Obtaining access to quality and dependable resources will increase the writing and research value of your academic tasks. While there are many kinds of information sources, articles in peer-reviewed journals are supported by in-depth research and opinions, considered over years of experience.
In this section, you will be introduced to a few ways to navigate the journal landscape.
Example:
Nimble Leadership: Walking the line between creativity and chaos
How did that happen? (Hint: It's not about the acrobatic cats!)
The Nimble Leadership article was published in the Harvard Business Review. Many journals have the advantage of going deep into the nest of research, are often connected to universities and colleges, and carry the institution's name in the journal's title.
In order to "dig up" these kinds of articles, follow the instructions on the Introduction page of this guide, under the heading, Stepping in it... the library's collections that is!
Once you open up a database, such as Business Source Complete, try to identify ways of isolating articles in journals, as opposed to other types of publications.
Tips:
►Look for a way to filter articles that appear in "peer review" or "scholarly journals." Most of the library's online collections have a filter like this in the Advanced Search interface.
►In any set of results, the name of the publication is listed in each article (brief) record. Look for publication names that say the word "Journal" and/or include the name of a university or college. Here are a few examples: Journal of Business Ethics, MIT Sloan Management Review, Business & Economics Research Journal.
►If you have questions about the quality of a publication, you can always turn to the publisher's website. Once inside the full record of information about an article you are planning to read, open the link to the journal's name. The page that opens provides details about the publisher of the journal. For example, the International Journal of Business Communication is published by the Association of Business Communication, a professional association. If the publisher is a professional association, it is usually a mark of quality. In this case, the publisher's Internet address is also provided. (businesscommunication.org)
Example:
►In addition to scholarly articles, journals often carry other types of written work such as introductory letters from the journal editors or reviews of books. If you are looking only for scholarly articles, keep in mind that the majority of scholarly articles have a higher word count. (often more than five pages)