LibGuides: ECO 320 Course Guide: Library Research Guide

Background Research

CQ Researcher Online This link opens in a new window
Full-text reports on current and controversial issues, with in-depth coverage of political, social and economic issues.
Credo Reference This link opens in a new window
Search across a variety of reference sources such as encyclopedias and handbooks.
Gale Reference This link opens in a new window
Another searchable collection of full-text scholarly encyclopedias and handbooks.

Article Search Tips

When searching the library's databases for articles, keep these tips in mind:

1) Use AND and OR to connect keywords: e.g., "gender gap" AND (income OR pay)

2) Search within specific publications like the Wall Street Journal or The Economist by adding them as keywords

3) Limit by date to get recent articles

4) Watch for editorial or opinion pieces. You can use these, but recognize that they only represent one perspective on the issue.

Think-Tank Reports

Think-tanks are organizations that conduct scholarly policy analysis and produce reports. Their objective is to better inform the public and government debate about important issues in the US and internationally.

To get started, do a keyword search in Harvard's Think-Tank Search tool, which searches reports from 1,200 think-tanks:

Think-Tank Search Engine

Keep in mind that many think-tanks take a particular ideological viewpoint, so their reports will be biased. To get the full picture, look for reports that reflect differing perspectives on your issue.

Government Reports

Don't just Google it! The US government and international NGOs conduct good-quality research on policy issues.

To find reports written by government agencies, add the following to your Google search:

site:gov filetype:pdf

To find reports written by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), search the country name and the issue, then add the following to your Google search:

site:org filetype:pdf

Magazine and Scholarly Journal Articles

These databases can all be searched simultaneously. Open Academic Search Premier, click on the Choose Databases link, checkmark the other two, and press OK.

Academic Search Premier This link opens in a new window
A comprehensive multi-disciplinary full-text database with both scholarly and popular periodicals.
Business Source Premier This link opens in a new window
A good starting point for finding popular magazine and scholarly journal articles on business and economic topics.
Gender Studies Database
Provides indexing and abstracts for scholarly and popular publications on gender-related issues.
Women's Studies International This link opens in a new window
Find citations and abstracts of articles from the core journals in the field of women's studies.

Newspaper Articles

US Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Full-text access to hundreds of newspapers published in the United States.
International Newsstream This link opens in a new window
Provides full text of articles from many of the world's top newspapers.

Statistics

Statista This link opens in a new window
This database provides statistics on economies, markets, and demographics for individual countries, the US as a whole, and individual US states.
Statistical Abstract of the United States This link opens in a new window
An authoritative summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic conditions of the United States.

Bureau of Labor Statistics (U.S.)
This U.S. government agency produces reports and statistics about the labor market, wages, and working conditions.
Census Bureau (U.S.)
Try keywords about your topic in the search box, to find data, studies, videos, and infographics.
Gender Data and Statistics
Country-level data from the World Bank on gender aspects of issues like poverty, education, and labor force participation
United Nations Statistical Commission
Find useful country-level statistics on a wide range of international issues.
Women's Bureau (US Dept of Labor)
Find data and research about women in the economy.

Subject Guide

Jeff Waller

Contact:

jhwaller@meredith.edu
109 Carlyle Campbell Library

919-760-8382

Meet with a Research Tutor

Madison Helton is a research tutor in the Learning Center who has experience with business and economics research. If you need help finding sources or narrowing your topic, consider making a research appointment with her!

Evaluation Activity

For our in-class activity, visit this Padlet and follow the instructions to comment on one of the articles.

ECO 320 Padlet

Zotero

Zotero is a free tool for managing your references, and creating citations and bibliographies in Microsoft Word. It involves two components: the Zotero program itself, and a browser add-on for adding items to your Zotero library.

For more information, see our Zotero 101 guide.

ABC Test

Remember to evaluate any web sources using the ABC test. If your source isn't relevant and/or doesn't meet all three criteria, you probably shouldn't use it!

ABC Test