Library Guides: ACC393 Research Skills Guide: Develop your skills

Welcome

This guide is designed to help you with your research for ACC393.

Each section introduces the steps you should take when researching for an assessment. You'll find links to videos and resources that will give you the tools to find great information. Use the activities on the Test your knowledge tab to see what you need to revise. Use the Five Forces Analysis tab to see more information around the Five Forces Analysis process and related databases.

Getting started with your assessment

The first thing is to make sure you clearly understand your task and what topic you are seeking information for. This is called a topic analysis. Read your assessment task details closely in your Subject Outline.

With an understanding of your task you then need to plan how you will search for information. This starts with identifying and brainstorming keywords.

Below are examples of keywords and their synonyms and related terms:

Keywords	Synonyms or related terms
Strategic Management	strategic planning, innovation management, strategy
Sustainability	sustainable development, corporate sustainability
Performance Measurement	performance management, performance evaluation

Does your task place any limits? These might be "in the last 5 years" or Australian content.

For guidance in topic analysis check out:

Choose the right place to search

Before you start searching, think about what types of information you need and where you can search to find those types of resources.

Primo Search

Primo Search is a good place to start as it allows you to use one search box to bring back results from most of our Library collection including books, eBooks, journal articles, newspaper articles and more. You may get a large number of results and some of these will be from outside your subject/discipline area. Check the content is relevant to your assessment task before you use it.

Library databases

Databases will help you find academic resources and are often subject specific. You will get fewer results than Primo, but they will be more relevant to your subject/discipline.

I recommend trying the following databases:

EBSCOhost (Business)
A package of five EBSCOhost databases, all of which include Business-related material and a considerable amount of full-text content. Includes the important business database, Business Source Complete.

The databases are:

* Academic Search Complete;
* Business Source Complete;
* Health Business Fulltext Elite;
* Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection;
* SocINDEX with Full Text.

All EBSCOhost databases can be searched individually or in any combination.
ProQuest Business Databases
A package of ProQuest databases all with business-, economics-, and management-related material. These databases can also be searched individually or in any combination.

This collection of databases is ProQuest's subject area package of 10 databases with business-related material, plus ProQuest Ebook Central. Some of these databases are the business subset of a larger database. For example, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global: Business is a subset of ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global.

All but one of these resources contain full-text material. But as with all ProQuest databases, where a record does not have the full-text available, you can use the Find a copy links to search for the full item elsewhere.

The specific databases are:
* ABI/Inform Collection itself a package of 3 databases
* Accounting, Tax & Banking Collection
* Asian & European Collection
* Business Market Research Collection
* Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database: Business
* Career & Technical Education Database: Business
* COS Conference Papers Index does not include full-text material
* Ebook Central results from this collection will appear in a separate tab
* India Database: Business
* ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global: Business
* Research Library: Business.

Once you are in the ProQuest platform, you can change to any other ProQuest database by clicking on the Change databases tab in the top menu. All ProQuest databases can be searched individually or in any combination.

The Business, Management, Marketing &WHS list has more databases you can search.

Learn how to search efficiently in Primo and Library databases:

If you are looking specifically for newspaper articles, use these databases:

Factiva
A global news and business information service, with most material available in full-text. It covers science, health, education, the humanities, and other subjects but has a focus on business, including business news, and company and industry research.

Factiva is produced by Dow Jones, a leading global provider of economic and financial information.

The database has full-text content from newspapers, newswires, business journals, market research reports, analyst reports, and websites.

It includes material from :
* Australian newspapers, including The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, and Business Review Weekly
* US newspapers, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal
* Magazines, journals and trade publications, including Forbes and Newsweek
* Newswires, including AFP, Reuters, and Dow Jones
* company reports
* other content including TV and radio podcasts; and major news and business information websites, blogs and message boards.

Coverage varies but goes back as far as 1980.

There is a useful online Help Guide available from ProQuest. It includes help pages on Simple Search, Search Builder (Charles Sturt's subscription defaults to Search Builder), Results pages, Companies/Markets, and Sample Searches.

NOTE: Charles Sturt Library has only 3 concurrent-user licences to Factiva. If you can't get access, try again later.
ANZ Newsstream
A ProQuest database featuring the full-text of Australian and New Zealand newspapers. Previously called ANZ Newsstand

This database includes titles from Fairfax (including The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald) and News Ltd (including The Australian, The Adelaide Advertiser, and The Herald Sun), plus leading regional and local newspaper titles from Australia and New Zealand, and transcripts and wire feeds from ABC programs.

Coverage varies, but most newspaper content is available from the mid- to late-nineties.

Other databases with online full-text newspaper content are Trove, Factiva, and Newspaper Source Plus.

Other Sources

The following guide and video on Company information may also be useful:

Read: Company and industry information guide

Create a search strategy

When you search using Primo Search or a library database use the keywords and limits you identified above to create your search. Combine the keywords with search operators, rather than searching with a whole sentence or question. Search operators tell Primo or the database how to search with your keywords.

For your assessment topic potential search strings could include:

business advancement OR business strategy AND leadership
(strategy OR strategic) AND "Porters Five Forces Model"
"Temple and Webster" AND strategy

Remember: you will need to try a range of searches. Don't stop after just one.

To understand how search operators work check out:

Evaluate

Using credible information will improve the quality of your assessment and may result in better marks, but how can you tell whether the resources you've found are credible and suitable for your assessment? Have you been asked to use peer reviewed, academic or refereed articles? Are you using authoritative websites?

The information below will help you evaluate the information you find, in books, journal articles, or online to make sure it’s reliable.

Keen for more?

If you're interested in finding out more, check out the following:

Reading, writing and referencing

The Academic Skills team can help you to build your writing, referencing and reading skills to be successful at Charles Sturt University.

Explore resources from the Academic Skills team in the Learning Skills section of the Student Portal.

Here are some pages to get you started:

Your prescribed texts

Good news!

Your prescribed texts are available online through the library. The best way to access them is through your 'Readings & Resources (Leganto)' list within your subject site.

However access to your textbook is limited. Follow the best practice in the video below to ensure you have access to what you need without disadvantaging other students in your subject.

Watch: eBook etiquette

Assignment and thesis writing by Anderson, J.
Publication Date: 2001
Book

Using AI

Generative AI tools can be helpful study companions — they can support your thinking, help you explore new ideas, and guide you toward useful resources.

You might use Gen AI to:

Generate topic ideas or refine research questions
Clarify tricky terms or complex concepts
Suggest useful sources or recommend databases
Improve your keywords or search strategies

Important: Always check your subject outline to see if using AI tools is permitted. Using AI without permission could breach academic integrity rules.

Think of AI as a starting point — a way to support your research, not replace your critical thinking or use of credible academic sources.

See more on AI:

Your guide to generative Artificial Intelligence
Charles Sturt University AI use guidelines.
Generative AI at university
Tips on how to use AI for study and research.

Last Updated: Jul 9, 2025 10:38 AM
URL: https://libguides.csu.edu.au/ACC393
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