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How to find out in Economics
The aim of this guide is to help you
find information in economics. Whether you are
looking for information for a project or dissertation, or just
looking for some facts, figures, or addresses, this guide should
point you in the right direction. The guide is not exhaustive, but
the main sources of information are listed, especially those
available in Heriot-Watt University Library. Other useful sources on
related subjects may be found in the various other
How to
Find Out guides.
If you would like further advice or assistance, please ask for help
at the Enquiry
Desk, contact your
Subject
Librarian, or email the
Library's helpdesk.
To find out the latest news and happenings in the library visit the
library blog InformS
What do you want to know?
The process of gathering information from published sources is often referred to as making a literature search. It is very tempting to rush into your search for information without planning exactly how you are going to carry out your search. Before you start your search for information, it is worth spending some time defining exactly what you are looking for. Are you looking for a piece of factual information, or do you wish to read a range of viewpoints on your topic? How much knowledge do you already have about the subject? Are you looking for a general introduction to the topic or a detailed discussion of a specific point? Asking yourself these questions can help you to decide what sort of information source is most appropriate for you to search.
Making a literature search
There are various ways of searching the literature for information on your topic. It is worth doing some forward planning to get clear in your mind what you are looking for, and where you are most likely to find it. If you need help at any point in this process, contact your Subject Librarian. It may be worth taking the following steps:
- Remember that it takes time and effort to find information.
- Define your subject and your objectives.
- Discuss your topic with your supervisor who may be able to suggest various starting points.
- Look at any information already found as it may lead to further material.
- Decide which time period should be covered by the search.
- Decide how comprehensive the search will be. Do you want everything on your subject? In which case go through each of the sections in this leaflet systematically. Or can you exclude some sections and types of material?
- Look through the introductions to each section in this guide and decide which sources are likely to suit your needs.
- In each section the more general sources are listed first. If these are not specific enough, look in the more selective sources following. Always read any explanations of how to use a particular source.
- Think about your search profile - the keywords, subject headings, related terms, etc. - which you can look under in various indexes and lists.
- Keep good records. Note down the details of each reference as soon as you see it, even if you don't intend to look at it for weeks; also note where you found it so you can check back later. Keep accurate references to everything you read in a consistent format this will form the basis of your bibliography. You will find more details about citing your references in the Taking References section below.
Some useful books available in the library are:
371.3
BEL
Doing your research
project: a guide for first-time researchers in education and social
science / by Judith Bell.
001.42
How to find information : a guide for researchers / by Sally
Rumsey.
The following books my also be of use:
658.007 COL
Business research : a practical guide for undergraduate and
postgraduate students / by Jill Collis and Roger Hussey.
658.007 CAM
Business
research methods : a
practical approach / by Sheila Cameron and Deborah Price.
658.007 SAU
Research methods for
business students / by
Mark Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill
810.61 FIS
Researching and writing a dissertation : a guidebook for
business students / by
Colin Fisher and others
You will find many more by searching the Library catalogue
Taking and citing references
Note all references in full as you find them, even if you are not sure how useful they might be. Also, keep a note of where you find your references - you may need this if you apply for an inter-library loan. Keep your references in a database or notebook, or use services such as EndNote. EndNote is available for postgraduate students and staff from the IT Department. EndNoteWeb (a lite version of the package) is freely available to all members of Heriot Watt, and can be accessed within the Web of Knowledge. You can register for EndNoteWeb. Another free citation service is CiteUlike.
Proper referencing is essential to avoid plagiarism. Plagiarism is the act of taking the ideas, writings or inventions of another person and using these as if they were one's own, whether intentionally or not. Plagiarism occurs where there is no acknowledgement that the writings or ideas belong to or have come from another source.
The University has produced a Student guide to Plagiarism. This gives a clear definition of plagiarism, examples of how to avoid plagiarism and how to reference the work of others:
Student Guide
to Plagiarism
http://www.hw.ac.uk/registry/resources/PlagiarismGuide.pdf
For further details on making references and citations see:
810.61 PEA
PEAR: Cite them right : the essential guide
to referencing and plagiarism
Citing and
Referencing with the Harvard System
http://www.brad.ac.uk/library/elecinfo/harvard.php
List of style
manuals
http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/manual.html
This has information on MLA
, used in English and the humanities;
APA, used in psychology and the social
sciences; Chicago, used in history and some
humanities; and CSE, used in biology and
other sciences.
BRITISH STANDARD BS 1629:1989.
Recommendations for references to published
materials.
BRITISH STANDARD BS 5605:1990. Recommendations for citing and referencing material.
The Library runs regular workshops on citing and referencing and using EndNoteWeb.
Summary of a topic (Encyclopedias and Dictionaries)
Encyclopaedias and dictionaries are useful for getting a basic outline of a subject, and for finding keywords and subject terms which can be used when searching other sources. These are shelved in the Quick Reference section, at around 330.
Examples include:
Quick reference
330.03
The Penguin dictionary
of economics
Quick Reference
330.03 BLA
Oxford dictionary of economics / by John
Black.
We also have a large number of
specialist dictionaries in the languages
taught at Heriot-Watt - French, German,
Spanish, Russian and Arabic - plus a small
number in other languages. You will find
these in the Dictionaries Room on Level 1 of
the Edinburgh Campus Library. For example:
Dictionaries Room
800.333 ELS
ELSEVIER'S ECONOMICS DICTIONARY : IN
ENGLISH, FRENCH, SPANISH, ITALIAN,
PORTUGUESE AND GERMAN
Dictionaries Room
840.333 HAR
HARRAP'S ECONOMICS AND POLITICS DICTIONARY :
ENGLISH-FRENCH, FRANCAIS-ANGLAIS
Facts and Figures
Some sources include:
Quick Reference
040 WHI
WHITAKER'S ALMANACK
Provides a great deal of factual information
about government, economics, culture etc in
the UK, but with a substantial section on
other countries of the world.
SourceOECD Economics
Provides access 3 statistical databases, 7
journals and around 520 titles including:
Main economic indicators (short term
economic indicators produced monthly for 30
member countries and a number of non member
countries including Brazil, China, India,
the Russian Federation and South Africa)
National Accounts of OECD Countries
(produced on a quarterly and annual basis
for OECD member countries)
OECD Economic Outlook (projections for a
number of key economic variables over a two
to two and a half year horizon, accompanied
by analysis including chapters on the
economic conditions and prospects in
individual OECD member countries and
selected non member economies and on topics
of current interest in economic policy
debates.)
OECD Economic surveys (review of individual
countries economies, published every
eighteen months to two years for OECD
countries, also includes reviews of some non
member countries)
Economic Policy Reforms: Going for growth
(annual periodical which highlights
developments in structural policies in OECD
countries)
UK 2005 - THE OFFICIAL YEARBOOK OF THE
UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN
IRELAND
Provides a factual overview of government
policy and other developments in Britain.
Contains a number of useful summary
statistics.
THE CIA FACTBOOK
Invaluable brief overview of every county in
the world including: population statistics,
economy and economic outlook, trade etc.
THE ECONOMIST COUNTRY BRIEFINGS
Provides news, country profiles, forecasts,
statistics and more.
Economist
Intelligence Unit (EIU):
Provides a constant flow of analysis and
forecasts on more than 200 countries and
eight key industries.
Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD): Content is organised by a
variety of themes e.g. Energy, Electronic
commerce, transition economies.
WORLD
BANK
Provides a large number of statistics and
data tables for all countries.
For more sources of facts and figures consult the following guides:
-
Statistics (coming soon)
Books and eBooks
Use the
library catalogue to search for books
and eBooks on your subject or to find out if
we hold the book you need. A guide to
searching the catalogue is
available.
You can also use other libraries,
information on other libraries, links to
their catalogues and access arrangements for
Heriot-Watt staff and students are available
from the following pages:
Libraries outwith Edinburgh
Two very useful catalogues to find books
published on a particular topic are:
British
Library Integrated Catalogue.
The
British Library is the UK's national
repository library. The BL receives a copy
of most books and periodicals published in
the United Kingdom.
COPAC
(Consortium of University Research
Libraries).
Unified access to the catalogues of over 20
of the largest university research libraries
in the UK and Ireland.
You can also use:
Search
across a broad range
of scholarly
literature (books,
journal articles,
theses, preprints)
from multiple
sources.
Google Book Search
Search the full text
of books to find
ones that interest
you.
Content
and limited extracts
may be available.
Amazon.co.uk
The UK branch of the well-known Internet bookshop also has a searchable database of books in print. Other booksellers websites may also be of use.
If you find details
of a book you wish
to read, but it is
unavailable at
Edinburgh Campus
library or Scottish
Borders Campus
library, you may use
the
Inter-Library Loans
Service and we
will borrow a copy
for you from another
library.
Journals
Journals are often the first place where new research findings are published and are therefore an extremely important source of information. Journals can be published electronically or in print. The majority of journals which the Library subscribes to are available electronically, print (hardcopy) journals in accounting, banking and finance are located on level 1 of the library.
A list of the print and electronic journals the library subscribes to is available from the A-Z list of journals, or search the Library Catalogue.
Access to the full text of articles published in journals is normally only available if you or your University Library has a subscription to the journal. However some journals are open access journals whose articles may be accessed online by anyone without charge. A list of these journals is available from:
DOAJ:
Directory
of Open
Access
Journals
Maintained
by LUND
University
Libraries,
this
service
covers
free,
full
text,
quality
controlled
scientific
and
scholarly
journals
and aims
to cover
all
subjects
and
languages.
There
are
4570+
journals
in the
directory.
You can find out what journals are published on your subject using the following resources:
Current
serials
received
This
contains
the
titles
of over
60,000
serials
currently
received
by the
British
Library's
Science,
Technology
and
Business
services
and its
Document
Supply
Centre,
whose
serial
holdings
embrace
all
subjects,
including
the
humanities
and
social
sciences,
and all
languages.
PubList.com
PubList.com is a directory of
information about more than
150,000 publications and more
than 8000 newspapers around the
world.
Jourrnal citation reports
Accessed via:
ISI
WEB of Knowledge
Journal Citation Reports is a
comprehensive and unique
resource that allows you to
evaluate and compare journals
using citation data drawn from
over 7,500 scholarly and
technical journals from more
than 3,300 publishers in over 60
countries. It is the only source
of citation data on journals,
and includes virtually all areas
of science, technology, and
social sciences.
Journal articles
To find relevant articles published in journals you need to search a database. A list of databases containing information on articles published in journals in business and related topics are available from the databases page.
You can also identify relevant articles published in journals using Search50. Search50 allows you to cross search databases indexing economic journals rather than searching them individually. Search50 does not offer the sophisticated and flexible searching available through the individual database interfaces, but can be a starting point, if you don’t know where to begin searching for a topic.
If the article you need is published in a journal that the Library does not subscribe to, you may be able to consult a print copy at another library, consult Edinburgh Libraries or Libraries outwith Edinburgh for access arrangements to other libraries. Two very useful services to find out which libraries hold a particular journal are:
SALSER. The Serials Union Catalogue for Scottish academic and research libraries is a free tool to help locate journal titles held in Scotland.
SUNCAT. The Serials Union Catalogue for the UK research community is a free tool to help locate journal titles held in the UK.
You may also use the Inter-Library Loans service if we do not subscribe to the journal the article you require is published in. You can request either a photocopy or electronic copy of the article using the Inter-Library Loans Service.
Information on research papers or articles (and sometimes the full text) may also be available in open access archives or repositories. Open Access archives or repositories are digital collections of research articles that have been placed there by their authors. In the case of journal articles this may be done either before (preprints) or after publication (postprints). More information is available from research articles, preprints and postprints.
You can search the contents of open access archives and repositories using the following services:
Repository
Search
Search
across
103 UK
academic
eprints
repositories.
OpenDOAR
OpenDOAR is an
authoritative directory of
academic open access
repositories. OpenDOAR
has a trial search service for
the full-text of material held
in open access repositories
listed in the Directory.
Google
Google and other internet search
engines index the material held
in open access repositories.
ROS: The Research Output Service
ROS is Heriot-Watt
University's institutional
repository.
Current awareness: Keeping up to date
It is very difficult to read or scan all new publications appearing in any subject area. For those, such as lecturers and postgraduates undertaking research, who need to know on a regular basis what is being published in their areas of interest, most databases allow you to save a search and be alerted via email or an RSS feed when new articles meeting your search criteria are added to the database.
You can also be alerted (by
email or RSS feed) when
the table of contents for
particular journal(s) are
released using the following
services:
ZETOC- British Library's
Electronic Table of Contents
Includes an email alerting
service (Zetoc Alert), and an
RSS feeds service (Zetoc RSS),
to enable you to keep up-to-date
with relevant new articles and
papers.
ticTOCs journal tables of
contents service
Find thousands of scholarly journal Table of Contents (TOCs) from
multi-publishers, view TOCs,
export TOC Feeds to feedreaders,
save TOCs for future current
awareness.
More information is available
from
Keeping up-to-date
News
The Library
subscribes to a service called
Factiva which provides the
full text of 2,300+
international newspapers
including:
The Financial Times
(Searching the Financial Times)
The Wall Street journal
South China Morning post
Le Monde
Les Echos
The Guardian
Handelsblatt
The Daily Telegraph
The Herald
The Independent
The Scotsman
The Times
You can search newspapers
separately or search key
publications from a specific
country.
Conferences
Often
the
first
results
of new
research
are
reported
at
conferences.
Some
conference
papers
are
listed
in
databases,
but for
another
way to
find out
if any
conference
papers
have
been
published
on your
subject
check:
Conference
Proceedings
This is
included
as part
of Web
of
Science,
available
through
the
Web of
Knowledge
Theses and dissertations
Print
copies
of
postgraduate
theses
from
Heriot-Watt
University
are
available
in the
Riccarton
Library.
Details
are
included
in the
Library
catalogue
and are
marked:
"Theses
collection".
If
you're
looking
for a
specific
thesis,
you can
search
by
author
or title
in the
catalogue,
but for
more
detailed
information
on
locating
theses,
see
How to
find
Heriot-Watt
theses
in the
catalogue.
A
printed
Index of
Heriot-Watt
Postgraduate
theses
is
available
at the
Service
Desk.
Postgraduate
theses
are not
kept on
the open
shelves,
so if
you want
to look
at them
you must
request
them at
the
Service
Desk.
Most
theses
can only
be used
in the
Library,
but if
two
copies
are
held,
one may
be
borrowed.
In other
cases,
ask the
awarding
School
for a
loan
copy.
Electronic
copies
of
postgraduate
theses
are
available
through
ROS: The
Research
Output
Service,
and
details
are
included
in the
Library
catalogue.
See our guide on Theses and Dissertations for more information on theses from Scottish Borders Campus Library and theses from other Universities.
The
library
receives
a
selection
of past
undergraduate
and
postgraduate
dissertations
from
some
Schools.
Ask at
the
Library
service
desk for
a list
of the
dissertations
currently
available
in the
library.
Statistics
Statistics
can be
difficult
to
trace.
The
Library
has a
large
number
of
business,
economic,
financial
and
demographic
statistical
series
in the
Statistics
Section
on Level
2 of the
Edinburgh
campus.
Most are
UK, but
some are
international,
and
there is
a large
collection
of OECD
statistics
and
reports.
Useful
guides
to both
governmental
and
non-governmental
statistics
in the
UK
include:
Quick
Reference
051 GUI
(Scottish
Borders
campus,
previous
edition
at
Edinburgh
campus)
OFFICE
FOR
NATIONAL
STATISTICS
GUIDE TO
OFFICIAL
STATISTICS
Source
OECD
Provides
access 3
statistical
databases,
7
journals
and
around
520
titles
including:
Main
economic
indicators
(short
term
economic
indicators
produced
monthly
for 30
member
countries
and a
number
of non
member
countries
including
Brazil,
China,
India,
the
Russian
Federation
and
South
Africa)
National
Accounts
of OECD
Countries
(produced
on a
quarterly
and
annual
basis
for OECD
member
countries)
OECD
Economic
Outlook
(projections
for a
number
of key
economic
variables
over a
two to
two and
a half
year
horizon,
accompanied
by
analysis
including
chapters
on the
economic
conditions
and
prospects
in
individual
OECD
member
countries
and
selected
non
member
economies
and on
topics
of
current
interest
in
economic
policy
debates.)
OECD
Economic
surveys
(review
of
individual
countries
economies,
published
every
eighteen
months
to two
years
for OECD
countries,
also
includes
reviews
of some
non
member
countries)
Economic
Policy
Reforms:
Going
for
growth
(annual
periodical
which
highlights
developments
in
structural
policies
in OECD
countries)
GUIDE TO
OFFICIAL
STATISTICS
(2000
EDITION)
Details
of
statistical
publications
produced
by UK
Government
Statistics
Service
and
other
official
organisations
within
the UK.
It is
divided
into
sixteen
chapters,
each
focusing
on a
different
subject
area.
Very
detailed
subject
index.
New
edition
published
approximately
every 5
years.
UK
National
Statistics
This
site
contains
the
latest
comprehensive
range of
official
UK
statistics
and
information
about
statistics
as well
providing
free
access
to a
selection
of
recently
released
publications.
Official
Yearbook
of the
United
Kingdom
of Great
Britain
and
Northern
Ireland
The
latest
edition
2005)
covers
government,
international
relations,
defence,
education
and
training,
the
labour
market,
social
protection,
health,
crime
and
justice,
religion,
culture,
communications
and the
media,
sport,
environment,
housing,
planning
and
regeneration,
transport,
the
economy,
public
finance,
international
trade
and
investment,
science,
engineering
and
technology,
agriculture,
fishing
and
forestry,
manufacturing
and
construction,
energy
and
natural
resources,
and
financial
services.
Information
on
England,
Wales,
Scotland
and
Northern
Ireland
is
included
throughout,
and in
separate
introductory
chapters.
Scottish
government-
Statistics
Can
browse
statistics
by topic
or
search
by
keyword.
For
unofficial
sources
see:
Quick
Reference
051 MOR
MORT
SOURCES
OF
UNOFFICIAL
UK
STATISTICS
Gives
details
of
statistical
publications
produced
regularly
by
organisations
other
than
governmental
bodies,
e.g.
trade
associations,
market
research
companies
etc.
Datasets are useful for historical and comparative analysis. Refer to the following sites:
Economic
and
Social
data
service
The
Economic
and
Social
Data
Service
(ESDS)
is a
national
data
service
providing
access
and
support
for an
extensive
range of
key
economic
and
social
data,
both
quantitative
and
qualitative,
spanning
many
disciplines
and
themes. ESDS
provides
an
integrated
service
offering
enhanced
support
for the
secondary
use of
data
across
the
research,
learning
and
teaching
communities.
EconData.Net
EconData.Net
focuses
on
regional
economic
activity
on the
Web.
There
are more
than 350
links to
socioeconomic
data
sources,
arranged
by
subject
and
provider,
pointers
to the
Web's
premiere
data
collections,
and a
list of
the ten
best
sites
for
finding
regional
economic
data.
Economics
Data
is a
list of
freely
available
economic
data
sets. It
is
composed
by the
The
Economics
Network
of the
Higher
Education
Academy
in the
UK.
Global
Financial
Data
is an
extensive,
long-term
historical
indices
on stock
markets,
interest
rates,
exchange
rates
and
inflation
rates.
Database
provides
historical
data on
over 50
countries
and goes
back to
the
1690s.
Exchange
rates of
all
national
currencies
are
presented
in terms
of the
U.S.
dollar.
You can
also
change
the
basis
from the
U.S.
dollar
to
another
currency
of your
choice.
WebEc -
Economics
Data is
hosted
by the
World
Wide Web
Resources
in
Economics.
It is an
excellent
starting
point
for
sources
of
economic
data
collections.
William
Davidson
Institute
or DDCN
is a
centralized
clearing
house
and data
archive
on
transition
and
emerging
market
economies.
It
provides
access
to
socio-economic
micro
and
macro
data on
these
economies.
Government publications
Government
publications,
often
known as
official
publications,
are
produced
by
governments,
government
departments,
and such
bodies
as the
European
Community.
See our
guide
Government
information.
Internet Resources
The popular Internet search engines, though very useful, don't index everything. They may not index some of the subscription-based services mentioned in this How To Find Out guide. If you use Google, note the Google Guide.
A tutorial which introduces you to key Business and management internet sources and helps you develop your internet skills is:
Internet for Economics is a free online tutorial to help university students develop their Internet research skills and introduce key internet resources.
A more general tutorial on searching the internet is:
The
Online
Netskills
Interactive
Course
(TONIC)
TONIC is
an
easy-to-understand,
structured
course,
offering
step-by-step,
practical
guidance
on major
Internet
topics,
ranging
from
basic
through
to
advanced.
You
might
also
find
some of
our
workshops
useful.
Research Centres and projects
Other
useful
sources
for
locating
current
academic
research
and new
technologies
are
research
centres.
Some
useful
sites
are:
Centre
for
Economic
Policy
Research
ESRC
Society
Today
This
Economics
and
Social
Research
Council
site
provides
access
to early
research
findings,
full
texts
and
original
data
sets,
and
enables
users to
track
down
researchers
in
particular
fields.
Institute
for
Fiscal
Studies
IFS is a
research
institute
which
exists
to
provide
top
quality
economic
analysis
independent
of
government,
political
party or
any
other
vested
interest.
Research
findings
are
available
free of
charge.
Institute
of
Economic
Affairs
(IEA)
Material
organised
by broad
topic
headings.
Some
full-text
articles
are
available
online.
National
Bureau
of
Economic
Research
working
papers (NBER)
A
collection
of
working
papers
from the
National
Bureau
of
Economic
Research
(U.S.)
NEP New
Economics
Papers
NEP is
an
announcement
service
which
filters
information
on new
additions
to RePEc
into
edited
reports.
Research
Papers
in
Economics
(RePEc)
Research
Papers
in
Economics
is a
decentralized
database
of
working
papers,
journal
articles
and
software
components.
It does
not
include
full-text,
but
provides
links to
many
full-text
articles.
Technical
Reports
and
Working
Papers
in
Business
and
Economics
Links to
a
comprehensive
worldwide
list of
Research
Institutions
and
their
publications.
Produced
by the
Library
of
Congress.
For
international
lists of
economic
institutes
and
research
organizations
see
also:
Economic
institutes
and
research
organizations
on the
web
Economics
Departments,
Institutes
and
Research
Centers
in the
World
Contact your Subject Librarian
Catherine Ure
email: c.m.ure@hw.ac.uk
Telephone: 0131 451 3215