business). Even if they're a few years old, the business plan examples in there are great!
10. Need a refresher on how to use the library's business databases? Check the menu of this page for our mega-list of database tutorials.

Need to cite a business database for your bibliography?  Use the link below for tips on citing business databases in APA 7th (choose database name there by scrolling to get the APA citation example for each library database). 

If you encounter databases which have features to auto-generate citations to get you started, be sure to check them against the APA examples given, so that you submit the most polished bibliography possible to your professors.

Let the librarian know if you need APA styles for anything not listed. For example, to cite something you find in the library database called PolicyMap, you may need to give credit to the original source of the data like this:

General APA Format:

Data source(s). (Date Last Updated in PolicyMap). Title of map layer or table [Map of a location or zip code you chose]. PolicyMap.https://rowan-policymap-com.ezproxy.rowan.edu/

Example: 

U.S. Census American Community Survey & PolicyMap. (2018). Predominant racial or ethnic group between 201872021 [Map of Albany, NY]. PolicyMap. https://rowan-policymap-com.ezproxy.rowan.edu/

Need more help on paper format, constructing an argument with sources to support it, or just a place to collect all of your citations and put them in alphabetical order? Check out even more suggestions, tools, and resources from the Rowan University Libraries.