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The Claude Littner Business School subject guide

Intro

Sarah Simpson has short light brown hair and is wearing a pink and orange patterned shirt.

Welcome to your library guide for The Claude Littner Business School. My name is Sarah Simpson and I am your subject librarian. I am here to support you throughout your course and teach you the skills to effectively find relevant information for your studies. E-mail me at sarah.simpson@uwl.ac.uk for help with any questions about finding information, library resources or Harvard Referencing. I offer follow-up 1:1 appointments face-to-face or online via Blackboard as well as weekly drop-in workshops.

Specialist sources

In addition to using LibSearch, there are specialist sources you can use to find additional information specific to your subject. Below are the ones I would recommend to you for your studies (please note, you will need to log in with your student username and password for some of the links below):

  • Accountancy and finance

    European Newstream - Read the full text of newspapers including UK national and Sunday papers. Choose 'publications' to see a list of newspapers covered. Please note that current access to The Times and The Sunday Times is no longer available.

    Business Source Premier is a business research database. Peer-reviewed journal content including Harvard Business review and Journal of Finance. Non-journal contents include market research reports, industry reports and company profiles.

    Fame contains comprehensive financial information on companies and SME’s in the UK and Ireland. You can use it to search by individual companies and profiles, as well as to analyse companies and sets of companies. Fame help videos and guides are at the top of the screen (click on the blue question mark).

    Marketline Advantage provides data and insights for industries, companies, countries and cities globally, complemented by the news, comment and analyst services. Company reports include SWOT analysis.

    Statista is a global data and business intelligence platform with an extensive collection of statistics, reports and insights on over 80,000 topics from 22,500 sources in 170 industries.

  • Business and management

    Business Source Premier - A journal database providing access to over 2,000 journals, industry reports and company profiles.

    European Newstream - Read the full text of newspapers including UK national and Sunday papers. Choose 'publications' to see a list of newspapers covered. Please note that current access to The Times and The Sunday Times is no longer available.

    Fame contains comprehensive financial information on companies and SME’s in the UK and Ireland. You can use it to search by individual companies and profiles, as well as to analyse companies and sets of companies. Fame help videos and guides are at the top of the screen (click on the blue question mark).

    Marketline Advantage provides data and insights for industries, companies, countries and cities globally, complemented by the news, comment and analysis. Company reports include SWOT analysis.

    Mintel is a UK Market commercial research database. Commercial data includes analysis of companies and brands, fast-moving consumer goods, financial services, media, retail, tourism and education.

    Passport/Euromonitor is a global market research database which analyses industries in countries around the world. Commercial data includes analysis of companies and brands, consumer market sizes, forecasts, market analysis and company profiles. This is available until 31 March 2025.

    Statista is a global data and business intelligence platform with an extensive collection of statistics, reports and insights on over 80,000 topics from 22,500 sources in 170 industries.

  • Human resource management

    Business Source Premier - A journal database providing access to over 2,000 journals, industry reports and company profiles.

    European Newstream - Read the full text of newspapers including UK national and Sunday papers. Choose 'publications' to see a list of newspapers covered. Please note that current access to The Times and The Sunday Times is no longer available.

    Marketline Advantage is a commercial database which provides data and insights for industries, companies, countries and cities globally, complemented by the news, comment and analysis. Company reports include SWOT analysis.

    Statista is a global data and business intelligence platform with an extensive collection of statistics, reports and insights on over 80,000 topics from 22,500 sources in 170 industries.

    WestLaw UK is UK full text legal information covering UK law and case studies (including employment law). Categories include cases, legislation, commentary, the EU and journals. In addition to full text sources there is the Legal Journals Index which includes abstracts over 800 UK and international journals.

  • Marketing

    Business Source Premier - A journal database providing access to over 2,000 journals, industry reports and company profiles. Important titles include the Journal of Human Resources, People Management, and Talent Development.

    European Newstream - Read the full text of newspapers including UK national and Sunday papers. Choose 'publications' to see a list of newspapers covered. Please note that current access to The Times and The Sunday Times is no longer available. 

    Marketline Advantage provides data and insights for industries, companies, countries and cities globally, complemented by the news, comment and analysis. Company reports include SWOT analysis. 

    Mintel is an industry standard UK Market research database. Analyst insight and research into consumer trends, demographics and forecasts. Topics include fast-moving consumer goods, financial services, media, retail, leisure and entertainment. Limited to four concurrent users.

    Passport is a market research database hosted by Euromonitor International. Passport is a global market analysis software platform which analyses industries in countries around the world. This includes consumer market sizes, forecasts, companies and brands, business information sources, major market profiles and market analysis. The database also includes company profiles. This is available until 31 March 2025.

    Proquest Business Information databases include access to The Economist and other UK newspapers via the UK newsstand database and access to thousands of peer reviewed journals via ABI complete and the ProQuest Business collection.

    Statista is a global data and business intelligence platform with an extensive collection of statistics, reports and insights on over 80,000 topics from 22,500 sources in 170 industries.

    Warc is an industry-standard market research database that contains case studies, market reports and trend analyses. Search case studies by industry, see WARC’s ranking of the world’s best marketing campaigns and find articles, case studies and research on key marketing topics. This is available until 31 March 2025.

Referencing

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Your referencing style for your assignments is Harvard Cite Them Right. When writing assignments, you need to acknowledge your use of another author's ideas so that you: 

  • Give the original author credit  
  • Support your arguments  
  • Enable the reader to find your sources 
  • Prove to your lecturer that you have read around the subject 
  • Avoid accusations of plagiarism 

For more information see Cite Them Right Online, an online comprehensive referencing guide that include examples of how to reference many different types of resources, including books, journal articles, websites, company reports and social media. RefWorks is web-based reference management software available to students and staff at the University of West London. It allows you to manage and share your references and build a references list/bibliography.

Books and key shelfmarks

We have a wide range of material to support you both within the Paul Hamlyn Library and via the Digital Library.

Search LibSearch to discover books and ebooks on your topics. For some titles we will have them in both formats (print book and ebook).

Why use books? 

  • Books provide good background information and a starting point for further research 

  • Books are original sources to use to understand key concepts and terminology 

  • Usually contain bibliographies that are a useful source of further references

"Find a book on the shelf" orange slide with an animated white character holding a light bulb.

Paul Hamlyn Library: printed books

Books can be borrowed for one week but will automatically renew each week for the length of your course unless someone else requests them. 

Accountancy and Finance 

The majority of print books are on the 2nd floor of Paul Hamlyn Library, shelf marks 657 - 658. Taxation is on the 1st floor of Paul Hamlyn library under shelf marks 336 and 343.

Business and Management 

The majority of print books are on the 2nd floor of Paul Hamlyn Library, shelf marks 657 and 658. Economics and Industrial relations are on the 1st floor, shelf marks 330 - 361.

The library based in the Ealing site

Human Resources 

The majority of print books are on the 2nd floor of Paul Hamlyn Library, shelf marks 657 and 658. 

Marketing 

The majority of print books are on the 3rd floor of Paul Hamlyn Library, shelf marks 658.8 - 659.

Searching for information

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Basic search strategies (part 1)

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Basic search strategies (part 2)

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Evaluating your search results

Practice exercises

Below are some exercises to help you to get familiar in searching for information using the Library sources:

  • LibSearch

    LibSearch is available from the Library homepage and allows you to search for information on your keywords that has been published in journals, books, reports, etc. It is important to be confident in using the "All filters" section to enable you to narrow down the results to the most useful ones to read.

    Exercise:

    Use the below steps to search LibSearch and answer the questions below:

    • Search for: "corporate ethics"
    • Use the filters menu to narrow down to:
      • date range last 5 years
      • academic journals

    Questions:

    1. Who wrote the article "The ethics of corporate hypocrisy- an experimental approach"?

    2. What year was it published? 

    3. What journal was it published in?

  • Ebooks

    Ebooks are accessible via LibSearch.

    The best way to find them is to:

    • Search for keywords that describe your topic, for example: "Leadership styles"
    • Within the "All Filters" option, narrow down to:
      • At my library
      • Location - Electronic Publication

    When you find a useful book, you can read it online. Remember to sign out when you finish!

    Exercise / Questions:

    1. Find the ebook: Women, Business and Leadership: Gender and Organisations by Alexander-Stamatios Antoniou, Cary Cooper and Caroline Gatrell. 

    2. How much of a PDF chapter does the publisher allow you to copy? (Hint: this information is on the page before you "read online").

    3. Does this book contain case studies? (Hint: use the "search within book" search box).

  • Journals

    Journals are incredibly rich in content and you will find them useful throughout your studies. The library subscribes to thousands, so it is important to find the most relevant to you. If you don't have a particular title you want to find, you can search via keywords in LibSearch. If you are looking for a specific journal, you can use "Publications" option on the left-hand side of the LibSearch screen. 

    Steps:

    • Enter into LibSearch the title of the journal you are looking for — for example, Leadership and Organization Development Journal (without quotation marks)

    • Click "About this publication" and "Full text access"

    • Look at the date range that is available for the journal

    Questions:

    1. What is the oldest year available for the Leadership and Organization Development Journal?

    2. Click one of the links to open the journal. Under "choose an issue to view", select 2022. How many issues were published in 2022?

Find out more