MGT 441: Service Operations
Secondary Sources
This assignment guide was created to assist students in locating secondary sources for Professor Chow's Library Research Project involving an analysis of secondary sources to locate service improvement strategies for application in an organizational setting.
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:
Articles RE: Service Operations
Business & Company Resource Center
A comprehensive database for industry and company information including company profiles, company brand information, rankings, investment reports, company histories, chronologies, and periodicals. Search this database to find detailed company and industry news and information. Coverage is from 1980 to the present.
- Click on the 'Advanced Search' graphic from the database home page.
- Select 'News/Magazines' from the Content Area using the first pull-down menu .
- Enter your company's name in the first search box and use the pull-down menu to select 'Subject' .
- Enter quality in the second search box and use the pull-down menu to select 'Subject'.
- Also try a subject OR keyword search for service operations and additional terms such as quality, continuous improvement, management, etc.
Business Source Premier (EBSCO)
Provides the full-text for more than 8,800 titles covering all areas of business.
- Click on the 'Advanced Search' tab at the top of the search page.
- Try a subject OR keyword search. Suggested terms to use include: quality of service, customer services, management, quality control, consumer satisfaction.
- Next, try a search focused on a specific company. In the first search box, use the pull-down menu and select 'CO company entity' and enter the name of your company. Note: Company names may be entered in various ways--ex. IBM versus International Business Machines.
- In the remaining search boxes, use 'Select a Field (optional)' and enter additional words such as quality OR continuous improvement OR Six Sigma, etc.
- Click the 'search' button at the top of the screen.
- On the results screen, you may be able to focus your results to a specific topic area by clicking on subject terms to the left of the screen.
Emerald Library
Includes the full-text for 139 journals focused on management and marketing.
- Click on ‘Advanced Search ’ to the left of the screen.
- Enter search terms in the search boxes and click on the orange search button to the top right of the screen.
Remember, you can focus results to a specific company or industry.
- Review results and if needed click on 'modify search' or 'search within results' links at the top of the results list .
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Google Scholar
Sample Searches:
+quality +control +service +operations +automobile
+six +sigma +service +management
+"continuous improvement" +service +operations +retail
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 USA eText 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 USA eText beside 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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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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SOUTHcat (Library Catalog)
In addition to articles, remember to look for books about service operations in general or about a specific company's service operations.
Materials, that are available in USA’s Libraries, are indexed in SOUTHcat.
- To locate materials about service operations, conduct a *Subject Heading Browse* search in the catalog for Service Industries and scan the list for the Heading, "Service Industries--Management".
- Also, conduct keyword searches for the terms, "service operations", service AND management, etc.
- To locate materials about a specific company, conduct a *Subject Heading Browse* for that company's name.
If you need further information on how to search the library’s catalog:
Using the SOUTHcat Catalog
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Citation Sources
[For assistance in writing your papers, contact the University Writing Center.]
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 :
Online! Citation Styles
Uncle Sam - Brief Guide to Citing Government Publications
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Last Updated: 8/19/08 DLH
