Reference and Instruction Librarian
Library Help
Welcome!
Hello! This course guide is created for students in Barbara Durkin's Spring 2024 MGMT 3343: Organizational Behavior course. Included in this guide are helpful tutorials and suggested to databases that hold company profiles, industry reports, journal articles, and much more!
New to Academic Research?
What is "academic research"?
Academic research includes finding published articles, academic books, and other information written by experts on the topic in order to inform your understanding of an issue, provide background information, and support your argument for a paper or project.
What is a "database"?
A database is an online collection of information organized so users can easily access that information by searching in various ways. It is different from a search engine, like google, because a library database has information that has been tagged specifically to organize it into categories and subjects for simple access. For example, the library catalog is a database that organizes what the library has in its physical collection for easy retrieval. Different databases have different kinds of information. EBSCO's Religion and Philosophy Collection is a database that contains only academic journal articles, magazine articles, and newspaper articles about topics in religion and philosophy.
What is an "academic journal"?
An academic journal (also known as a scholarly journal, scientific journal, or peer-reviewed journal) is periodical publication containing articles written by experts in a specific field of study. For example, the Journal of Philosophy has peer-reviewed articles about the topic written by experts in philosophy.
What does "peer-reviewed" mean?
Peer-reviewed is a process of which experts (peers) in a field evaluate an article on their subject of expertise before it is published to make sure that the article is accurate and credible. This is a way to ensure the academic quality and truthfulness of scholarly articles.
What is a "peer-reviewed article" or a "peer-reviewed publication"?
A peer-reviewed article has been read, evaluated, and approved by other experts in the field for publication. If you use materials from peer-reviewed publications they have been evaluated by other scholars in the field and determined to be credible and accurate.
What is a Periodical?
Periodicals are publications that are published on a regular schedule.
They fall into three categories: Scholarly, Popular, and Trade
What differentiates these types of sources is their intended audience, the information they provide, and the level of review they go through before publication.
Scholarly sources are written by experts, researchers, or practitioners in the field for other scholars or students. The information in these types of sources are often very technical or require discipline-specific knowledge to understand. Scholarly sources go through a peer-review process in which other experts in the field review the article or book before publication to ensure that it meets certain quality standards.
Trade publications or articles are written by practitioners or experts in the field for other practitioners. Trade publications discuss industry topics, trends, or issues. The articles are reviewed by the publication editor and perhaps a copyeditor.
Popular sources are written by journalists and reports for the general public. Topics can include current events, issues, or a wide variety of topics to either inform or entertain. The articles are reviewed by the publication editor.
