MGT 340: Organizational Behavior
Locating Articles & Empirical Studies
This assignment guide was created to assist students in locating articles & empirical studies for their Management Report & Project 1 - Empirical Articles Summaries portion of their team project..
Students will write a 7-8 page management report on a topic selected by the student. Sources must include at least two empirical studies which are based on data collection and analysis.
The guide focuses on suggested strategies and best places to begin research efforts. For information & assistance in using any of the sources, please contact library staff:
Plan Ahead (Topic Selection/Develop Search Strategy)
Topic Selection
"Individual students will write a 7-8 page management report on a topic selected by the student.
Possible topics include:
effects of employee distrust
redesigning jobs to increase job enrichment
managing resistance to change
increasing organizational citizenship behaviors
how leader-member exchange affects organizational performance
Students may choose other topics; however, your topic must be approved by the professor."
Rather than choosing a broad topic, such as workplace bullying, narrow the topic by including more specifics ... "what can organizations do to avoid an environment that allows workplace bullying among peers?"
The database below, provides a way for researchers to narrow broad topics:
Business Index ASAP
-->Guide to searching Business Index ASAP
- Click on ‘Subject Guide’ to the left of the screen.
- Enter the broad organizational topic (ex. job enrichment) in the search box and click on the ‘Search’ button.
- From the results list, locate the specific topic. You can either ‘View’ the complete list of articles on that topic OR narrow by subdivision. Narrowing by subdivision is useful in locating articles that will relate to your specific need.
Develop Search Strategy
Rather than just jumping in and starting to search for articles & empirical studies, it is worth your effort to think through a search strategy.
Plan Ahead: Review Topic & Develop Search Strategy
Scholarly Journal vs. Popular Magazine? How to Tell The Difference
Empirical studies and research articles are located in scholarly journals.
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Google Scholar
-->Guide to searching Google Scholar
Sample Searches:
+effects +employee +distrust +"empirical study"
+"job enrichment" +redesign +"empirical study"
+"resistance to change" +management +"empirical study"
+increasing +"citizenship behaviors" +"empirical study"
+performance +"leader-member exchange" +"empirical study"
Google Scholar is a beta test product for academic researchers. “It provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations. Google Scholar helps you identify the most relevant research across the world of scholarly research.” Researching your topic through Google Scholar allows you to utilize features of Google search technology with which you are already familiar.
Since Google Scholar is an index to scholarly literature, it may or may not provide the full-text for the secondary data sources it cites. Never purchase information from Google Scholar as you will be able to search Our Journal List OR SOUTHcat to locate materials that are available at USA.
So that you will be able to integrate the features of Our Journal List, whether you are on-campus or off-campus, remember to set Scholar Preferences and set a library preference for the University of South Alabama. Type ‘University of South Alabama’ in the library link box and click on ‘Find Library’. Once our library appears on the selection list with 'Full-Text @ USA' next to it, click in the box and at the top right of the screen select ‘Save Preferences’. You may also set preferences for English language only articles.
On the results list, anytime you see a citation with 'Full-Text @ USA' next to it, click on the link and it will search Our Journal List to see if the citation is available in full-text. If you are off-campus, you will be asked to provide your last name plus the first two letters of your first name and either your J Number, the last 4 digits of your social security number or your library barcode.
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Article Databases
Business Source Premier (EBSCO)
Provides the full-text for more than 8,800 titles covering all areas of business.
-->Guide to searching Business Source Premier
Click on advanced-search at the top and try the searches listed below.
- To locate general articles, try a subject or keyword 'Select a Field' search using terms from your research question. To limit results to scholarly articles, check off 'Scholarly (Peer Reviewed Journals)' on the search form.
- Locate an article that fits your topic. Click on the title link and review 'Subject Terms'.
- Revise your search using subject terms.
- To conduct a new search, click on 'New Search' at the top of the screen.
- To locate empirical studies on your topic, include 'empirical study' as a search term. Use full-text or subject from the pull-down menu to search for key terms that describe your topic. Remember to include pharases in quotes.
Business Index ASAP
Perform in-depth research on management issues, economic indicators and business theories and practices, as well as on the activities of companies and industries worldwide. The benefit of using this database to search for articles is that it provides a subject guide that helps you narrow your topic.
-->Guide to searching Business Index ASAP
- Click on ‘Subject Guide’ to the left of the screen.
- Enter the broad organizational topic (ex. job enrichment) in the search box and click on the ‘Search’ button.
- From the results list, locate the specific topic. You can either ‘View’ the complete list of articles on that topic OR narrow by subdivision. Narrowing by subdivision is useful in locating articles that will relate to your specific need.
- To start a new search, click on 'Search' on the left menu bar.
- To find empirical studies on your topic, conduct a keyword search using 'empirical study' and other key terms that describe your specific topic. Remember to limit the current search 'to refereed publications'.
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Our Journal List
Usually, you find a reference/citation to an article that may fit your research needs either through Google Scholar or listed in a bibliography at the end of another article or book chapter you have read. The next step is to try to locate the full-text so you can read and evaluate it further.
Our Journal List allows you to type in the title of a journal or magazine and directs you to a list of databases the library subscribes to which may provide the full-text of an article you need. Once you click on Our Journal List, enter the name of the journal, magazine or source in the first search box. If the title is indexed in any of our databases, it will appear on a results list. Across the top of the screen, you will find the dates of ‘Online Coverage’ per database for the title, a link to ‘Full-Text Access’ as well as a link to the library’s catalog record for the print title if available.
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Interlibrary Loan (ILL)
Although the library subscribes to a number of full-text article databases and print journals, you may find a journal article citation that you would like to incorporate in your paper and USA does not provide the full-text. The library can ask other libraries for a copy of the full-text article once you fill out an ILL request.
The first time you request an article you will need to register. Journal articles and books located in libraries in Alabama will be obtained for you at no charge—undergraduates are limited to 5 requests in process at any time. Although articles may come sooner, please allow 7-10 days. Most of the time, articles are sent as PDF attachments and are delivered to your ILL web account. When they arrive, you will be sent an email to the account you listed when you registered for the service.
Often you will be able to find additional full-text articles in databases the library subscribes to without having to utilize ILL. Contact the Service Desk in the MCOB Library if you need assistance in locating other secondary sources for your team’s research paper.
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Citation Style Guides
[For assistance in writing your papers, contact the University Writing Center.]
Plagiarism:
What is plagiarism? Review this web page for how the University of South Alabama defines plagiarism.
<<DO NOT COMMIT PLAGIARISM>>
Remember to cite all the sources you use in the company analysis using the 5th edition of the APA (American Psychological Association) citation style manual.
American Psychological Association (APA)
American Psychological Association (APA) Format (Purdue)
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 5th ed.
MCOB Reference BF 76.7 .P83 2001
Other
Mitchell College of Business Handbook: University of South Alabama
MCOB, 2 Hour Reserve PE 1408 .K6746 2007
&
University Library Reference PE 1408 .K6746 2007
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Last Updated: 1/25/09 DLH
