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Finding Sources for FSEM 100P1 - Life Auditing

Financial Literacy with decorative images around it

Primary Sources: finding primary sources can be tricky! For this class, primary sources are considered newspapers, SEC filings, press releases, and annual reports.

Secondary Sources: these sources include books and journal articles.

How to search:

  1. Under "Company Search", search for the company of your choosing
    • make sure you have its full name (for ex: Target's full name is Target Corp)
  2. Click Search
  3. Click "Company Information" to expand details
  4. Annual reports are labeled as "10-K", on the bottom right

How to search for company information:

  1. Click on "Browse all company overviews" below the main search bar.
    • Search for a company in the "Find a company" search bar (for ex: Microsoft)
  2. Click search
  3. Click on the company profile. On the profile, you can find an overview, financial statements, SWOT, competitors, news, etc.

How to search for news on Nexis Uni:

  1. In search bar, type company name
    • make sure you have its full name (for ex: McDonald's is "McDonald's Corp")
  2. Next to search button, click "All Content Types" and select "News"
  3. Click search and results will pop up of just news sources

How to search for corporate press releases on Nexis Uni:

  1. In search bar, type the company name
    • for example: Target Corp
  2. Next to the search button, click "All Content Types" and select News
  3. A second menu will appear with more detailed news choices. Click "Newswires & Press Releases"
  4. Click Search and results will pop up of just newswires and press releases

How to search for corporate press releases on Factiva:

  1. To the right of the search bar, click "Options"
  2. Click "All Sources"
  3. Select "Press Release Wires"
  4. Type the company of your choosing in the search bar (e.g. Target Corporation)

Finding Journal Articles:

Start with the library search, Primo. 

  1. Type a keyword you're interested in
    • For ex: "personal finance"
  2. Click search
  3. Use the limiters on the left side to limit to scholarly articles
    • Scroll down and click "Material Type"
    • Select "Articles"
    • Click "Apply Filters"
    • Your results will change to only articles

To find journal articles:

  1. Above the search bar, click "Scholarly Journals"
  2. Type the topic of your choice (e.g. financial stress)
  3. Click Search

Finding Books:

Start with the library search, Primo. 

  1. Type a keyword you're interested in
    • For ex: "personal finance"
  2. Click search
  3. Use the limiters on the left side to limit to books and eBooks
    • Scroll down and click "Material Type"
    • Select "Books" and "Electronic Books"
    • Click "Apply Filters"
    • Your results will change to only books and eBooks

If you need help with call numbers for physical books, read this or visit the research desk for help

Recommended eBook databases:

image of papers and research materials with text saying "Primary vs. Secondary research"
 
In the social sciences and the sciences, scholars use the terms "primary" and "secondary" differently from scholars in the arts and humanities. 
 
Primary research refers to the research conducted by the authors of the original source. The source will describe the authors' methodology, results and conclusions. This might be raw data, letters, research or study, tests, news reports, interviews, or some journal articles.
 
Secondary research describes or analyzes the research done by others. These include news analyses, magazine articles, some journal articles, scholarly books, opinion pieces or editorials. These can be excellent resources that can lead you to additional primary research on your topic.

Current newspapers

Clip art of a calendarTo read current articles from newspapers, you could go to newspaper websites...  but you might hit a paywall. Most newspapers will only show you a few articles if you don't have a subscription.

So, instead of going to newspaper websites to read today's articles, use the library databases, such as Factiva, Nexis Uni, or Newspaper Source Plus. They contain the same articles that you'd see on newspaper websites, and you can access them with your UMW username and password.