Scholarly Research in SURF
The Salisbury University Resource Finder (SURF) is a federated search; this means it will search across many library sources from one search box. You can use SURF to search for books (both physical books located in the library and eBooks), newspaper and magazine articles, books your professor has left on course reserves, scholarly articles, academic journals, and databases.
You can find many scholarly articles using SURF. When you use the SURF search box, your search results will include a menu on the left side with a variety of facets that will refine your results by limiting your search to certain perimeters. For example, if you want to limit your search to only articles that are peer reviewed, you will want to use the facet "Peer-reviewed Journals" facet under "Availability."
If you don't limit the search to only peer reviewed articles, SURF will still let you know if an article is peer reviewed via the purple peer review icon.
Searching Databases
Not every option will be found in SURF. Some databases, such as Statista, are not indexed and there are also times when a database search may make more sense for your research needs. If you want to find more focused results within a certain discipline of study, searching individual databases can be really useful.
From the Database A-Z List you can search databases by subject, vendor, or title/keyword.
By searching by subject you can find databases in a variety of business disciplines including, accounting, business, information systems, and management.
When looking at records within database you will see a few ways by which you can access the article immediately:
- HTML Full Text
- PDF Full Text (or a similar Get PDF option)
- View at Publisher
When those options are not available, you may see the yellow find it button 
The find it button will check other SU databases for the article or take you to an option to request the article via Interlibrary Loan (ILL). ILL requests are pretty fast, so I wouldn't recommend skipping this option if the article looks relevant to your needs!
Tips for Searching Databases
If you are doing company research, in many of our databases you can search by ticker symbol. To find a company's ticker symbol, you can google it or look it up in a database like Morningstar or Value Line Investment Survey.
Likewise, if you are doing industry research, in many of our databases you can search by industry codes such as a NAICS code.
Finally, just like searching for books, you should utilize keywords and boolean operators to search in databases.
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NAICSU.S. Census Bureau tool for using the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). Like knowing the ticker, knowing your company's NAICS code will help you locate industry and market information on library databases. You may have to try a few different keywords to find your NAICS code, for example, "Pest Management" won't return results but "Pest" and "Pest Control" will. I often will google "[Company Name] NAICS" to try to get a quick answer, but you should always check your results against the link here.
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SIC CodeSearch the 1987 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system from OSHA.gov by keyword to find the SIC code that classifies your industry. SIC codes are still used in some databases and reference sources, but the system is no longer being updated.
Select Journals & Periodicals
Not sure where to start? Here are some databases organized by research need...
These databases are a great place to start as they cover a wide range of business-related topics. They provide access to scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles as well as some non-journal content (company profiles, industry profiles, market research reports, SWOT analyses, country reports, etc.).
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ABI/INFORM Global This link opens in a new windowProvides indexing and abstracting for 1,000 periodicals with full text for more than 600 publications. ABI/Inform also provides case studies, industry reports, and market reports.
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Business Source Complete This link opens in a new windowCovers all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, accounting, banking, finance and more. Content includes many full-text journals and topical video content
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Value Line Investment Survey This link opens in a new windowProvides year-ahead and three-to-five-year probable relative price performance, projections of key financial measures, and concise, objective commentary on current operations and future prospects, as well as full-page individual stock reports and industry reviews.
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Morningstar This link opens in a new windowUse the Markets page to view a "Market Barometer" for daily, weekly, monthly, and annual performance data for different sectors. You can also find industry reports and sector reports, updated quarterly.
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Historical Wall Street Journal This link opens in a new windowProvides full-text and full-image articles from 1889-2010.
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Morningstar This link opens in a new windowProvides up-to-date stock and fund information to research current or prospective holdings and see how investments work together. Data reports cover more than 20,000 securities.
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Wall Street Journal This link opens in a new windowIndexes, abstracts, and provides online full text for the Wall Street Journal newspaper 1984-present.
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Value Line Investment Survey This link opens in a new windowProvides year-ahead and three-to-five-year probable relative price performance, projections of key financial measures, and concise, objective commentary on current operations and future prospects, as well as full-page individual stock reports and industry reviews.
When searching for case studies, use the advanced search tool and select "Case Study" as a Document Type. If this option is not available, try including it as a keyword or subject term in your search. e.g., case studies AND management
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ABI/INFORM Global This link opens in a new windowProvides indexing and abstracting for 1,000 periodicals with full text for more than 600 publications. ABI/Inform also provides case studies, industry reports, and market reports.
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Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new windowOffers access to an unprecedented collection of resources including journals, magazines, reports, books, and videos. Many are peer-reviewed and full-text. Subjects range from astronomy to zoology.
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SAGE Research MethodsA resource for both writing and finding case studies, SAGE Research Methods provides instructional datasets, 1,100 peer-reviewed cases, books, articles, and other tools to help with the research process. Specific disciplines include Economics, Business & Management, and Marketing.
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ABI/INFORM Global This link opens in a new windowAccess Country Reports from Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) ViewsWire, Oxford Analytica Daily Brief Service, and Oxford Analytica Country Profiles, by clicking 'Browse' and then 'Country Reports.' Search for other resources, such as articles: Within an Advanced search, enter your country name in one search bar and change the drop-down menu to Location -- LOC. Enter additional key words or select other preferences to make your results more specific.
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Statista This link opens in a new windowStatista.com, by Statista Inc., provides relevant and recent statistics, market data, industry reports, studies, and research & analysis on over 60,000 topics, aggregated from over 18,000 sources, and categorized into 21 market sectors. International statistics and market data are available for over 36 countries. Easily incorporate charts or graphs into your report or presentation by downloading statistics to Powerpoint or Excel. Search by keyword.
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EconLit This link opens in a new windowSU no longer subscribes to this resource. Due to overlap in content, we suggest searching the following resources instead: Academic Search Ultimate, JSTOR. Read more information about the 2025 library cancellation process.
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Statista This link opens in a new windowProvides data and infographics on over 60,000 topics from over 18,000 sources, categorized into 21 market sectors with quantitative data on media, business, finance, politics, and a wide variety of other areas.
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Statista This link opens in a new windowProvides data and infographics on over 60,000 topics from over 18,000 sources, categorized into 21 market sectors with quantitative data on media, business, finance, politics, and a wide variety of other areas.
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Historical Statistics of the United States This link opens in a new windowProvides data from the Millennial edition, 2006.
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Checkpoint Edge This link opens in a new windowProvides information to tax and accounting professionals including expert research, guidance, technology, tools, learning and news.
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HeinOnline Academic This link opens in a new windowProvides topic specific databases including all of the world's constitutions, all U.S. treaties, collections of classic treatises and presidential documents, Criminal Justice, Religion and the Law, and Women and the Law, etc. Full text case law powered by Fastcase is included.
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Baltimore Sun This link opens in a new windowIndexes, abstracts, and provides online full text for The Sun, Baltimore (Baltimore Sun) newspaper 1990-present.
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Historical Baltimore Sun This link opens in a new windowIncludes complete issues of The Baltimore Sun from 1837 to 1996.
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Historical New York Times This link opens in a new windowProvides full-text and full-image articles from the New York Times from 1851-2018.
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Historical Wall Street Journal This link opens in a new windowProvides full-text and full-image articles from 1889-2010.
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New York Times This link opens in a new windowIndexes, abstracts, and provides online full text for the New York Times newspaper (1980-present), the New York Times Book Review (1988-present), and the New York Times Magazine (1997-present).
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Regional Business News This link opens in a new windowProvides comprehensive full text for regional business publications (including titles from Crain Communications). This database has full text for more than 60 sources.
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Wall Street Journal This link opens in a new windowIndexes, abstracts, and provides online full text for the Wall Street Journal newspaper 1984-present.
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Washington Post This link opens in a new windowIndexes, abstracts, and provides online full text for the Washington Post newspaper 1987-present.
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Regional Business News This link opens in a new windowProvides comprehensive full text for regional business publications (including titles from Crain Communications). This database has full text for more than 60 sources.
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Academic Search Ultimate This link opens in a new windowOffers access to an unprecedented collection of resources including journals, magazines, reports, books, and videos. Many are peer-reviewed and full-text. Subjects range from astronomy to zoology.
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JSTOR (including ARTSTOR) This link opens in a new windowProvides full-text access to a broad range of resources about the humanities, sciences, and social sciences, including primary sources, images, articles, and books. Does not contain the most recent journal articles.
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ScienceDirect This link opens in a new windowProvides extensive full-text journal coverage of the physical and biological sciences, as well as some coverage of the social sciences and humanities.
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Web of Science This link opens in a new windowEnables users to search current and retrospective multidisciplinary information from thousands of the most prestigious, high impact research journals in the world. It also provides cited reference searching.