BUSN - Writing and Presenting
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
Original research
Data
Interviews, letters
Annual reports, financial statements
Blogs, tweets
Secondary Sources:
Intent: Secondary sources describe, analyze, interpret or summarize events, phenomena or primary sources. Such sources are often created significantly later than the time the event occurred, or the primary source was created.
Examples:
Magazine, journal, newspaper articles
Works of criticism, analysis, interpretation or review
Books
Primary Sources:
Annual reports, financial statements
SEDAR (Canadian companies)
EDGAR (US companies)
Corporate websites
Original research
Use databases to search for articles in scholarly and peer-reviewed journals. Examine the articles closely to determine if they are reporting original research.
ABI/Business Premium Collection
Business Source Complete
EconLit
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 (formerly Canadian Newstand)
CBCA Complete
Government documents
Advanced Search Box
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: