ECON 200: Library Research Guide - Basic Economics Issues

For further assistance, contact Laura Carscaddon.

Step One

The first step in doing research for your paper is to find what the prices were for your commodity for the past year. These sources will help you locate that information:

Commodity Prices - HB235.U6 F74 1991 Info Commons Reference

This reference book provides references to sources that list price information for over 10,000 agricultural, commercial, industrial, and consumer products.

Look up your commodity (e.g., corn) in this reference book.
Identify the title of a source that will list the prices of your commodity (e.g., Agricultural Outlook).
Go to the library homepage at http://www.library.arizona.edu, click on Catalog of Books & More, and search that title in the library catalog.
If we have the source, the library catalog will provide you with a call number for where to find it in the library, OR a link to it if it is available online.

Note: If your commodity is crude oil, click here for special instructions!

CRB Commodity Yearbook - HC14 .C6 Main Reference

This reference book gives an overview of various commodities - provides information on the previous year's production and prices, as well as data from the previous ten years, for the U.S. and the world. Latest edition available is 2001, but a good source for historical commodity prices.

Step Two

The next step is to search for articles from magazines, newspapers, and journals that provide information and analysis about your topic. The indexes listed here may be used to locate articles:

Business and Company Resource Center
This database includes citations to articles from business magazines and journals and includes many full-text articles available online. The database is available from the library homepage at http://www.library.arizona.edu/. Select Indexes to Articles and More, then Indexes by Subject, then Business. You will see Business and Company Resource Center listed there. Choose to do an ARTICLES search and do a search on your topic (e.g., corn). Subheadings under your topic to look at include prices & rates and supply & demand.

Note: If your commodity is crude oil, use the term "petroleum" when searching in General BusinessFile.

ABI/Inform
This database also includes articles from business magazines and journals. It has many full-text articles available online, including full-text of the Wall Street Journal (an excellent source for articles about commodities and prices). The database is available from the library homepage at http://www.library.arizona.edu/. Select Indexes to Articles and More, then Indexes by Subject, then Business. You will see ABI/Inform listed there. Do a search on your topic (e.g., corn and prices).

NOTE: These are just a few of the business databases available from the Library. You may also want to try two other business databases: EconLit and the Business section of Lexis-Nexis Academic.

Citing Sources

Citation Guide - It is very important to cite your sources of information to allow a reader to consult the sources you used in your research and to acknowledge and give credit to someone else's words or ideas. This guide shows how to correctly cite books, articles, Web sites, and more, in different citation formats.