The document provides guidance on searching skills, plagiarism, and referencing for final year business projects. It covers finding information through databases, avoiding plagiarism through proper citation, and getting help from the library. Key databases recommended include Business Source Complete, Science Direct, and ProQuest. Tips are provided on effective searching, including using quotation marks, Boolean operators, and refining searches. Referencing is important to avoid plagiarism and show the breadth of research.

1. Searching Skills, Plagiarism and Referencing in your
Final Year Project
Catie Tuttle
Subject Librarian (Business Undergraduates)
Catie.Tuttle.1@city.ac.uk

2. What I’m going to cover:
1. What sort of information you might need to find
2. Which databases and resources you’ll use to find
information
3. How to search the databases effectively
4. Referencing and avoiding plagiarism
5. How to get help when you’re stuck!

3. Refresher: what will you need to find and read?
■ Journal articles
■ Market research
■ News articles
■ Books
■ Company reports
■ Financial data
… and anything else that you and your supervisor/tutors identify: government
documents, corporate websites, conference proceedings, etc.

4. Where can you find it all?
■ Books: in the library – University Library at Northampton Square and the
specialist Learning Resource Centre at Bunhill Row.
■ Online, via the Library homepage: we’ve got access to millions of articles,
reports, e-books, market research, newspapers, etc. through our extensive library
subscriptions.
■ Financial Resources Suite: Bloomberg, Morningstar, Eikon and Datastream
available on the 5th Floor of the University Library and in the Financial Resources
Zone at Bunhill Row.

5. Databases: where the good stuff is
■ Databases contain journal articles, reports, case studies, company information, country information,
financial data, market research and more.
■ It’s good quality, authoritative information that you can only find through these subscription resources.
■ Using these databases to find information will help you get great marks.
■ You need to log into the databases to find this information: it’s not available for free just on the internet.
■ Use your subject guide to work out which database is best for what you’re looking for:
http://libguides.city.ac.uk/businessstudies

6. General Starting Point: CityLibrary Search
■ Use the search box on the Library website: look for
subject words or company names
■ CityLibrary Search will search across our books,
articles and reports.
■ Use the facets on the left-hand side to narrow your
search: ‘Full Text Online’ gives you just things you
can read over the internet

7. Subject Guide
• E-resources to
use by topic
• Referencing
and Citation
• Book an
appointment

8. Key Academic Databases
Business Source Complete
Use for articles, market research, company, industry and country profiles, case studies, trade magazines, peer reviewed
research, Harvard Business Review, images.
Science Direct
Huge database focused on academic, peer-reviewed articles. Also contains actual science, but huge amount of business
and management information as well.
ProQuest
New database: peer-reviewed articles, newspapers, data, reports, trade journals... All sorts of stuff, not just business-specific.
Wide-ranging and useful.
Financial Times – FT.com
Everyone can have a subscription to the excellent FT.com website, phone and tablet apps. The sign-up link is on the
Cass Library Services Moodle page – use your city.ac.uk email to sign up.

9. Tips for accessing databases
■ Log in using your IT username and password.
■ Use the subject guide or the library catalogue for the right link.
■ In rare cases, you might need a special username and password… check the catalogue for
details.
■ Most databases can be used from anywhere with an internet connection.
■ A few need special computers in the library, e.g. Bloomberg – see the subject guide for
more information.

10. Science Direct
• Searches across
subjects, so be
sure to narrow
down to Business
• Use Advanced
Search option to
search more
complex terms

11. ProQuest Business Collection
• Searches across
newspaper articles,
company reports,
country reports and
more
• Select ‘Browse’ to
get reports
• Loads of filters help
you find exactly what
you’re looking for

12. Business Source Complete
■ Search term more than one
word? Use “quotes” to
search exact phrase
■ Link search terms:
■AND to get fewer results
■OR to get more results

13. Tips for searching databases
• Think about a search strategy before you begin.
• Consider making a “map” of your ideas to help
• Helps you see connections between ideas to make search terms:
Example
• Books/website on this by Tony Buzan, available in our libraries
• Make a list of the terms you try out as you search.
• Stops the frustration of searching the same phrase repeatedly!
• You can use the list to search the next database more quickly
• Writing a list allows you to make new connections between concepts
• Helps identify synonyms, alternative words/phrases

14. Refining your search
■Use the categories on the dropdown list of the database to
search only a given field.
■Add ‘wildcards’ to search across different formations or
spellings of the same root word.
■Using a * searches alternative endings (‘manag*’ will retrieve
management, managers, managing, etc.)
■Using a ? Searches alternative spellings (‘organi?ation’ retrieves both
‘organization’ and ‘organisation’

15. Smart searching: where to look
• Look in the reference list of your article for further
research.
• Use Business Source Complete, Web of Science or
Google Scholar to find who has cited your article
since it was published

16. Plagiarism: what is it?
University Definition:
■ “Plagiarism is passing off the ideas or words of someone else as though they were your own. It applies
equally to the work of other students as to published sources.”
■ “Submitting, as one's own, an assignment that another person has completed.
■ Downloading information, text, artwork, graphics or other material from the internet and presenting it as
one's own without acknowledgment.
■ Quoting or paraphrasing material from a source without acknowledgment.”
■ Using other people’s ideas without acknowledgement.
City University London (2012) ‘City University Assessment and Feedback Policy’ Available at:
http://www.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/68921/assessment_and_feedback_policy.pdf (Accessed 22 September 2016).

17. Avoiding Plagiarism : Resources
■ Cass Student Intranet
■ Watch our Library Shorts Film: Basics of Referencing
■ Studywell: Online guidance, quizzes and case studies to help you learn
■ If in doubt, reference it! Use Cite Them Right Online
■ You can also check with your lecturer or ask a librarian if you’re unsure what
to do.

18. Why put citations and references in your work?
■ We cite all ideas, quotes, data, opinions, etc. that are not our own by telling the reader
where it came from.
■ Careful referencing protects you from accidental plagiarism
■ Reference as you go along in your notes and your work so you can always trace ideas back
■ Good referencing makes your work more scholarly:
■ Shows your wide range of reading & sources
■ Shows good awareness of academic norms & standards
■ Helps back up your arguments with work of other scholars
■ Can show how hard you worked!

19. What does it look like? Example: Journal articles
You can see good referencing habits whenever you look at a journal article.
Example of a Harvard Style reference:
In-text citation:
According to Ready, certain qualities can be identified early in the recruitment
process (2010, p. 53).
Reference list:
Ready, D. et al (2010) ‘The anatomy of a high potential’, Business Strategy
Review, 21(3), pp. 52-55.

20. Referencing and Citation Help
■ Cite Them Right Online Brilliant guide to Harvard Referencing, best place to find layouts, help, advice.
■ Books in the library:
• Neville, C. (2010) Complete Guide to Referencing and Avoiding Plagiarism, 2nd ed. Maidenhead: Open
University Press.
• Pear, R., Shields, G. (2013) Cite Them Right: the Essential Referencing Guide, 9th ed. Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan.
■ Subject Guide Citing and Referencing Tab:
• http://libguides.city.ac.uk/business/referencing
■ Tools to help:
• Citation software: RefWorks, Mendeley. More complex but helpful for storing/reusing references.
Contact the library for the RefWorks code. Mendeley is free.
• Word has built-in functions as well.

21. Any Questions?
Please come and ask!
Help In Person:
Library desks on the 2nd and 5th Floor, and at Cass
Contact Catie: catie.tuttle.1@city.ac.uk or 020 7040 4151
General enquiries email for Cass: CassLibrary@city.ac.uk
Enquiries phone number: +44 (0) 207 040 8191
Help Online:
Library Website: www.city.ac.uk/library
Subject Guides: http://libguides.city.ac.uk/business

22. City, University of London
Northampton Square
London
EC1V 0HB
United Kingdom
T: +44 (0)20 7040 4151
E: catie.tuttle.1@city.ac.uk
http://www.city.ac.uk/library