Learning Centre Guide 25 Website: http://intolearningcentre.co.uk E-mail: manchester.lrc@into.uk.com Telephone: 0161 631 12 22
Finding Information on the Internet In order to produce good quality assignments, you should be using a range of different sources and materials. It is important to realise that you should be making use of QUALITY sources only, rather than simply relying on such as Wikipedia. This handout will help you search the internet more effectively.
If you are struggling to find what you need –
ask the Learning Centre staff. They like to help!
January 2015
Useful Websites The internet is full of information resources for you to use for your studies. However, it is VERY important that you use information from reputable sources only. Anyone can (and many do!) set up a website just to fool people/promote their own point of view, so you need to be careful about which sources you use. As a minimum, when searching the web, you should be making use of search engines such as Google Scholar rather than Google itself so you know you will find some “scholarly”/ academic literature. Google Scholar is available at: http://scholar.google.co.uk/ It is recommended that you make use of Subject Gateways that contain web resources that have been evaluated and quality checked by subject experts. Below are some subject gateways you might find of use for your research:
Subject Gateways Biz/ed Biz/ed is a free online service for students, teachers and lecturers of business, economics, accounting, leisure and recreation and travel and tourism. It provides access to high quality Web based learning: for example, it has profiles for a range of business organisations, key overviews of both microeconomic and macroeconomic topics as well as resources on accounting. Website: http://www.bized.co.uk/
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
Free access to scholarly publications distributed across many systems. Website: http://core.kmi.open.ac.uk/search
Digital Commons Network
Brings together free, full-text scholarly articles from hundreds of universities and colleges worldwide . Website: http://network.bepress.com/ Using subject gateways helps you find quality information, fast and effectively
Directory of Open Access Journals
Gives access to some very useful “peer reviewed” journals for you to use. This means that articles have been checked by fellow experts. Has a section covering business and economics. Suitable for those carrying out in-depth research. Website: http://www.doaj.org/
EarthTrends An American based online database, maintained by the World Resources Institute that focuses on the environmental, social and economic trends that shape our world. Useful for information on social responsibility.
Website: http://earthtrends.wri.org/
Eldis An online information service providing free access to relevant, up-to-date and diverse research on international development issues. Useful for information on sustainability, responsibility and ethical business. Website: http://www.eldis.org/
INFOMINE Based at the University of California, this is a multidisciplinary virtual library of academic and scholarly internet resources. The Business and Economics section is useful for articles on topics such as marketing; the Social Sciences and Humanities section is useful for management and leadership. Make sure you change the search menu to get free information rather than results you need to pay to access! Website: http://infomine.ucr.edu/
INTUTE Although this gateway closed in July 2011, it still has useful links to valuable web resources. The Education and Research section leads to resources on research techniques and methodologies; the Business and Management section leads to resources on marketing, management and global business. Website: http://www.intute.ac.uk/
JURN A unique search-engine that finds content in over 4,000 FREE ‘open access’ ejournals in the arts and humanities, along with other relevant arts and scholarly publications offering free content. Works in the same way as Google. Please note: does not cover pay-to access journals. Provides a useful list of the journals included.
Website: http://www.jurn.org
Manchester Central Library (a free public library for all) has access to many online journals, via its Access to Research system. Ask the Learning Centre staff for more details.
WWW Virtual Library The oldest catalogue of the Web, this covers a wide range of subject areas and is recognised as one of the highest-quality guides to particular sections of the web. The Business and Economics section leads to KnowThis.com's Marketing Virtual Library which provides extensive coverage of marketing and marketing-related areas, including marketing basics, market research, advertising, Internet marketing and sales. Website: http://vlib.org/ 
Assessing a Website Check its web address or URL for clues. For example:
.ac or .edu
at the end of a URL shows that it is a website from an educational institution
.gov at the end of a URL shows that it is a website from a governmental institution
.org
at the end of a URL shows that it is a website from an organisation or charity
co. or .com Can be anything! Check out Internet Detective website for advice on choosing the best electronic information for your studies and other clues to look for in the URL. Find this at: http://www.vtstutorials.ac.uk/detective/
index.html
Searching Effectively Many students type in long sentences when searching the Internet. This means bits of the search will be picked up separately and you will get 1, 000s of hits that are not exactly what you want. To search more effectively use Boolean Language. This is a way of making your searches more exact with fewer hits. For example: Use “ ” around a phrase and it will search for all the words in that phrase This is useful for people’s names. Example “Hillary Clinton” will give you Hillary Clinton and not Bill! Use + to link two phrases together to retrieve references that contain both of the terms you are using. This can narrow a search to find fewer, more relevant, references. Example: Pollution AND Oil spills will find you information on pollution specifically involving oil spills Use – to search for one term but deliberately miss out the other one. Example: salsa –dance –class will give you information on salsa sauce but not salsa dance classes. Check out the Internet Detective website for advice on choosing the best electronic information for your studies and other clues to look for in the URL. Find this at: http:// www.vtstutorials.ac.uk/ detective/index.html
Plan ahead! Think about your terms before you begin to search.
Other Online Resources The Learning Centre has bought licences to a range of specialised databases to help you find QUALITY material that has been assessed by fellow experts (peer-reviewed); these databases are NOT available freely via the web and should be a key part of your research: 
Philip Allan Databases Online access to current and past copies of magazines such as Business Review. Great way of finding information on current issues. Access Philip Allan Databases from INTO Manchester or at home. It is available via http://intolearningcentre.co.uk/online-resources/ Log in with your OpenAthens password. If you do not have a password, please ask the Learning Centre staff.
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Issues Online Database on social issues; covers topics such as ethics in business, globalisation and ageing in You need your OPEN society. Includes key statistics ATHENS password to use and also links to a range of esome of the INTO books on social issues. Manchester databases. If It is available via you do not have one, ask http:// the Learning Centre staff intolearningcentre.co.uk/ online-resources/ However, if you are using Issues Online off-site, at home, on a mobile phone/tablet/I Pad etc, you need a special Issues Online password/username; please ask the Learning Centre staff for this password.
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EBSCO Provides a quick and easy way to search nearly 7,000 academic and business journals. You can access the databases from INTO Manchester or at home. It is available via http://intolearningcentre.co.uk/online-resources/
Log in with your OpenAthens password. If you do not have a password, please ask the Learning Centre staff. The Learning Centre has a detailed guide on how to use the Ebsco databases. Please ask the staff.
Other Useful Websites The INTO Manchester website has a range of useful websites on it covering man of the topics studies at INTO. You will find them at http://intolearningcentre.co.uk/useful-links/
Manchester Central Library has some great sources of marketing information. Go there!
If you can’t find the information you need or you are having difficulty searching a database, why not come to the drop-in database help sessions held by the Learning Centre