CSUN
Business 312
Data Literacy for Business

Wayne Smith   [ wayne.smith@csun.edu ]

Creative Commons License
The text on this web page is licensed under a Creative Commons License.

[updated: Sunday, August 4, 2024]

"The Internet changes everything."
-Bill Gates (1955-)

The purpose of these materials is to provide additional depth in a few key areas within the broad subject of management skills development. These materials should be accessed and printed by the end of the first week of class. Please bring these articles with you to class. You may wish to use a "three-hole punch" for each printed articles and place them in a three-ring binder for convenience. The placement and use of each article with the course is listed in the Course Outline.

Access Instructions

The reference in brackets at the end of each citation is a link to either the public web site from which the article may be accessed or the CSUN Library online database. For CSUN Library articles, one good search strategy is to:

  1. Using your computer "Copy" the full article title of the citation below, including the quotes (you are going to "Paste" this later).
  2. Using your web browser, navigate to the CSUN Library web page.
  3. Newspapers and magazines are both periodicals. Periodicals are known as journals at the CSUN Library. Select "Journals" in the lower-middle of the screen under "More search options".
  4. Enter the title of the periodical (e.g., "Wall Street Journal" or "New York Times") as listed in the citation. Press "Enter" or click on the "magnifying glass" on the right.
  5. For some periodicals, there is more than one variation of the periodical, so you need to select the specific variation that you need.
  6. Click on "online access" because you want access to the periodical electronically (i.e., online) not physically (i.e., in the Library).
  7. For some periodicals, the periodical is available from more than one electronic database, so you need to select the specific electronic database that you need. For some periodicals, the choice doesn't matter: the choices (e.g., for the Wall Street Journal, "ABI/Inform Collection" or "Global Newsstream") lead to the same database and query interface.
  8. For the Wall Street Journal, choose "ProQuest Global Newsstream (Available since 1984).
  9. (Note: At this point, if you--the student--are located off-campus, you will need to authenticate yourself because only CSUN indivials can access these databases: simply enter your CSUN ID and password when prompted.)
  10. Scroll down a bit and find "Search Within This Publication". "Paste" the article title, and click on "Search". Remember to paste everything, including the quotes, because some characters in the article title, such as colon (:) and single-quotes (') are reserved for the system and can cause searching problems.
  11. (Note: If the search doesn't begin for some reason, just use "Advanced Search", "paste" the article after the "AND", and click on "Search".)
  12. Review the results from the database search query, and locate the specific article that you need. If the article you need isn't listed, you need to review the search query you used in the prior step (and perhaps repeat the prior step with a slightly different query).
  13. I recommend selecting the highest-quality print output that is available. Often, this means selecting the "PDF" or "Full Text" format.
  14. Read the article, and have it ready for class (you could save a .pdf or you could print it also).

Note: Additional CSUN Library databases oriented toward business students are collected in the 'Business + Economics' Subject Databases index.

Peer-Reviewed Materials

In general, the "peer-reviewed" materials are "theory-based" readings. These are significant in rigor and have provided persistent insight, often over decades.

Non-Peer-Reviewed Materials

In general, the "non-peer-reviewed" materials are "practice-based" materials. These are timely in relevance and tend to be good examples of either best business practices or complex issues that are likely to confront a future manager.

Reference Materials

The "quasi-peer-reviewed" materials are short, "encyclopedic-like" materials. These are good starting points for initial study and further intellectual pursuit.

Instructor-provided Materials

The materials are brief summaries of topics that are typically not included in the textbook or other materials. These materials originate with the instructor in some form.


Valid XHTML 1.1!