ULibraries Research Guides: Business Writing Toolkit: Research Assignments

More Resources

Want a brief overview of the resources?

Check out this Business Research Handout or a message from your Business Librarian.

Need help with creating literature reviews, discovering related research, and visualizing content? Then, check out the AI tools below designed for researchers.

Research Rabbit - Literature search, alerts, and more
Litmaps - Joining the dots between scientific papers.

Research Assignments

Two Types of Research Assignments

The following sections address the two types of research assignments. For further guidance, check out this online tutorial, Business Research Assignments or contact your librarian.

Research Paper

Writing on a Topic

Essentially there are three sections in a hypothesis based research paper.

Introduction
Literature Review
Conclusion

The following describes a method you can take when writing a research paper but keep in mind that your goal is to define your topic based on the perspective you take.

Understand Your Topic – Build your background knowledge, narrow your perspective of the phenomenon, and develop a research question on your topic
Gather Material – Make a list of search terms and begin your search within the following library databases or use the catalog search box located on our landing page
Analyze and Utilize your Research – View the short film, Understanding the Sections of a Peer Reviewed Article. Once you collect enough material to introduce your topic/perspective, details that support your perspective, and your conclusion, start writing, but be sure you cite the resources correctly

Another approach is to develop an annotated bibliography of the articles you've identified. Check out the AI and Annotated Bibliography tutorial; it teaches you how to use AI as a research and writing coach. The result of this tutorial are annotations ready to use in your writing.

Finding Articles

The following list of databases include books and articles. Read over their descriptions and select which source is best for you. If you are asked to login, use your U credentials.

Want to avoid getting overwhelmed by peer reviewed articles? Check out this film, Understanding the Sections of a Peer Reviewed Article. Once you access the link, you will be taken to Kaltura the video platform for the University of Utah.

Business Source Premier
Includes the full text for more than 2,300 journals. Full-text results are provided back to 1886, and searchable cited references back to 1998. This database covers many business disciplines, including marketing, management, MIS, POM, accounting, finance and economics. Additional full-text, non-journal content includes market research reports, industry reports, country reports, company profiles and SWOT analyses.
JSTOR Archival Journals and Primary Sources Collection
JSTOR Archival Journals and Primary Sources Collection provides full-text access to all content that the Jstor publishes. The majority of the database is archival content, and new issues are added to the collection periodically. New content may not appear in JSTOR until months or years after its initial publication date, and update frequencies for journals vary by title and publisher. Artstor content will be migrated to the Jstor platform. Artstor content can be found at https://www.jstor.org/images.
ABI/INFORM Collection
Proquest's ABI/INFORM Collection comprises ABI/INFORM Global, ABI/INFORM Trade and Industry, and ABI/INFORM Dateline. The database features thousands of full-text journals, dissertations, working papers, key business and economics periodicals such as the Economist, country-and industry-focused reports, and downloadable data.
Global Newsstream
The Global Newsstream database contains the full text of many U.S. and international news sources with archives that stretch back into the 1980s. Over 2,800 news sources are included covering the U.S., Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Australia. Global Newsstream incorporates U.S. Newsstream, Canadian Newsstream, and International Newsstream databases.
Taylor & Francis Journals
Online journals back to 1997- current. Search each journal for individual holdings. Taylor & Francis journals cover a broad selection of research.

Harvard Business Review
Once you access the link, you will have the option to follow a "search within this publication" link to begin your research.

Wall Street Journal
NOTE:User Notice: By creating a WSJ user account, you acknowledge that you are financially responsible for any claim against the WSJ arising from any User Content you create. All current students, faculty and staff have online access to the Wall Street Journal, courtesy of the University of Utah. You must first set up a Wall Street Journal online account.

Step 1: Go to WSJ.com/UofUtah

Step 2: Sign in to the University of Utah’s Single Sign-On web page with your University uNID and password

Step 3: The first time you sign on you will be taken to a separate Wall Street Journal (WSJ) sign-in web page.
a. Account Type—select your status: Student, Staff, or Professor
a. Students will need to enter their anticipated graduation month and year. Please note: you can change your graduation date at a later date by reaching out to WSJ’s customer service (academicsupport@dowjones.com or 1-800-JOURNAL)
b. Email Address—WSJ will allow you to use a different email address if you wish.
c. Password—You have to enter a password for the Wall Street Journal account you are setting up. (Do NOT enter your University of Utah password at this step since this is not a University of Utah account.)

Step 4: After the first time signing on, you will be able to sign in directly through wsj.com. After it is set up you will also be able to access this new account from the WSJ app on your phone/tablet.
New York Times access for University of Utah Campus
Log in instructions :

1. Go to accessnyt.com and look up "University of Utah“ Salt Lake City, UT"
2. Click the blue Go button at the bottom of the page
3. Log into the campus network
4. On the NYT registration page, click Create Account button
5. Input information
6. Click Create Account button

This is for initial registration only. Once registered, you can go directly to nytimes.com to log in and view content.

Access to current New York Times for Students, Staff, and Faculty of the University of Utah. For many years the Collegiate Readership Fee has funded access to Newspapers for University of Utah students. Last year ASUU Student Leaders facilitated a survey to a sample of students asking if they would be interested in an online news option instead. Many students indicated interest in an online option, rather than the current/previous readership program which solely featured paper copies around campus.
Nexis Uni
Nexis Uni™ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis with an intuitive interface that offers discovery across all content types.
Access World News
This database provides access to the electronic editions of local, regional, and national U.S. newspapers as well as full-text content of many international sources. Access World News focuses on local and regional news from Africa, Asia, Europe, the former Soviet Union, Pacific Rim, Central and South America and the Middle East. It covers a variety of local and international developments related to industry, politics, economics, science & technology, sports, culture and business.

This database provides access to the electronic editions of local, regional, and national U.S. newspapers as well as full-text content of many international sources. Access World News focuses on local and regional news from Africa, Asia, Europe, the former Soviet Union, Pacific Rim, Central and South America and the Middle East. It covers a variety of local and international developments related to industry, politics, economics, science & technology, sports, culture and business.
The Economist Historical Archive, 1843-2015
The Economist Historical Archive is the fully searchable facsimile edition of The Economist, the weekly paper for anyone engaged in politics, current affairs, business and trade worldwide. Containing every issue since its launch in 1843, the archive offers full-colour images, multiple search indexes, topic and area supplements and surveys. It is an unrivalled multidisciplinary primary source for researching and teaching the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Factiva
This database provides access to licensed content from Dow Jones journalists, media outlets, trade and consumer publications and business Web sites. Factiva also contains in-depth company, executive and industry profiles, expert analysis, market data and other reports.
Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context
Opposing Viewpoints explores opposing sides of the most important issues.
Black Economic Empowerment: The National Negro Business League
Booker T. Washington, founder of the National Negro Business League, believed that solutions to the problem of racial discrimination were primarily economic, and that bringing African Americans into the middle class was the key. In 1900, he established the League "to promote the commercial and financial development of the Negro," and headed it until his death. Content: 15,779 images Source: Library of Congress
Gale Business Insights: Global
Provides students and researchers with the broad yet detailed coverage of international business.

Provides students and researchers with the broad yet detailed coverage of international business.
Regional Business News
This database provides full-text coverage of over 80 business journals, newspapers and newswires from metropolitan and rural areas within the United States.
Regional Economic Accounts
This database provides statistics about gross domestic product, personal income, employment, compensation, wage and salary disbursements, personal current transfer receipts, personal current taxes, farm income and expenses, and per capita personal income statistics for states, counties, and metropolitan areas.
SBRnet: Sports Business Research
This database provides access to market research and industry news covering many aspects of the sporting goods and sports marketing industry, including sports equipment sales, sports participation, sports broadcasting, sports sponsorship and sports marketing.
San Francisco Chronicle Archive includes current content
San Francisco Chronicle from 1865 to current content.
Global Breaking Newswires
In the modern news world, news is the primary source of timely news, and as pressures on the traditional news industry mount, news is often the only news coverage for many large regions of the world. Global Breaking Newswires is the premier library news product providing timely access to the world's best news content for the modern researcher, as well as a growing archive of news indexed and accessible through the well-known and popular research functionality of the ProQuest platform

Research Report

Problem Based Reports

At times, research assignments are problem based. These assignments often come with a scenario asking you to complete:

Tasks
Objectives
Goals

First, start thinking of an action plan for your research by deciding what information is necessary; like, will you need books, articles, company details, industry information, or market data? Then, start thinking about how you want to present what you've learned.

Below are databases that provide company, industry and market information. Read over the descriptions to decide which option is best for you. If you are asked to login, use your U credentials.

Company, Industry & Market Research

Need to gather company, industry, and market information but need help using the databases?

Check out this online tutorial titled, Company, Industry & Market Research!

Research Databases

Industry Reports

IBISWorld
This database contains a variety of industry reports including risk reports, industry summaries, market research, market conditions and forecasts, supply chain information, and competition data. Items can be viewed online or downloaded for offline use.
Nexis Uni
Nexis Uni™ features more than 15,000 news, business and legal sources from LexisNexis with an intuitive interface that offers discovery across all content types.
Factiva
This database provides access to licensed content from Dow Jones journalists, media outlets, trade and consumer publications and business Web sites. Factiva also contains in-depth company, executive and industry profiles, expert analysis, market data and other reports.

Market Data

Mergent Online
This database contains searchable data for more than 10,000 companies on the NYSE, AMEX and Nasdaq exchanges. All financials are provided as reported and include information on balance sheets, income statements, expenditures, assets, liabilities, cash flow, performance trends, and more.
Markets and Markets
NOTE:Access limited to University of Utah students, faculty, and staff. MarketsandMarkets provides quantified B2B research on 30,000 high growth emerging opportunities/threats which will impact 70% to 80% of worldwide companies' revenues. Currently servicing 7500 customers worldwide including 80% of globalFortune 1000 companies as clients. Almost 75,000 top officers across eight industries worldwide approach MarketsandMarkets for their painpoints around revenues decisions. Our 850 fulltime analyst and SMEs at MarketsandMarkets are tracking global high growth markets following the "Growth Engagement Model - GEM". The GEM aims at proactive collaboration with the clients to identify new opportunities, identify most important customers, write "Attack, avoid and defend" strategies, identify sources of incremental revenues for both the company and its competitors. MarketsandMarkets now coming up with 1,500 MicroQuadrants (Positioning top players across leaders, emerging companies, innovators, strategic players) annually in high growth emerging segments. MarketsandMarkets™ is determined to benefit more than 10,000 companies this year for their revenue planning and help them take their innovations/disruptions early to the market by providing them research ahead of the curve. MarketsandMarkets's flagship competitive intelligence and market research platform, "Knowledgestore" connects over 200,000 markets and entire value chains for deeper understanding of the unmet insights along with market sizing and forecasts of niche markets.
Value Line
This database provides access to documents and financial information for a variety of companies.
Pitchbook
NOTE: The information from this database may only be used for academic and noncommercial purposes. Your use of the database constitutes acceptance of this restriction. Individual accounts expire on May 7 and will need to be renewed every year.Students will need to accept the terms of use and can skip questions on their interests.
PitchBook allows you to search private equity and investors, venture capital deals, and information on mergers and acquisitions. Using real time data, their emerging spaces feature discloses upcoming investor trends, and the market map feature allows you to map out existing or emerging markets. Only students, faculty, and staff at the University of Utah can create a personal account which expires annually. Best tips in using this database include clearing your cache regularly, and following the link from the library’s website. Note, PitchBook is not accessible on mobile devices like smart phones or tablets. For Access please use the the following links:1. Here is a link that users can bookmark that allows users to bypass entering their email into the PitchBook platform.
2. Users may also go to https://my.pitchbook.com and click on "Sign in with SSO".
Roper iPoll
Domestic and international responses
to issues and events from 1935 to today
New Deal • Lend-Lease • Wagner Labor Act • Rationing • Berlin Airlift • Marshall Plan •
Red Scare • Polio Vaccine • Korean War • Cuban Missile Crisis • Civil Rights Movement •
JFK, RFK and MLK Assassinations • Space Race • Vietnam • Roe v. Wade • Watergate •
1970s Recession • Iran Hostage Crisis • Women’s Movement • Three Mile Island • Iran-Contra •
AIDS • Savings and Loan Bailout • Fall of Berlin Wall • Dissolution of USSR • Gulf War •
Rodney King • Clinton Impeachment • September 11 • Abu Ghraib • 2000 election •
Hurricane Katrina • ACA • Same-Sex Marriage • Mueller Report • Trump Impeachment

Business Writing Toolkit