{"id":50,"date":"2026-08-24T09:45:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T13:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/?post_type=back-matter&p=50"},"modified":"2026-08-25T15:23:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T19:23:18","slug":"contemporary-business-thinking","status":"publish","type":"back-matter","link":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/back-matter\/contemporary-business-thinking\/","title":{"raw":"Contemporary Business Thinking","rendered":"Contemporary Business Thinking"},"content":{"raw":"

Contemporary Business Thinking<\/h1>\r\nIf you are taking Contemporary Business Thinking (COMM 210), you are probably a new student at JMSB. This guide is designed by Olivier Charbonneau, Senior Business Librarian at Concordia University, and aims to support the activities planned by your instructor over the semester. This guide is divided in two sections: Tutorials to improve your searching skills<\/strong>\u00a0as well as\u00a0Three tips to succeed on your final project<\/strong>.\r\n
See also, these other library guides<\/strong>: 1)\u00a0Business Research Portal<\/a>\u00a0for the best business sources; use the 2)\u00a0Ask-A-Librarian<\/a>\u00a0to get help; and the 3)\u00a0citing business sources in APA format<\/a> for your bibliography.<\/blockquote>\r\n

Tutorials to improve your searching skills<\/h3>\r\nYou can view the following vides as a single playlist here:\u00a0YouTube videos created by Olivier Charbonneau for COMM 210 as a single playlist<\/a>. The playlist is comprised of the following videos:\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iNtJvWanw7s?feature=oembed[\/embed]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
Olivier explains how Google may provide underwhelming results for your paper, Direct link:\u00a0https:\/\/youtu.be\/iNtJvWanw7s<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8H6a6BkqVNc?feature=oembed[\/embed]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
Olivier provides ideas on improving results you obtain from Google, direct link:\u00a0https:\/\/youtu.be\/8H6a6BkqVNc<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DuUXgzphBao?feature=oembed[\/embed]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
Wikipedia, like any encyclopedia, is simply a starting point to search for high quality sources for a university paper, you are expect to dig much deeper than the entry from an encyclopedia. Direct link:\u00a0https:\/\/youtu.be\/DuUXgzphBao<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n\r\n[embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/aDQhN21rvtQ?feature=oembed[\/embed]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n
Business intelligence can be expensive to acquire. That\u2019s why your librarian has curated a collection of industry reports, market research and news sources. Complement googling with library searches. Direct link:\u00a0https:\/\/youtu.be\/aDQhN21rvtQ<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n

Three tips to succeed on your final project<\/h3>\r\nThe Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, provides for a list of top growing companies in Canada<\/a>. You are called upon to select a company from this list and then, search for sources to support your critical analysis of contemporary issues. To succeed in this project, you must provide\u00a0evidence from credible sources to support your claims<\/strong>. It is essential that you search for sources and evidence (and read them!) BEFORE writing your paper. Here are three tips, drawn from the videos above, to assist you in completing your project.\r\n

Tip #1 \u2013 Primary sources<\/h4>\r\nPrimary sources are, generally, documents created and made available by the company you are researching. The company\u2019s website is obviously a source for these. Locate their corporate website and look under the \u201cabout us\u201d section.\r\n\r\nHere are some ideas as to locate some others, based on the tutorials above.\r\n\r\nCanadian or Quebec\u00a0government websites<\/strong>\u00a0can contain primary sources provided to government agencies and made available on the internet. This usually lets you discover\u00a0old job postings<\/strong>. Use the \u201csite:\u201d command, explained in the \u201cHow to train your Google\u201d video. Keep your company names between quotes (\u201cmy company name here<\/em>\u201c) to get better results. Here are some examples:\r\n
site:.gc.ca \u201cyour company name\u201d\r\n\r\nsite:.gouv.qc.ca \u201cyour company name\u201d\r\n\r\nSearching government websites will let you discover jobs posted on government employment websites<\/cite><\/blockquote>\r\nSearch\u00a0library databases containing news and filter for press releases<\/strong>\u00a0also known as wire feeds.\u00a0ProQuest Business Databases and Eureka.cc<\/a>\u00a0are good library databases allowing you to filter for old press releases or wire feeds. Search for your company name and filter the results on document type.\r\n\r\nSearch library news databases for interviews. In\u00a0ProQuest Business Databases or Eureka.cc<\/a>, try this:\r\n
\u201cyour company name\u201d AND interview*\r\n\r\nRemember that the quotes are needed if your company name is a phrase (as opposed to a single word) and the asterisk (*) is the truncation or wildcard operator, meaning you get interviews<\/strong>, interviewing<\/strong>, etc.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\r\n

Tip #2 \u2013 Industry reports and market research as secondary sources<\/h4>\r\nBranch out to the industry or the market.\r\n\r\nTwo: Consider the broader business environment with industry reports by IBISWorld. Use Passport by Euromonitor to get market insight.\r\n

Tip #3 \u2013 Trade and academic articles as secondary sources<\/h4>\r\nThree: use ProQuest to find secondary sources, namely trade and scholarly articles about your company and its industry.\r\n

Recap and parting thoughts<\/h3>\r\nGoogle is a powerful search engine, which presents popular web results, curated to your specific interests. Alas, it is no longer sufficient to simply use Google for your projects. Searching for evidence and sources to support your claims in a university paper, involves leveraging sources on the free web, all the while supplementing them with sources you can download from library subscriptions. Understanding how to locate high quality sources from the free web as well as from the library will increase your capacity to succeed in all your JMSB projects.\r\n\r\nLastly, please remember these\u00a0other library guides<\/strong>: 1)\u00a0Business Research Portal<\/a>\u00a0for the best business sources; the 2)\u00a0Ask-A-Librarian<\/a>\u00a0to get help; and the 3)\u00a0citing business sources in APA format<\/a>\u00a0for your bibliography.","rendered":"

Contemporary Business Thinking<\/h1>\n

If you are taking Contemporary Business Thinking (COMM 210), you are probably a new student at JMSB. This guide is designed by Olivier Charbonneau, Senior Business Librarian at Concordia University, and aims to support the activities planned by your instructor over the semester. This guide is divided in two sections: Tutorials to improve your searching skills<\/strong>\u00a0as well as\u00a0Three tips to succeed on your final project<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

See also, these other library guides<\/strong>: 1)\u00a0Business Research Portal<\/a>\u00a0for the best business sources; use the 2)\u00a0Ask-A-Librarian<\/a>\u00a0to get help; and the 3)\u00a0citing business sources in APA format<\/a> for your bibliography.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tutorials to improve your searching skills<\/h3>\n

You can view the following vides as a single playlist here:\u00a0YouTube videos created by Olivier Charbonneau for COMM 210 as a single playlist<\/a>. The playlist is comprised of the following videos:<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=iNtJvWanw7s%3Ffeature%3Doembed<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

Olivier explains how Google may provide underwhelming results for your paper, Direct link:\u00a0https:\/\/youtu.be\/iNtJvWanw7s<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n
\n

https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=8H6a6BkqVNc%3Ffeature%3Doembed<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

Olivier provides ideas on improving results you obtain from Google, direct link:\u00a0https:\/\/youtu.be\/8H6a6BkqVNc<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n
\n

https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=DuUXgzphBao%3Ffeature%3Doembed<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

Wikipedia, like any encyclopedia, is simply a starting point to search for high quality sources for a university paper, you are expect to dig much deeper than the entry from an encyclopedia. Direct link:\u00a0https:\/\/youtu.be\/DuUXgzphBao<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\n
\n
\n

https:\/\/youtube.com\/watch?v=aDQhN21rvtQ%3Ffeature%3Doembed<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

Business intelligence can be expensive to acquire. That\u2019s why your librarian has curated a collection of industry reports, market research and news sources. Complement googling with library searches. Direct link:\u00a0https:\/\/youtu.be\/aDQhN21rvtQ<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three tips to succeed on your final project<\/h3>\n

The Globe and Mail, a Canadian newspaper, provides for a list of top growing companies in Canada<\/a>. You are called upon to select a company from this list and then, search for sources to support your critical analysis of contemporary issues. To succeed in this project, you must provide\u00a0evidence from credible sources to support your claims<\/strong>. It is essential that you search for sources and evidence (and read them!) BEFORE writing your paper. Here are three tips, drawn from the videos above, to assist you in completing your project.<\/p>\n

Tip #1 \u2013 Primary sources<\/h4>\n

Primary sources are, generally, documents created and made available by the company you are researching. The company\u2019s website is obviously a source for these. Locate their corporate website and look under the \u201cabout us\u201d section.<\/p>\n

Here are some ideas as to locate some others, based on the tutorials above.<\/p>\n

Canadian or Quebec\u00a0government websites<\/strong>\u00a0can contain primary sources provided to government agencies and made available on the internet. This usually lets you discover\u00a0old job postings<\/strong>. Use the \u201csite:\u201d command, explained in the \u201cHow to train your Google\u201d video. Keep your company names between quotes (\u201cmy company name here<\/em>\u201c) to get better results. Here are some examples:<\/p>\n

site:.gc.ca \u201cyour company name\u201d<\/p>\n

site:.gouv.qc.ca \u201cyour company name\u201d<\/p>\n

Searching government websites will let you discover jobs posted on government employment websites<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Search\u00a0library databases containing news and filter for press releases<\/strong>\u00a0also known as wire feeds.\u00a0ProQuest Business Databases and Eureka.cc<\/a>\u00a0are good library databases allowing you to filter for old press releases or wire feeds. Search for your company name and filter the results on document type.<\/p>\n

Search library news databases for interviews. In\u00a0ProQuest Business Databases or Eureka.cc<\/a>, try this:<\/p>\n

\u201cyour company name\u201d AND interview*<\/p>\n

Remember that the quotes are needed if your company name is a phrase (as opposed to a single word) and the asterisk (*) is the truncation or wildcard operator, meaning you get interviews<\/strong>, interviewing<\/strong>, etc.<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tip #2 \u2013 Industry reports and market research as secondary sources<\/h4>\n

Branch out to the industry or the market.<\/p>\n

Two: Consider the broader business environment with industry reports by IBISWorld. Use Passport by Euromonitor to get market insight.<\/p>\n

Tip #3 \u2013 Trade and academic articles as secondary sources<\/h4>\n

Three: use ProQuest to find secondary sources, namely trade and scholarly articles about your company and its industry.<\/p>\n

Recap and parting thoughts<\/h3>\n

Google is a powerful search engine, which presents popular web results, curated to your specific interests. Alas, it is no longer sufficient to simply use Google for your projects. Searching for evidence and sources to support your claims in a university paper, involves leveraging sources on the free web, all the while supplementing them with sources you can download from library subscriptions. Understanding how to locate high quality sources from the free web as well as from the library will increase your capacity to succeed in all your JMSB projects.<\/p>\n

Lastly, please remember these\u00a0other library guides<\/strong>: 1)\u00a0Business Research Portal<\/a>\u00a0for the best business sources; the 2)\u00a0Ask-A-Librarian<\/a>\u00a0to get help; and the 3)\u00a0citing business sources in APA format<\/a>\u00a0for your bibliography.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111,"menu_order":5,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"back-matter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-50","back-matter","type-back-matter","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter\/50","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/back-matter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter\/50\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter\/50\/revisions\/69"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter\/50\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"back-matter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/back-matter-type?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=50"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opentextbooks.concordia.ca\/businessintel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=50"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}