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Primary and Secondary Sources

This guide will explain what primary and secondary sources are and how to find them.

Business

Example for Business: 

Primary Source: Scholarly study of entrepreneurs activities and behaviors.

Mueller, Susan, et al. "What do Entrepreneurs Actually Do?: An Observational Study of Entrepreneurs' Everyday Behavior in the Start-up and Growth Phase." Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice 36, no. 5 (2012): 995-1017.

Secondary Source: A blog post from Forbes recommending strategies for startup success.

Zwilling, Martin. "Sustainable Strategies for Internet Startup Success." Forbes.com, October 10, 2012.

Economics

Example for Economics:

Primary Source: Research article that explores the relationships between Super Bowl ads and stock prices

Chang, Charles, Jing Jiang, and Kenneth A. Kim. “A test of the representativeness bias effect on stock prices: A study of Super Bowl commercial likeability.” Economics Letters 103 (2009): 49-51.

Secondary Source: A blog post about the research project.

“Stock Price Correlated to Likeability of Super Bowl Ads.” ScienceBlog, January 30, 2009.

Management

Example for Management:

Primary Source: A scholarly research article about sustainability and businesses.

Sharma, Arun, Gopalkrishnan R. Iyerb, Anuj Mehrotrac, and R. Krishnana.  “Sustainability and business-to-business marketing: A framework and implications.” Industrial Marketing Management 39 (2010): 330-341.

Secondary Source: A news release about a green partnership between two companies.

Bulloch, Gib. “The Case for Private Partnerships for Sustainable Development.” Bloomberg Businessweek, June 22, 2012.

Marketing

Example for Marketing:

Primary Source: Scholarly article about how men and women use their privacy features on Facebook.

Hoy, Mareia Grubbs and George Milne. “Gender Differences in Privacy-Related Measures for Young Adult Facebook Users.” Journal of Interactive Advertising 10 (2010): 28-45.

Secondary Source: A blog post about the study.

“Gender Differences in Facebook Privacy Matters.” Behavioral Targeting Blog, August 12, 2011.