Research Starters

What are thé keywords in a certain subject area? When you want to explore a topic before you start the research for a paper or thesis, an encyclopedia offers sometimes too little information and a textbook too much. The online database Research Starters offers for the subject areas Business and Sociology a useful in-between, with articles of 3000 words in length.

The database itself calles them 'Academic Topic Overviews', with definitions of the most important concepts, an item 'Viewpoints/Issues/Discourse', helping the reader to develop critical perspectives on the topic and Suggested Readings. These articles are written by professors or people from the field. Do you want to see an example? Click here.

The UL offers a trial-access to this database (until November 1, 2010). You can find this database by opening Business Source Premier: click Choose Databases at the top of the screen and mark the Research Starter database(s) (and unmark Business Source Premier).

The Business version consists of 19 categories, like accounting, health care management and marketing, all divided into subtopics. When you search for marketing, you will find articles about 'Person Marketing: Using Celebrities to Endorse Products' and 'Customer Loyalty Programs'.  Sociology has 26 categories, ranging from 'Day to Day Social Interaction' to 'Social Movements & Collective Behavior'. There are articles about 'Labor Unions', 'Balancing Works and Family' or 'Sociological Aspects of Divorce'. So, also for non-business and sociology students this database can be useful!

When you perform a search in Research Starters, you will also find 'normal' scientific articles. These are articles mentioned in the Suggested Readings, which are avialable in EBSCO.