Research Guide for: Economics

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Research on Corporations

I. A carefully worked out search strategy - a logical, systematic and comprehensive approach to locating information - will save you time and should provide more than enough material for the research paper. As you locate your resources, keep notes and full bibliographic information on them. For help in planning your search strategy, or if you need assistance along the way, ask a REFERENCE LIBRARIAN.

II. Choose your company carefully. You need a good understanding of your topic, so choose a company that really interest you!!! Reading the sections in a general guide to businesses such as Atlanta JobBank (Ref. HF5382.75 .U62 9445 2000), International Jobs Directory (Ref. HF5549.5 .E45 K72 1999) or Peterson's Hidden Job Market (Ref. HF5382.75 .U6 H53 2000)

Hoover's Handbook of American Business (Ref. HG4057 .A28617 1995)

Hoover's Online http://www.hoovers.com/

Hoover's Hot 250 (Ref. HG4057 .A28619X 1997)

Standard and Poor's 500 Guide (Ref. HG4057 .A44 1995)

Georgia Manufacturing Directory (Ready Ref. HC107 .G4 G43 1998/1999)

Alabama Manufacturers Register (Ref. HF5065 .A37 A347 1997)

North Carolina Manufacturers Directory (Ref. HF5065 .N8 H37 2000)

may be the place to start.

III. You might look at the Annual Report file. The Annual Reports are in grey file cabinets near the public elevator on the Main floor. You will find paper copies of several years and also microfiche copies. You may also want to look at the annual reports of companies which have been posted on the Internet. Try http://www.companiesonline.com .

On the Library Homepage Menu, choose Research. Choose Internet Sites by Subject. Click on Yahoo. Under Business and Economy, choose Directories, then Companies. You will see an inquiry box. Type in the name of a company. If you try Pfizer, you will find snapshot information about the large pharmaceutical company. Most public companies have a section with Investor Information, which may include the Annual Report, Proxy Statements, and Quarterly Reports.

Corporations which are listed on various stock exchanges must make available

certain corporate information. Privately held companies are not required to make information public. Thus, it is typically much easier to find information about publicly traded companies. For public companies try the EDGAR database provided by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov/edgarhp.htm . Another site is www.vectorvest.com for a different view.

IV. You will need to look at the Mergent (Formerly Moodys) set of information on public corporations. First you consult the Moody's Complete Corporate Index to determine in which volume your company is located. The companies are separated into volumes by industry: Mergent Bank and Finance Manual, Mergent Transportation Manual, and Mergent OTC Industrial Manual, etc. Moody's provides addresses of the corporate headquarters and locations of offices and manufacturing plants, a short history and balance sheet type information. They are located in the Business Ready Reference section behind the Reference Desk. If you are interested in the current corporate officers, address, primary bank used, and SIC codes of a company you may use Standard & Poor's Register of Corporations (Ready Ref. HG4057 .A4). If you are having trouble finding information about your company, perhaps it is a subsidiary. You should consult Who Owns Whom (Ref. HG4009 .W46 2001/2002).

V. For Industry Information you can use U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook, located in Gov. Doc. Ready Ref.(C61.48: ) Information about competitors can be found in Standard and Poor's Industry Surveys in the Business Ready Reference area (HC106.6 .S741). Information can also be found in Mergent Industry Review.

VI. PERIODICALS

At the University of West Georgia periodicals includes our journals and magazines.

You may search the GALILEO databases for articles on your company.

GALILEO may be searched on the Reference computers in the library or in the computer labs on campus that have Netscape software and are linked to the Internet. You may also search it from home or your dorm room going to the web address: http://www.westga.edu/~library/ or http://www.galileo.peachnet.edu/ If you are using an Internet Provider such as America Online or Mindspring, you must have the password which is available at the Reference Desk. The password is good for one semester. The pass word for this semester is _____

When in GALILEO, you may choose the Business and Economics section.

ABI/ Inform, Periodicals Abstract and Business Source Elite (Ebsco) offer the full-text of many journal articles. You may view and print these articles 24 hours per day. Other indexes in the Business and Economics section such as Wilson Business Abstracts can give you a great list of sources.

Business Dateline covers topics such as company profiles, corporate strategies, executive profiles, financial services, high technology, manufacturing, marketing, regional business environments, retailing, and service industries. The database contains full-text articles from over 262 sources, including regional publications, press releases, and major newspapers (such as: the Chicago Sun-Times, the San Francisco Examiner, the Tennessean, and the Orange County Register. Coverage begins in 1985.

For more full-text journal and newspaper articles, try Lexis-Nexis. In Lexis-Nexis, you will find sections for Business News and Company Financial Information, which includes SEC 10K Reports, NAARS Annual Reports, 1984 - 1995, and Disclosure Reports. Also there is a section on Industry and Market News. Only by experimenting with the different sources can you determine the best one for your needs.

C. BOOKS

Use the Ingram Library Catalog at http://gil.westga.edu. Type in the name of the company or industry. Often books are published on the history of a company or industry. Note the publication dates of the books that appear. For this paper you are looking for recent references. If you are having trouble find the right subject heading, ask a Librarian.

D. INTERLIBRARY LOAN

Allow yourself at least 2 weeks to receive a book or article on Interlibrary Loan. THINK AHEAD!!! If you find books or articles mentioned that are critical to your paper, you may request them on the Ingram Library Webpage under Services /Interlibrary Loan. If you are unsure how to complete the form inquire at the REFERENCE DESK.

E. NOTES

Take careful notes.

Do bibliography cards as you go.

If you just photocopy the article, be sure to write the necessary information for your bibliography on the photocopy.

You need Author's name

Title

Place of Publication BOOK

Publisher

Year

You need Author's name

Title of the Article

Title of the Journal JOURNAL OR MAGAZINE

Volume #, Issue #

Date

Page #'s

You need Name of the publication

Author or Publishing entity INTERNET SOURCES

Internet Address

Date of your access

F. FOOTNOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Follow the styles in either:

Turabian, Kate L. A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1996. ( 1 copy at the Reference Desk and several at the Reserve Desk)

Publication manual of the American Psychological Association.. 4th ed. Washington, DC : American Psychological Association,

1994. ( Also at the Reference Desk and at the Reserve Desk.)

Internet Citation and Style Guides

Columbia Guide to Online Style http://www.columbia.edu/cu/cup/cgos/idx_basic.html

Citation Style for Research Paper http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citation.htm

APA Electronic Reference Formats http://www.apastyle.org/elecref.html

APAWeb Extension http://www.beadsland.com/weapas/

Citing Internet References www.usg.edu/galileo/internet/netinfo/citing.html

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