MBA Student Research Guide

The library subscribes to a number of business publications in electronic format which can be accessed using one of these options:

• Search the library's catalog by the publication's title  
• Search Journals by Title/Subject This link will direct you to the database that indexes the journal you are looking for.
• Search a business database (ABI/inform Collection or Business Source Ultimate are good starting places)

E-mail Alerts

E-mail alerts use your search terms to deliver articles or citations directly to your email inbox.  You can schedule them for daily, weekly, or monthly delivery.  Instructions to create alerts differ slightly from one database to another, but most require you to:

• Register for an account.  Make sure to use your FGCU email address and assignassword that you will remember
• Create a relevant search query
• When the results of that search are displayed, look for the Save search/alert or Share link
• Click Create alert and follow the instructions
• Look for a confirmation email and confirm that you actually did create the alert
• Wait for the information to come in! Alerts can be tweaked to ensure relevant results 

Articles differ depending on the audience.  Business research may depend less on academic publications than on those written for the practitioner. Let's look at the characteristics of the different types:

• Scholarly or academic journal articles (may or may not be peer reviewed)*
  • Abstract
  • Extensive bibliography
  • Written by researchers typically working in an academic setting
  • Usually long 
  • Scholarly journals publications are less frequent (quarterly, twice a year)
• Trade publications (may or may not be peer reviewed)
  • ​Written by professionals in a field (HR, Accounting, etc)
  • Target audience is typically other professionals
  • Addresses trends, practices, challenges, solutions a field may experience
  • Published more frequently (weekly, monthly)
• Magazines (not peer reviewed or scholarly)
  • ​Written by reporters who may or may not be experts on the topic, although they may have experience writing about the topic
  • Target audience is general
  • Published frequently (weekly, monthly)
• Newspapers (peer reviewed)
  • ​​Written by reporters who may or may not be experts on the topic, although they may have experience writing about the topic
  • Target audience is general
  • Published frequently (daily, weekly)

*Peer review--what's that?   A peer reviewed article is-

• Reviewed by authorities in the field being written about before it is accepted for publication
• Peer review adds a level of scholarly rigor 

In addition to library resources, there are reputable news sites to consider.  Keep in mind that you may be able to read some of the content from these sites, but most content is restricted to subscribers.

This is where the library can help. The library subscribes to all of the titles listed below. Look for other titles in the online catalog.  Enter the title, select Journal Title from the drop down menu, click Search.

This list is representative of the many newspapers that the library has access to. You may have to search a database to find it, though. If the library does not have access to an article you need, consider submitting an interlibrary loan request.