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Tools for Assignments and Projects

Information Sources

There are many sources from which you can gather relevant information. These include: annual reports, consultant/industry analyst reports, databases, Department of Commerce publications, Temple and other university libraries, trade and academic journals, Moody's, Value Line, the business press (Wall Street Journal, Business Week, etc.), and so on. You may be surprised and overwhelmed by the volume of information that is available for many topics, though you may have to do some "detective work" to locate them. The most promising sources:

Library Resources:
Books (e.g., Hoover's Handbook of American Business)
Popular magazines (e.g., Glamour, Wired, People, Time)
Academic journals (e.g., Journal of Popular Culture, Dress)
Trade publications (e.g., Women's Wear Daily, Advertising Age)

Online Source:
You can often find good material by doing on-line database searches (Galileo, hoovers.com, lexis-Nexus etc). If you do not know how to do this, the Reference Librarian can help you. Further your cal use a variety of search engines (viz. Google, Yahoo, Lycos etc.) to pull up specific information about the companies.

Institutions:
Most companies have corporate communications departments set up for this purpose. Call them and request an information kit. Sometimes companies also store other information (e.g., letters written to the company over a period of years). In some cases, information is also available from specialized museums or collections (e.g., the Smithsonian Museum)
Consumers/Employees:
Some of your best insights will come from talking to people who have actually experienced the firm. Depending on your topic, you can conduct a survey, do a focus group, do in-depth interviews, etc.

I will be looking for use of such diverse and comprehensive sources of information while grading the project. It is important not to rely on one information source exclusively. The more sources you use, the richer the picture that will result. Remember to always document every source you consult, even if it is a conversation with a friend, businessperson, or other expert informant.

Writing Sources

The following sources provide helpful tips for writing technical papers:

Writing Center at GMU

Writing Center at University of Georgia

Elements of Styles by William Strunk, Jr.

Resources for Writers - The Purdue Official Website

The Writer's Handbook (University of Wisconsin Writing Center)

The Word Police