Course Pathfinder Finance 304/330, Spring 2007
Prof. Wendy Pirie, Prof. Ruth Connell

Note: This page was created in Spring of 2007 and has not been updated since.

Who Can Help Me?  ||   Getting Started  ||   SIC and NAICS Codes  ||   Finding Journal Articles
Finding Books   ||   Finding Internet Resources  ||   Final Writing and Presentation

Who Can Help Me?

Ask Us! http://www.valpo.edu/library/ref/question.html

Librarian Subject Specific Help
All of our librarians can help you with any area of research, but we also have areas of specialty. Your class' library liaison is Prof. Ruth Connell. If you would like to consult with a librarian in a different subject area, please view our subject liaison site for your subject specialist's contact information.

Getting Started

Consult library research guides and reputable scholarly resources as necessary to begin creating a research strategy.

How Do I . . .? http://www.valpo.edu/library/howdoi.html
Searching for Information: Concepts & Tools http://www.valpo.edu/library/user/searching.html
Christopher Center User Guides http://www.valpo.edu/library/user/index.html

A library reference room can be a good place to find expert sources of quick information. Encyclopedias and dictionaries offer concise information in a variety of subjects and can also spark ideas for specific research topics. These are examples of a few of the resources found in our reference room; the same titles might also be found in another library. You will find the same subject areas in the library general stacks following the same call number system.

The following reference sources are great places to start when looking for information on a company or industry.

Directory of corporate affiliations Ref. HG4057 .A219 2005
(Also known as "Who owns Whom". Useful for finding the relationships of companies)

Value Line Ref. HG4501 .V26
(analyzes and reports on 1,700 companies in about 95 industries; updated weekly)

Hoover's handbook of American business Ref. HG4057 .A28617 2007
(profiles 750 major U.S. companies)

Hoover's handbook of private companies Ref. HG4057 .A28616 2005
(profiles major U.S. private enterprises)

Mergent Industry Review Ref. HG4961 .M68
(Ranks companies by industry; includes statistics on revenue, net income, operating profit margin, etc.)

Security owner's stock guide (Standard and Poor's) HG4915 .S67
(Concise data in tabular format for about 5,100 common and preferred stocks. Two most recent editions kept in reference section. Older editions are in the stacks. Updated monthly)

Annual Reports File: We have many annual reports on file in the reference area. They are arranged alphabetically on the shelves on the south side of the reference area (near the Zs).

We have many other Business Reference Sources - If you don't see what you need, ask for help!

SIC and NAICS codes

Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) and North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes are assigned to industries. NAICS codes replaced SIC codes, but many sources still use SIC codes. A company can have multiple SIC or NAICS codes. For example, Limited Brands has three SIC codes (according to the Directory of corporate affiliations): 5621-Women's Clothing Stores, 5651-Family Clothing Stores, 5961-Catalog and Mail Order Houses. For more information, the books below are available in our library.

Standard industrial classification manual Ref. HF1042 .A55 1987
North American industry classification system : United States, 2002 Ref. HF1042 .N67 2002
NAICS desk reference : The North American Industry Classification System desk reference Ref. HF1041.5 .N35 2000

Finding Journal & Magazine Articles

Some indexes and databases will provide the full-text of articles online; others offer only a citation and/or abstract of the article. If the database you're using doesn't provide the full-text of an article, first check JournaLocator to see if it is available online in another database or in Christopher Center's in-house collection. If not available through these options, make use of Interlibrary Loan.

Still wondering what to do? Learn more at Quick Tips: Electronic Searching and Searching for Articles.

Working from off-campus? You'll be using our proxy server. All you need to do is click the name of the database you would like to access, and login using your VU e-mail username and password, and then you'll be able to search our collections as if you were on campus.

Subject Headings and Controlled Vocabularies
Use these for subject searches, the "authoritative" words or phrases used to categorize information in a specific discipline.

Scholarly Journals
Making an important distinction between scholarly and popular journals (and magazines) adds credibility to your research papers and projects (plus, your professor considers this in your grade). This user guide is intended to help you learn criteria by which to evaluate your findings. For more assistance, consult with your professor or with a librarian.

Databases for Company and Industry Information

Business Source Premier: for company information, click on the "Company Profiles" tab in the green bar at the top of the database
 
Edgar: government (SEC) website of filings by public companies    
Hoover's: Some of this website is freely available. Use it to find basic company information. Use our databases and print resources to get more in-depth information.    
Standard and Poor's Net Advantage: Very useful tool! Includes S&P Register and Industry Survey. Register contains information on 55,000+ companies. Survey has an overview of 50+ industries, giving outlook and performance information.
 
WorldScope: Basic financial information on public companies worldwide
 

Databases for Journal Articles

ABI Inform (a must-use database)
 
Business Source Premier (a must-use database)
 
Academic Search Premier
 
BusIndustry: Business & Industry
 
BusinessOrgs
 

Databases for Newspaper Articles

LexisNexis Academic  
Newslink: Links to freely available newspapers world-wide
 
Newspaper Source  

Finding Books

For finding resources in Christopher Center and other libraries, construct keyword & subject searches. A good strategy is to do a keyword search first, using words that you think might be in the title or content notes. When you find a resource that looks worthwhile, see what subject headings are used to categorize that item and use them to do subject searches.

Searches in GALILEO will display what resources VU owns in those areas. To check for items in other libraries in your area, perform those same searches in WorldCat, an online index of library holdings worldwide and use our Interlibrary Loan program to borrow those materials.

Still wondering what to do? Learn more at Quick Tips: GALILEO Searching and Searching for Books.

Subject Headings and Controlled Vocabularies
Use these for subject searches, the "authoritative" words or phrases used to categorize information in a specific discipline. For GALILEO, VU's online catalog, use Library of Congress Subject Headings, found in the big red books located near the Reference Desk. WorldCat also uses these headings.

    GALILEO (VU's Catalog)   
    WorldCat  

Finding Internet Resources

The Internet is a very useful resource, but it can be frustrating to use if you don't know where to look for scholarly information, or to learn if the information you have found is accurate and true. To begin, use Internet sites that your program and Christopher Center have chosen. Those sites have been checked for the accuracy of their information.

If you still question the information, ask your instructor, a librarian, or use the Christopher Center guide, Evaluating the Quality of World Wide Web Resources, to help you evaluate various web sites.

For quick access to the seven primary evaluative criteria, go to the Web Evaluation Criteria section.

Selected E-Resources: Business, Economics, Finance http://www.valpo.edu/library/www/bef.html

Final Writing and Presentation

Citing Resources   http://www.valpo.edu/library/citing.html
VU Writing Center  http://www.valpo.edu/writingcenter/
Christopher Center Virtual Reference Shelf   http://www.valpo.edu/library/select.html#ref