UNDERGRADUATE LIBRARY

What is it?

• ABI/Inform Complete brings together many of the top US and international business sources all in one place, with up-to-date information as well as archives of important scholarly journals and trade publications.

Why use it?

• This database contains tons of business-related material from a myriad of sources, with many of the articles available full-text online.

Which subjects is this database best for?

• ABI/Inform Complete focuses on business, finance and management, but also has information in other peripheral areas, such as marketing, advertising and economics.

Getting to it

• A direct link is available from the Undergraduate Library Find Articles page under the Business heading. Other libraries may provide links as well. You can search for the database by title from the Online Research Resources page.
• If you are off-campus you can follow the same links. You will be asked to provide you NetID and password to enter the database.

Searching

Advanced Search - default search:

• Enter search word(s) or phrases in search boxes provided.
• If you are searching a known word from the article title, author name, company name or periodical title select the desired field from the drop-down menu with Citation and Document Text (default option).

Tips and tricks to focus and improve your search

Limit your results by clicking on the More Search Options link:

• Scholarly journals.
• Specific publication dates or date ranges.
• Specific publication types - for example: case studies, statistics or working papers.

Be as specific as possible by using the Browse feature. For instance, this allows you to search for information about a particular segment/subsidiary of a company or a specific industry.

Too FEW results?

• Use fewer words in your search.
• Try alternative words that describe your subject.
• Double check the database content to make sure you are searching in the best database for your topic.

Too MANY results?

• Use additional words in your search to help focus on specific aspects of your topic.
• Look at the records for articles in your search that look good. Examine the Subject Headings associated with these articles and repeat your search using the subject headings.

Finding the articles

Look at the top of an individual record for the following links:

• Page Image - PDF - Click on the link to open a scanned copy of the article. This will be the closest option to a print copy.
• Text + Graphics - Click on the link to view the article text in HTML format. This format will provide photos, charts or graphs included in the article.
• Full Text - Click on the link to view the article text in HTML format. This version does not include any of the photos, charts or graphs that may be present in the article.

Saving search information

• Check the box to the left of a citation for each article of interest.
• Scroll to the top of the page and click on Marked Items.
• Click on the Create Your Bibliography link and follow instructions on screen to print, e-mail or download.

NOTE: It will only e-mail/print/download the citations, not the articles themselves.

Citing your sources

• You must always cite the sources you find in full-text format from ABI/Inform. Citation guides are available:
  • in print at the Undergraduate Reference Desk (APA, MLA, Chicago Manual of Style and the Blue Book)
  • online through the Writer's Workshop for APA and MLA - these pages highlight the most common types of works cited
• ABI/Inform also provides the option to save your citations directly to RefWorks by clicking on the Export Citations link.

Getting help

Use the Help option in the upper right corner of the page or Ask a Librarian.