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Business

Access QC Libraries' business research resources.

Business Communication and Writing

  • Purpose

This guide is prepared to assisting you with developing the ability to use library materials to work on various forms of business writing. The guide covers information on companies, industries, and topical issues to help with your business communication and writing plan, proposals, and reports assignments.

  • The Research Process for Business Report

1. Creating a plan to clearly:
    - Identify the audience
    - Define the problem to be studies
    - Clarify the purpose
    - Narrow the scope of the problem
   - Plan data collection and analysis
   - Plan presentation of results

2. Documenting a proposal

3. Formatting a manuscript when a report exceeds three pages (not memo or letter format)

See more about General Research Process.

Report Writing

  • What is a report and report writing?

"Unlike purely imaginative writing, report writing follows a fairly definite pattern that includes the following steps: (1) choosing a topic, (2) assembling facts, (3) taking notes and keeping records, (4) organizing information, and (5) writing and documenting the report"

"The word report is so neutral that it can mean any type of research paper." But in a business setting, a report is a piece of informative writing that describes a set of actions and analyzes any results in response to a specific brief.

  • What's the difference between a report and an essay?

Understanding how to make report readable, featured, and effective will help you in business writing.

The key differences between essays and reports:

Reports Essays
Informative and fact-based Argumentative and idea-based
Formally structured Semi-structured   
Usually written with a specific purpose and reader in mind Not written with a specific reader in mind
Written in style appropriate to each section Written in single narrative style throughout   
Always include section headings Usually do not include sub-headings   
Often use bullet points Usually do not include bullet points   
Often includes tables or graphs It depends on research methods
Offer recommendations for action Offer conclusions about question
Uses a clear structure    Uses a clear structure
Based on evidence (data, other reports, experiment results...) Based on evidence (books, journal articles...)
Written in appropriate professional language Written in appropriate academic language   
Has a clear introduction and conclusion Has a clear introduction and conclusion   

 

Pay attention to the following features of reports:

  • Good structured
  • Appropriate writing style
  • Correct or adequate referencing
  • Answer the brief
  • Relevant material
  • Clear expression
  • Relate results to purpose
  • Don't use Unnecessary jargon

**Important -  Read the brief (or the title of your assignment, or your research question) carefully, making sure that you're fully clear about what to do; if unclear, instead of guessing, speak to your professor.

  • Does it answer the purpose stated (or implied) in the brief?
  • Does it answer the needs of the projected reader?
  • Has the material been placed in the appropriate sections?
  • Has all the material been checked for accuracy?
  • Are graphs and tables carefully labelled?
  • Is data in graphs or tables also explained in words and analyzed?
  • Does the discussion/conclusion show how the results relate to objectives set out in the introduction?
  • Has all irrelevant material been removed?
  • Is it written throughout in appropriate style (i.e. no colloquialisms or contractions, using an objective tone, specific rather than vague)?
  • Is it jargon-free and clearly written?
  • Has every idea taken from or inspired by someone else's work been acknowledged with a reference?
  • Have all illustrations and figures taken from someone else's work been cited correctly?
  • Has it been carefully proof-read to eliminate careless mistakes?

Library Resources - Professional Reading

Journal Title OneSearch - Use OneSearch to see if QCL owns the title you need and how to access it if you already have citation information about the articles you need, or you just want to browse a specific journal title.

Article Types - It's important for any research to evaluate information sources and learn the difference among different types of articles, such as Academic/Scholarly, Popular, and Trade journal articles.

NAICS - The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) has been used for industries in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico since 1997. You can use the classification codes to identify companies to learn their business.

**Searching OneSearch vs. Business Databases

Accounting and Taxation

Accounting Review

CPA Journal

Journal of Accountancy

Journal of Accounting Research
Advertising, Marketing, and Public Relations

Journal of Advertising

Journal of Advertising Research

Journal of Consumer Marketing

Journal of Consumer Research

Journal of Marketing

Journal of Marketing Research

Public Relations Review

Business (General)

Business Horizons

Journal of Business Research

Journal of Retailing

Journal of World Business

Review of Business

Business (Small Business)

Journal of Business Venturing

Journal of Small Business Management

Economics

Cambridge Journal of Economics

International Economic Review

Journal of Econometrics

Journal of Economic Literature

Journal of Economic Perspectives

Journal of Economic Theory

Journal of Monetary Economics

Review of Economic Studies

Finance

Financial Analysts Journal

Institutional Investor

Journal of Finance

Management, Administration, and Human Resources

Academy of Management Journal

Journal of Human Resources

Journal of Management

Journal of Organizational Behavior

Real Estate

Journal of Real Estate Research

Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics

Real Estate Economics

Finding supporting documentation for Proposals, Reports, and Presentations

Tips - finding reading materials or information sources using OneSearch:

  • Looking for known items

For example:

Business Communication – Kitty O. Locker, Jo Mackiewicz, Jeanine Elise Aune, and
Donna S. Kienzler
13th Edition, ISBN13: 9781264067510*

  • Looking for something on a topic

For example:

(Subject) "Business writing" AND (Title contains) "report"

(Subject) "Business writing" AND (Title contains) "letter"

* Strategies - searching library databases for business information/data sources

Use business databases to find Business Articles in business journals and magazines.

Newspaper Articles -- Use Business Newspaper databases to find newspaper articles.

Note: Local newspapers are an ideal source of information on local companies, industries, and issues that you would not find in business journals and magazines written at the national and international level.

Other Useful Sources -- Some topical research may not be specifically business related and may require looking at other types of article databases.

Globethics.net Library

Founded in 2004, Globethics is to equip individuals and institutions for ethical thinking, decision-making and action through higher education and policy engagement from cross-cultural and global perspectives.

It is important to know if a company is private or public. There is limited financial information available on private companies. If the company is a division or subsidiary of a public company, you will probably have to look under the parent company's name to find any financials.

Nexis Uni - Company Dossier 

Find background information on the major industries:

Explore industries in

Use NAICS code to find competitors in an industry of interest:

Research Design & Methods

Writing a Business Plan

Business Report

Generally, business reports can be written to inform, solve a problem or make a proposal. They carry information and analyze it. Sometimes you can analyze applying a theoretical framework (e.g., SWOT, PESTLE, Porter's diamond etc.). Sometimes you have to devise your own analytical questions, breaking down the issue into its components, studying them closely, and seeing how they interact with (influence/are influenced by) other components.

Business Proposal

What’s the Best Business Proposal Format? - goes over the basics of writing a business proposal
Write Your Way to a Win: Business Proposal 101 - how to develop a sound, clear, and precise business proposal

 

*Project Planner - This tool is designed to guide you through your research project in different stages, including Overview, Philosophy of Research, Defining a Topic, Reviewing the Literature, Developing a Researchable Question, Research Design, Planning and Practicalities, Research Ethics, Data Collection, Data Analysis and Interpretation, Writing Up, and Dissemination.

Citation Style in Business

APA Formatting (The OWL at Purdue)
The OWL resources will help you learn how to use the American Psychological Association (APA) citation and format style. This section contains resources on in-text citation and the References page, as well as APA sample papers, slide presentations, and the APA classroom poster.

Resource Gathering, Evaluating, and Using

References

Similar to your essays, a report still requires a bibliography of all the published resources you have referenced within your report. Check your module handbook for the referencing style you should use as there are different styles depending on your degree. If it is the standard Westminster Harvard Referencing style, then follow these guidelines and remember to be consistent.