Finding Articles on SWOT Analysis (for MKT 3213 - Principles of Marketing)
This guide is designed to help students begin to find articles on SWOT analysis with the use of three primary periodical indexes. The discussion will include suggested search approaches and proposed terminology. The guide will conclude with information on how to obtain full text articles not found on a particular database.
The NSU John Vaughan Library provides access to several online periodical indexes and full text databases which are useful for finding articles on SWOT analysis. ABI/Inform, Wilson Omnifile's Business index, and EBSCOhost's Business Source Elite are particularly useful for finding article citations and full text articles on this topic. These databases, and others, can be accessed by clicking on the following link: Alphabetized List of Databases. Below are individual links to each of these three databases, and an explanation of how each one can be used to find articles pertaining to SWOT analysis:
1) ABI/Inform
Some articles found on ABI/Inform are indexed with the term SWOT analysis as a valid subject heading. To search SWOT analysis as a subject:
1. Click on the "Advanced Search" tab at the top of the ABI/Inform "Basic Search" screen.
Once the "Advanced Search" screen has loaded, click on the arrow in the top box which reads "Citation and abstract". Next, change the selection to "Subject" and type swot analysis into the search box (capitalization is not necessary).
The search results will include citations and full text articles which have been indexed with this subject term, and should include material largely focusing on SWOT analysis. In order to retrieve a larger number of items, return to the "Basic Search" screen and enter "swot analysis" in the search box. Since this is being entered as a keyword phrase, and not as a subject, be sure to include quotation marks around the phrase "swot analysis" when entering this into the search box. Running the search in the "Basic Search" mode will dramatically increase the number of articles retrieved. However, some of the items in this larger set may be slightly less useful than the articles retrieved in the "Advanced Search" or subject search mode.
2) Wilson Web
To access the Business index, log on to Wilson Web (Omnifile) and select "Business" from the "Subject Area" menu at the bottom of the database page.
Once the Business index has been selected, enter "swot analysis" in the search box near the top of the database page. To make sure that Wilson understands that this is to be searched as a phrase, be sure to include the quotation marks.
The search results may include both citations and full text articles.
3) Business Source Elite
In Business Source Elite entering "swot analysis" as a phrase in quotation marks, in the box on the "Basic Search" screen, will retrieve nearly as many items as are found either in ABI/Inform or Wilson. Since Business Source Elite does not recognize SWOT analysis as a valid subject term, running the search through the database's subject search mode on the "Advanced Search" screen may retrieve zero hits. However, a number of articles should be retrieved when using the "Default Fields" search mode. To run this search, accept the "Default Fields" search mode in all three search boxes on the "Advanced Search" screen, and then enter swot in the first search box and analysis in the second box.
To see a different search results number, and a slightly different set of articles, delete the previous search and enter "swot analysis" with "Default Fields" selected.
The difference between these two searches is that the first looks for both words anywhere in the article or citation, and the second looks only for items containing the two words as a phrase. In other words, the second, or phrase search, approach may miss articles that talk about, perhaps, an analysis of SWOT, while the first approach may miss articles containing the the two words only as a phrase.
As previously indicated, there are other periodical indexes which could be useful for finding material on SWOT analysis. Additional indexes are found on the alphabetized databases list which is linked above. It should be noted that some duplication may be seen when comparing the search results from any two databases.
When using many of the periodical databases it is probable that you will find that some articles are not accompanied by full text. While it is possible to force some databases to retrieve only full text articles in the search results, by checking the appropriate box on the search screen, it is important to note that in doing so you may not see some very valuable article citations. There are at least three possible approaches for obtaining a full text article which is not immediately found on a particular database:
1. An article which is not in full text on one database may, in fact, be found in full text on another database. To find out if some other library database provides an article in full text, search the periodical title (not article title) in the "Title begins with" search box in Serial Solutions:
2. If the above approach fails to retrieve the article in full text on another database, check the periodical title in the online catalog to see if the library owns a hard copy of the item.
3. If the library does not own a hard copy of the needed item, it is likely that Interlibrary Loan will be able to obtain a copy of the article for you. To learn about interlibrary loan policies and procedures, and for information on how to utilize this service either on campus or as a distance education student, please contact the Interlibrary Loan office or the resource coordinator listed below. One key to using interlibrary loan successfully is to start your research early so that interlibrary loan requests will arrive in time. On average, it takes about ten business days to obtain material through interlibrary loan.
- Contact the Subject Librarian for Business - cheatham@nsuok.edu
- Gary Cheatham's Home Page
- College of Business & Technology Web site
Page maintained by: Gary Cheatham cheatham@nsuok.edu
Last Updated: April 7, 2006
