Marketing Communications
Course Number: BU472
Subject: Business
This guide will support your research for the Account Competition project and your company partner, Hershey (brand: Jolly Rancher).
There are multiple sections to this guide, including how to find articles pertaining to the partner company and their brands, consumers' lifestyles, habits, and behaviours. Use the resources under Key Resources for Industry Research to determine the industry under which your partner company's brands fall under, and find information about that industry, including competitive environment, competitors, market shares, trends, outlook, etc.
Researching a larger company like Hershey and its brands will require you to look at multiple markets within an industry.
Research Help
Your business librarian, Matt Rohweder, is always available to help with research with your assignment.
Book a research consultation with me:
Finding Articles
Articles are a key resource when doing any kind of marketing research. Remember, you are going to need to look for articles pertaining to both your partner company and the associated brand you're working with.
- e.g. Hershey
- e.g. Jolly Rancher
You may also need to look at different industries and markets - confectionery and chocolate, as well as candy, snacks, sugary foods, etc.
See below for search tips in looking for articles.
Finding Articles in a Specific Journal
- From the library homepage, click "Search for journal titles" below the Omni search box. Enter in a journal title.
- Click on the relevant hyperlinked journal. In the new window, select the appropriate database.
- Tip: Look at the year(s) listed in the "Available from" field.
- Two options: run a search in the journal or browse by volume and issue number
- Option one: Use Advanced Search. Start broad, use keywords and/or subject terms (subject headings). Connect terms using Boolean operators: AND, OR, & NOT.
- Tip: Click on ? or Tips links (usually found near the search box) for additional search techniques
- Too many results? Narrow your search by publication date, geographic location, source type, etc.
- Option two: Browse specific issues by expanding the year(s) and if necessary, expand the month. Review articles in each issue.
Finding Articles in a Journal Database
- From the library homepage, select the "Search resources (databases by title and description) below the Omni search box, enter in the database name in the search box, click "Filter" and select database from search results.
- If you are unsure as to which journal database to use, go to the Business subject page, use the filter drop-down menu and select "journal articles" under Business Content Type, then click "Filter".
- Select an appropriate database.
- Tip: Searching more than one database will retrieve better results than sticking to one
- Use Advanced Search. Start broad, use keywords and/or subject terms (subject headings). Connect terms using Boolean operators: AND, OR, & NOT.
- Tip: Click on ? or Tips links (usually found near the search box) for additional search techniques such as how to use truncation and wildcard symbols as well as proximity operators.
- Too many results? Narrow your search by publication date, geographic location, source type, etc.
- Look for "Full-text" links or try the "Get it at Laurier" button for more options.
For additional Help finding articles, review these useful video tutorials: Finding Articles on a Topic and Accessing Harvard Business Review Articles.
Article Databases
A comprehensive database for leading business journals including scholarly, trade, and news titles. Search with keywords related to your research. On the search results page, click on Subject: Thesaurus Terms on the left side to filter your search by subject. You may also limit your search to full text and filter by geography, date, etc. located on the left side of the search results page.
This collection includes databases which contain business and management publications, including scholarly, trade, and news titles.
This resource provides access to the full text of scholarly journal articles. Search with keywords related to your research. Click the link to subject terms below an article title to find more articles grouped under a specific subject quickly.
This is a global news and business information service incorporating the content sets of Dow Jones Interactive and Reuters Business Briefing services. It also includes many full text articles from magazines and scholarly journals in all subject areas. Contains articles from 9,000+ sources.
Key Resources for Industry Research
NAICS is a comprehensive system encompassing all economic activities. It has a hierarchical structure to classify industries. Type keywords in the search box, e.g. snack, you will find "31191 - Snack food manufacturing - Industry" from the results. This industry classification is applied in many library databases and is helpful for your further research on this particular industry.
Type industry name or keywords in the search box in the top field, then select "Industry Report" under "Document type", and click "Search". Alternatively, click "Industry Reports" under "Featured Reports" on the left panel, then enter industry name or keywords in the top field before clicking Search.
Industry reports that include an industry outlook, an overview of the competitive landscape and key statistics. Search by keyword and limit to geography: Canada, U.S. or China.
Company information contained in this database typically includes a list of brand names associated with the company. Enter company name in the search box, select "company profile" from the dropdown list under All Research. Within the company profile, click on the "Products and Services" link to see a list of major brands associated with a chosen company.
Contains market research data, i.e. information on consumer lifestyles and market size.
Contains thousands of tables and reports from all fields and provides fast access to a large range of the latest statistics available in Canada. Enter keywords into the search box. Filter by subject, geography or survey if applicable before running a search. To use a data table, click on the title and use "Add/Remove Data" tab to get customized data.
Presents and analyzes industry data on a number of economic indicators using the latest annual data sources from Statistics Canada. Enter a keyword or NAICS code in the search box.
Useful for consumer trend analysis and consumer behaviour analysis, but is a paid subscription service, so some materials will not be available.
Citing Sources
The resources below will help you create and use citations in your report effectively and correctly.
The Laurier Library provides guidance on citing in APA and other styles. You may watch a tutorial on how to cite.
Developed by business librarians at Bronfman Business Library at York University, this guide puts together great examples on citing business resources including books, articles, industry reports, company reports, and analyst reports from databases.
The Laurier Library provides guidance on citing AI tools like ChatGPT both in-text and in the reference list in APA and other styles.