BUSN - ENTI 317
What are Primary Sources
Primary Sources:
Primary sources are original materials, produced at the time an event occurred or soon after, or at a later time by someone who was involved in, or who observed, the actual event.
Intent: Primary sources present new information or report on discoveries or experiments. Primary sources become the "raw materials" for subsequent analysis, interpretation, or criticism.
Examples:
Books, articles or newspaper reports written at the time of an event
Government documents and records
Patents
Correspondence/letters
Interviews
Original research
Technical reports
Data
Annual reports, financial statements
Blogs, tweets
Finding Primary Sources
Primary Sources:
Annual reports, financial statements
SEDAR (Canadian companies)
EDGAR (US companies)
Corporate websites
Original research
Use databases to search for original research articles, technical reports, conference papers etc. Most of these databases allow you to limit the search to "Document Type" or "Publication Type" where you may select "technical reports", blogs, conference papers etc.
ABI Inform Complete
Business Source Complete
EconLit
Gartner Online
ScienceDirect
Web of Science
Scopus
Google Scholar
News articles
Many of the U of C databases include news sources such as newspaper articles, press releases, news wires etc.
Factiva
Canadian Newsstream
CBCA Complete
Patents
Canadian Patent Database
United States Patent and Trademark Office
Google Patents
Government documents
Library catalogue
Canadian Electronic Library (includes the Canadian Public Policy Collection)
Government websites - local, regional, federal.
Data
Data for business research includes company financial data, market data, financial ratios, market research, economic indicators, etc. Authoritative data is retrieved using library resources like books and databases, corporate filings, government sources like Statistics Canada, reputable organizations like the Energy Information Administration, professional organizations etc.
The Library has developed research guides called LibGuides that will help you identify relevant data sources for different topics. Use these guides to determine the best data sources to use to retrieve the data you require.
- Last Updated: Mar 28, 2024 11:47 AM
- URL: https://libguides.ucalgary.ca/guides/enti_317
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