Companies

This and other research guides are on the ACC Library web page under
Research Guides & Tutorials: http://library.sunyacc.edu

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(518) 743-2260

Books | Reference books | Articles | Web sites

At any point in your research, please consult a reference librarian. Librarians are available whenever the library is open at (518) 743-2200 ext. 2462. Library hours are listed on the ACC Library's home page: http://library.sunyacc.edu.

Finding Books:

To find books or multimedia items, search the ACC book catalog (ACC Library web page > Finding Books > Catalog):

• Reference books, on the library’s main floor, don’t leave the library, so are always available.
• Circulating books, on the upper level of the library, may be checked out for four weeks.
• Videos, DVDs and music CDs may be borrowed by faculty. Students may use equipment near the video/DVD shelves.

Search tip: Start with a keyword search. When you find an interesting book, look for the subject headings in the book's online description. Click on any that refine your search best. We recommend visiting the ACC Library's Research Guides & Tutorials page, which offers a narrated tutorial on searching the online catalog and two tutorials called "Research Steps," offering important search strategies. Here are some subject headings to consider using:

For additional books on investing or individual companies, search the ACC Library Web page > Finding Books > Catalog. Circulating books, on the library’s upper level, may be borrowed for a month.

This guide will help you start your stock market and company research. Much more is available.  
 

Reference Books:

Reference books, on the main floor, can help you select a research topic. They also offer quick background information and overviews on subjects.

Reference books offer overviews: a history of a company, industry trends, contact information and background. These books are especially useful for choosing and researching a stock for the Stock Market Project assignment. Current company officers, industry trends and more are found in Hoover’s Online and other databases described later in this guide.

These reference books will provide additional information:

Gale Virtual Reference Library:

You can search thousands of full-text chapters from more than 250 reference books published by Gale Cengage Learning. The ACC Library owns many of these books in printed format also. The Document Title search will search for your term in the chapter titles, giving you full-text chapters from the reference books. The content is the exactly the same as the original printed books. Find this database with these links: ACC Library Web page > Finding Books > Reference > Gale Virtual Reference Library. (Note: This is a subscription database. ACC students, faculty and staff may log in from off-campus with their campus network user names and passwords.)

Among the books it searches are: Business Plans Handbook, Company Profiles for Students, Encyclopedia of Business and Finance, Encyclopedia of Small Business, Gale Encyclopedia of E-Commerce, Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History and Worldmark Encyclopedia of National Economies.

Finding Articles:

Journal articles offer current and specific information and research. Search for journal articles by subject through any of the ACC Library's dozens of article databases. Many but not all offer full-text links to articles. (If needed, ask a reference librarian about finding an article though another database, print sources or interlibrary loan if it's not full-text.).

Article databases are subscription-only products. ACC students and faculty may search these from home by following screen directions. To get your ACC student username and password, see Lookup Account and Password on the Student Portal page. For a full list of journals ACC Library receives, see the online Periodicals at ACC list or check the card file at the Circulation Desk.

From the ACC Library Web page, go to Finding Articles. Then, choose either:

• General Databases to find articles on a current, popular or multidisciplinary topic and need a mix of newspapers, magazines and scholarly journals; or
• Subject Databases to find specialized articles on one subject only, such as business, science, literature, nursing, etc.

Among the General Databases are:
● EBSCO's Academic Search Premier: Over 8000 journals; about half are full-text.
● JSTOR: full-text; 117 journals covering the arts, sciences and social sciences.
● New York Times: Current (1980-present) and historical editions (1851-2003).
● WilsonSelectPlus: Completely full-text; 1+ million articles from 1400 journals.
● New York State Newspapers: includes New York Times full-text.
● Opposing Viewpoints, CQ Researcher, more.

Subject Databases:
Under the "Social Sciences" databases, we recommend searching:
-Hoover's Online (in-depth information on publicly-held companies and stocks)
-Business Source Premier (marketing, company and industry information, SWOT analyses),
-Regional Business News (regional business newspapers), and
-Business & Companies Resource Center (articles on companies and industries, company histories).

Magazines and newspapers offer current company news, trends and stock advice. The Library receives almost 40 business-oriented magazines. Among them are:

• Newspapers: 

The Wall Street Journal and New York Times list daily financial news.
- The latest Wall Street Journal issue is on the newspaper rack near the Copy Room. Past issues are along the back wall of the periodicals area, on the main floor.
- Current and past issues of the New York Times (1851 to today) are online (Finding Articles > General Databases > New York Times Current or Historical databases) . Issues are also kept on microfilm.

Web sites:

Here are some recommended Web sites. Of the billions of Web sites in the world, these are more appropriate for college-level research.

Tips for the Stock Market Project:

•  To choose your companies, look at any of these sources:
  - Hoover's Handbook of American Business (REF. HG 4057 .A21 H22) with one-page company summaries.
  - Hoover’s Online database offers current company basics, annual reports and some articles. (See below.)
  - ValueLine (REFERENCE HG 4501 .V26 ): one page stock history and investmentl recommendations
  - Mergent Handbook (REF. HG 4501 .M66) also gives recommendations. 
  - Search General or Subject Databases (see above) for articles on specific companies.
  - Browse through the ACC library’s business magazines listed above.
  
  
• To choose mutual funds:
  Morningstar’s Web site offers mutual fund details: http://www.morningstar.com.
  You may also browse through the reference book, Morningstar Mutual Fund (REF. HG 4530 .M664 2003).
  
  
• For Annual Reports:
  • To find annual reports online, use the links in Hoover’s Online or go to your company’s Web site.
  • For a small selection of paper versions of selected companies’ annual reports, look through in the Annual Reports filing cabinet in the library’s Periodicals area for copies donated to the ACC Library. You may borrow them for four weeks.     
  • Use the numbers from the company’s annual report, or 10-K, not the quarterly 10-Q.
  • You rarely need to print out the entire annual report. Print a section or give the page’s Web address.                 
  
  
• Check the annual report’s table of contents for:
  - the balance sheet, which contain the total assets, liabilities, equity and cash;
  - the income statement (or statement of earnings), listing revenue or sales and net income.

For previous days’ stock price quotes, see Yahoo’s Finance page, below. 

Graphs of Dow Jones Industrial Average are in Wall Street Journal daily: page C1 (18-mo.) and page C3 or C5 (6-month graph), as well as on Yahoo’s Finance page, described below.

For a clear explanation of annual reports, see Keys to Reading an Annual Report  (REFERENCE HF 5681.B2 F773 1995).

  • For other questions about this assignment, please ask your instructor. •    

Useful Web sites for the Stock Market Project:

These Web sites are listed on the ACC Library’s Web page under Finding Articles > Subject Databases > Social Sciences.                    

Hoover’s Online:  
ACC Library subscribes to Hoover’s premium features, so use the ACC Library's Hoover’s link: ACC Library > Finding Articles > Subject Databases > Social Sciences > Hoover’s. If you go directly to Hoover’s Web site without going through the Library’s page, you will not have access to the premium business data. Offers financial data, annual reports, executives, brief history, articles. Click on choices on the left bar to see history, competitors, financials, etc. Search by company name or ticker symbol; then, click on Fact Sheet for a company overview. For company comparisons: Under Financials, click Comparison Data or Competitive Landscape. New feature: click "Build a Custom Report" to print any or all sections.

Yahoo!’s Finance Page:                                                 http://finance.yahoo.com
• Offers financial and general information, annual reports, current and historical stock prices, more.
• This site searches by ticker symbol, a company’s letter code used by the stock exchanges. (Ford Motor Company’s ticker symbol, for instance, is F). To find the ticker symbol, use Yahoo Finance’s Symbol Lookup, or see The Ticker Symbol Book reference book.
• These parts of the site are very useful:
          - Profile - (under Company section) Offers basic information and overview about each company;
          - Charts- go to Technical Analysis for a graph comparing a stock to S&P, Nasdaq, Dow; before using chart, check the time period that is charted (daily, 1 year, etc.)
          - Historical Prices - (under Quotes section) get daily stock prices from last few months or years.
• You can track stocks by registering with Yahoo Finance.

Morningstar Mutual Fund site:                          http://www.morningstar.com/   
This Web site lists data on mutual funds, and also has current stock prices. Follow directions in the Stock Market Project booklet: Tools > Basic Screener > Mutual Fund > Set Criteria (select choices) > Show Results > choose a mutual fund. The current price is “Last Price” or Net Asset Value (NAV). (Note: links may change over time.) You may also browse through the annual reference book published by Morningstar, which lists mutual fund categories and details on individual funds: Morningstar Mutual Fund (REF. HG 4530 .M664).

Investing and business statistics Web sites:

Use these to do more research on your companies, their competitors, and market and industry trends. Some sites allow you to create and track your portfolio:

To find more business Web sites:

Use a subject directory:
- A subject directory is a Web site listing only high-quality sites, organized by subject. Sites are usually chosen by subject experts, so save you time and tend to find more useful results.
 - Yahoo! is a popular subject directory (http://www.yahoo.com), but is not selective.
- Try a more academic one, such as Librarians’ Internet Index (http://lii.org) > Business.
- University at Albany Libraries’ Business Research Web site offers excellent research tips and sites: http://library.albany.edu/subject/business_main.html

• Use a search engine:
- Web search engines use software to search a large number of Web sites. Quality of the information is often not a factor. 
- Each search engine typically lists from 8 to 50% of all Web sites.
- In search engines such as Google (http://www.google.com) or AlltheWeb (www.alltheweb.com), use the Advanced Search option to save time and find better results.  
- See the Library’s guide How to Search the Web for details and more links.

For more information:

Consult a reference librarian at any point in your research. You may also want to see other online ACC Library research guides.

Also see Finding Information on Starting a Small Business and Finding Information on Marketing. These are ACC Library research guides, available on the library’s Web page.

     Updated July, 2008/JM