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ACCT 2700 - Honors Paper

This guide is designed to support Honors College students enrolled in ACCT 2700 - Business Law with finding and using scholarly sources for their argumentative essays.

Refining Your Search Strategy

To build an effective search for a database it is best to use keywords instead of phrases.

A good strategy for building a keyword search is:
1. Develop a clear topic statement
2. Draw out the concepts from the topic statement
3. Create a list of synonyms for each of the principal concepts
4. Conduct searches using the keywords and synonyms you have selected for an Advanced Keyword search
5. Add more synonyms to your list as you encounter them in your research
 
Use the Keywording worksheet (link to file above) to help with this process.

Using Boolean Operators in Your Search

AND only returns search results that contain both keywords

OR returns results that include either keyword

NOT excludes one or more of your keywords

Where to Search

  • Try limiting your search to the abstract--the short summary at the beginning of a journal article. When a search term or phrase is found within the abstract, it will typically be a main focus of the article.
  • When searching for information sources on your research topic, note that some of the library databases will allow you to filter down to those articles considered scholarly in nature. If available, this time-saving feature will help you quickly narrow down the available pool of articles to a more manageable number to read and evaluate. To use this type of filter, look for options like these:

NOTE: You can use UlrichsWeb to help you determine whether articles from a particular journal (e.g., Economy & Society, Journal of International Business Studies, etc.) are refereed/peer-reviewed and therefore considered scholarly:

The following databases are the best places to begin looking for scholarly information sources on research topics that are business focused:

If your research topic has legal or policy implications, you may opt to search legal or governmental databases:

If your research topic focuses on populations outside the US, you may need to try the following databases which contain information resources from/about other countries:

If your research topic covers multiple fields, you may want to try searching the following interdisciplinary databases:

Reading, Evaluating, and Keeping Track of Sources

You should set up a method to keep track of the articles you are reading and how you might use the articles in your argument. Your goal is to limit the number of times you have to re-read an article.

One option is to use an annotation tool. Another option, is to use an Excel spreadsheet. More on both options can be found below.