Google scholar – Find It via UML

Google scholar is a useful resource for finding books and articles. On campus PCs are configured so that it provides Find It via UML links. Off campus you can configure Google scholar to include these links.

Google Scholar – Find It via UML (click to enlarge)

 

Configuring Google Scholar

1. Select the Scholar Settings link at the top right of http://scholar.google.co.uk/
2. In the Library Links section, find the University of Manchester library
3. Click the Save Preferences button at the foot of the page.

Video demo of setting Google Scholar preferences – http://screencast.com/t/c3SJISwTVwp

Note:

The Find It via UML links do not give you direct access to online articles. You still need to authenticate yourself as a member of the University to access the full text.

How can I check a journal’s availability through the library?

Other e-journal related questions on the FAQ

For those interested in the details, adding the library preference to Google scholar means that it checks the library’s “link resolver” for items in the search results and adds a link where appropriate.

US company data on WRDS

WRDS (Wharton Research Data Services) is used by researchers worldwide to get financial and accounting data, especially on US companies. WRDS gives access to the respected CRSP and Compustat NA (North America) databases. It also provides a web interface to make it as easy as possible for researchers to download the data they require. and there is help available from other researchers. See About WRDS for more detail.

Example screencast videos of getting data using WRDS:

• http://screencast.com/t/DuQmA4j7Id - Monthly returns from CRSP
• http://screencast.com/t/BpijU5FIY6x - Fama French factors
• http://screencast.com/t/2vt8uRiF - long-term debt from Compustat NA Fundamentals Quarterly
• http://screencast.com/t/cr9p3Nv1 - S&P domestic long-term issues credit rating from Compustat NA  Ratings

Note: The University of Manchester does not subscribe to all the databases available through WRDS -See  FAQ answer on WRDS subscription.

Earlier WRDS post (March 2011) – for full list of WRDS-related post use the tag cloud on the right-hand side.

There is lots of help available when using WRDS: try the “e-learning” and “support” tabs.

Apple users have reported problems with .xls result files. An alternative is to select the .csv (comma separated variables) format. This can be easily imported into Excel. You don’t get the nice .xls formatting but the data is the same.

Analysts’ reports on Thomson Research

Analysts’ reports (brokers’ reports) are written by respected analysts within investment banks, brokerage houses and consulting firms worldwide for their clients.

Current University of Manchester staff and students have access to an extensive analysts’ reports collection through Thomson Research (the collection was previously called Investext).

Thomson Research company lookup (click to expand)

Analysts write their reports for clients who are mostly interested in companies as an investment opportunity so they cover public (quoted) companies and there will be more reports for larger companies. Reports vary from short buy/hold/sell recommendations to longer detailed analysis of company strategies.

For further information on Thomson Research:

• Industry Information from Thomson Research
• Thomson Research tips
• Thomson Research only works with IE
• all Thomson Research posts
• Thomson Research guide (Nov 2012) from library database guides

For FAQ answer on analysts’ reports:

How do I find analyst reports (investment bank reports)?

This also mentions how to get analysts’ reports on Bloomberg.

Get to Know TED in 2012.

As part of our commitment to supporting you with all your research needs, over the last few months we’ve been recommending some useful business research apps for you to download to your mobile devices, some of which are for accessing our databases and some which are for useful external sources.

We thought we’d start 2012 by introducing you to TED. This app is a real favourite for discerning tablet users throughout the world. It brings a diverse range of interesting lectures from people that are at the top of their game together in one place and the subject matter is truly diverse.

The app allows you to stream a whole host of TED talks in video or audio format. Features include browse and share which brings up the latest TED Talks videos as soon as they’re published; and all this can be browsed in the TED library by theme, tag or rating.

There is also a playlist function called “Inspire Me”, which can build a tailored TED Talk list for you to listen to, just tell the app what kind of lecture you’re after and it’ll pluck out some likely candidates. All the lectures can be shared on Facebook, Twitter and by email.

There are two new additions to the app as well: a bookmarks tab enables listeners to save talks for later, whilst the TED radio brings a station full to the brim with TED Talk audio 24/7. Even better is that it will work when the app is closed down.

In practice the app works extremely well, with a clear and intuitive user-face combined with some great content. This app is a must for anyone interested in the world around them, and it’s free to download!

To access simply download the free app from your App provider.

Remember if you’re using an iPad make certain to add the MBS Library Service  page to your Home Screen for easy access to all the Resources we have to offer you for your research. Simply open our page then tap the arrow in a box symbol next to the top URL line and then select “Add to Home Screen”. You can even edit the name of the Web Icon, after you’ve done this – tap the “Add” button.

Access library resources online (e-resources)

The physical libraries are closed over the festive period (re-open 3rd Jan 2012). However, you can still access the e-resources.

E-books are available via the library catalogue. Screencast of e-book access -  http://screencast.com/t/JetUianN (e-book access off-campus)

E-journal articles are available from the journals databases in the usual way.

Other help for accessing e-resources off-campus:

• How do I access e-resources using VPN?
• Other posts tagged off-campus
• Examples in the  demo video library
• Details of accessing e-journals, e-books and databases (UoM)

 From all at the MBS library service.

Whether or not you will be using the online resources during the holiday period.

Thomson Research tips

Researching a public (quoted) company – whether for a research project or a job interview – you should look at Thomson Research.

Thomson Research is an excellent resource for analysts’ research reports, overview reports and company filings (e.g. annual reports).

When you login using the special database username and password you should get a screen with 4 tabs (Overview, Documents, Research and Tools).

Thomson Research (IE browser)

The Overview tab will give you summary reports for a company and its latest filings.

The Research tab gives access to analysts’ reports - often financial brokers/analysts who follow a company produce a report on a regular basis. (The analysts’ reports collection in Thomson Research was previously branded Investext).

Tips:

1) Thomsom Research requires care when looking for a company by name. For example, “Tate & Lyle” or just “Tate &” will be ok, but “Tate”, “Tate Lyle” or “Tate and Lyle” will all give you no matches. Example video screencast – http://screencast.com/t/tTsfonbej

2) Thomson Research only works with the Internet Explorer (IE) browser. You will not get an error message if you try to use Firefox, Chrome, Safari … just blank pages or sections of pages. Recently we have observed a small problem with IE version 7 – the drop down list for “Report Date” sometimes does not work so you are stuck with the default of “Last 2 Years”. (see also Thomson Research only fully works with IE  )

3) Get our database guide on Thomson Research from the How to research guides page, and browse other posts tagged Thomson Research.

Referencing

Analysts reports do not fall neatly into a standard format for referencing. Who is playing the role of publisher? The company the authors work for, since they will have given the report to their clients, or Thomson Reuters, since the report came from their investment report collection. Make sure that your reference has enough detail that readers can see where it came from and confirm if they had retrieved the identical report. For example:

Meltz, M. A., Lewis, D. & Lovell, N. (2009). [J.P. Morgan report on] The McGraw-Hill Companies – 07 Dec 2009. Thomson Research Investment Research Collection Rpt. 15613728  [Online]. Available from: Thomson Research – http://research.thomsonib.com/ [Accessed 05 Jan. 2010].

Access Harvard Business Review off-campus

The journal Harvard Business Review (HBR) is available to University of Manchester students and staff as an e-journal and you can access it off-campus.

To access a HBR article you need to do two things: first, find out which journal database(s) has full-text access to HBR, and second authenticate yourself as a member of the University of Manchester.

The simplest way to find the journal database for HBR is to use the electronic journals A-Z  list.

The e-journals A-Z list will include the link to the journal database and information on how to logon. For Harvard Business Review it gives

Business Source Premier  1922 to present    University central username and password required off-campus (Select Shibboleth Login)

BSP (EBSCO) login - click to enlarge

For Harvard Business Review we select the Business Source Premier (BSP) link. If you are off-campus this takes you to a login page as you need to authenticate yourself.

1. Select Shibboleth Login (not the most obvious choice we admit)
2. Select UK Higher Education as Region or group
3. Select University of Manchester as school or institution
4. At University of Manchester Central Authentication Service – use your username and password (See what this looks like New Look for Central Authentication Service )

That is the authentication part done. Now you can use the rest of the article reference (year, volume, issue,  page no. etc.) to select the specific article. Once you have found the article, the PDF Full Text  link  is the one to download it.

Screencast video demo – accessing HBR off-campus – http://screencast.com/t/AQboB5HM

Notes

Authentication can vary. If you have already authenticated then your browser may have cached the details so that you don’t need to provide them again. If you are running VPN then your authentication is by your PC being part of the virtual network.

The steps are basically the same for accessing other e-journals. The authentication varies slightly with different journal databases,

Related answers on Manchester Business Answers 24/7 (FAQ):

• How do I access e-resources using my central username and password? provides some more information.
• How can I check a journal’s availability through the library? (if you want to double-check)

Related “Business Reserch Plus” posts in  Category off-campus provide further information.

Researching Regional Intelligence: European/International Regional Data

We recently posted on how to find UK Regional data, see  Researching Regional Intelligence:  UK Regional Data (31/03/2011),  and have subsequently been asked how to find similar data for European and International regions.

Europe: Eurostat
Eurostat, the European Union’s official statistical agency produces an annual publication “Eurostat Regional Yearbook” (available in pdf) plus  a wide range of regional datasets available to search, view and download free of charge.

• Eurostat

Search Tip: To access the publication and the datasets  select the “Statistics Tab”, then “Regions and Cities”. There are options to view the Regional Yearbook plus access to the main data tables and more detailed datasets for regions and cities. See our quick video for “Finding European Regional Datasets“.

North America: FedStats
The US Statistical agency Fedstats produces a wealth of detailed regional data, see the sections for “MapStats” and various datasets by theme via the “Statistics by Geography”.

• Fedstats

International: Official Government Statistical Agencies
To find regional statistics for other international countries try the official Government Statistical Agency for the specific country. Data will vary from country to country but you will often find a great deal of data published online and/or contact the agency for further information. You can locate official statistical agencies using a simple search within any search engine eg: “Australia and Official Statistics” or alternatively you can use directories collated by the United Nations or US Bureau of Statistics:

• United Nations: Index to Official Statistical Agencies
• US Bureau of Statistics: Index of Official Statistical Agencies
  

Worldscope – company accounts data definitions

Worldscope company accounts (company fundamentals) data are available through Datastream and Thomson One Banker.

Worldscope describes itself as “the financial industry’s premier source of detailed financial statement data and profile data on public companies domiciled outside the United States of America. It also contains complete coverage of US companies filing with the Securities Exchange Commission, with the exception of closed end investment companies.” (Worldscope Data Definitions Guide (Issue 9) 2010, p 24)

Worldscope takes company accounts and related data to complete global templates designed to facilitate comparisons between companies both within and across national boundaries. Details of the Worldscope methodology and the defintions of the data items (datatypes) is given in the definitions document.

Worldscope Data Definitions Guide (Issue 9) November 2010 is available:

• via Datastream (Demo- http://screencast.com/t/DSLVcrAyxpY)
• via Datastream Extranet (similar to via Datastream)
• in the folder Database Manuals\Worldscope when using the database PCs in the Eddie Davies Library.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember when using Wordscope is to check whether real data is available for the companies and years being studied. Worldscope defines a large number of data items but some may only be available for companies in specific countries, or collection of the data item may only have started recently.

Manchester Business Answers 24/7:

• FAQs related to Worldscope

[27 Jul 2011 - post Worldscope - finding data tips ]

Researching Regional Intelligence: UK Regional Data

The John Rylands Univesity Library  subscribes to a range of data sources providing national economic and socio-demographic data. Databases such as GMID (Global Market Information Database), ESDS International, Global Insights and Global Financial data provide a wealth of datasets providing a valuable insight into economic and social trends from a country perspective. Regional data can, however, be a little trickier to find but there are many freely available sources you can use to research UK regional data.

Regional Trends: Office of National Statistics
Regional Trends in a comprehensive annual publication collated by the Office of National Statistics (the UK Government Statistical Office) and is the most authoritative publication for regional data. It provides detailed demographic, social, industrial and economic statistics for the sub-regions of the UK (economy, education, environment, health, housing, labour, lifestyles, population, transport and crime).   Selecting either the latest online or pdf report provides interactive access to related analysis and datasets. Navigating the data can be confusing, see the following videos demonstrate three key ways to finding data:

• Regional Trends: Navigating the Interactive Map and tables
• Regional Trends: Navigating the Mini Site Map
• Regional Trends: Navigating the pdf tables of contents

ONS Neighbourhood Statistics
You can drill even further for local data using the Office of National Statistics Neighbourhood statistics site. This site provides an ever increasing range of small area data allowing you to paint a picture of life in local communities. It is possible to locate detailed data using the “Area search” (enter an area name or a postcode) or a snapshot using the “Neighbourhood Summary” search. Don’t know the postcode or area name? use the “Topic Search” to find predefined interactive datasets by theme.  As local data is more difficult to research and obtain much of the data is sourced from the UK Census (taken every 10 years) although recent data is available depending on the dataset.  Note: using this website does require some knowledge of local authority/ward area names or postcode areas and you may need to do a little preparatory work to identify your area before searching.

• ONS Neighbourhood Statistics: Finding datasets for an area
• ONS Neighbourhood Statistics: Finding a Summary Report for a Postcode area
• ONS Neighbourhood Statistics: Finding data by theme

Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)
RDAs are regional government bodies established to encourage regional growth and investment. They generally have research units, (eg North West Development Agency’s North West Regional Intelligence Unit),  collating facts and figures for the region which are published on their websites, (where on the website will vary but look for links to publications, economic statistics, research and statistics, economic strategy under various headings). It may take a little time to find but can be worth the effort!

UK City Councils: Economic Development Units
Finally another way of finding local regional data is to try the local City or Borough Council. Most councils will produce an economic strategy or have an Economic Development Unit collating local area statistics, (an example is Manchester City Council’s Corporate Research & Intelligence Unit). Note: This can be a more time consuming route as you need to consult each individual website, the layout of which will vary from council to council and it is not always guaranteed data will be published online. Details of UK councils can be found online from the UK Government website.

Knowing where to start to find high quality data from external websites can be a daunting task, why not try our Delicious page providing details of useful web sites evaluated by our expert staff. You can access the site via the MBS Library Website or directly via http://www.delicious.com/mbslibrary.  Alternatively contact us and speak to a member of our expert team who can help and advise you find relevant resources for your research:

Telephone: 0161 275 6507
Email: libdesk@mbs.ac.uk