Designed Just For You: Research Guides for Courses, Projects & Topics

Taking GB112, GB214 or GB320 this semester? Reference Librarians have designed custom library research guides to point you to the best resources for your assignments. Whether you’re looking for a SWOT analysis for Apple, consumer trends for frozen desserts, or an analysis of the insurance industry, we’ve got you covered!

Research guides are also available for a variety of other courses, including History, EXP Writing, GLS and Marketing.

But wait…there’s more! Library research guides can help you navigate a number of popular research topics and questions. For example:

Look for the Research Guides link in the Research Help on our homepage to browse and search our entire collection of guides.

Don’t forget, you can Ask a Reference Librarian for research help 7 days a week! Send an email to redesk@bentley.edu, use the live chat widget, or text 781.728.0511.

Look for the Research Guides link on the library’s home page.

Resource of the Month: Guide to Citing Sources Using APA Style (7th ed.)

If you have written a paper for a business, psychology, or sociology class here at Bentley, you’ve probably been required to cite your sources using APA Style. The Bentley Library’s Citing Online Business Resources Using APA Style guide has always been one of our most popular help guides, logging over 25,000 views annually!

New Edition of APA Style, New Library Help Guide!

In October of 2019 the American Psychological Association released the 7th edition of their official style guide, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, to reflect current best practices in scholarly writing and citation.

Over this past summer, reference librarians worked to update the library’s APA citation guide for the Fall 2020 trimester. The result is a completely revised APA Style help guide, featuring updated in-text citation guidance and new Reference list examples for over 50 different source types, including:

  • articles, books, and book chapters (print and electronic)
  • information retrieved from business databases and other specialized library resources (e.g. IBISWorld, Mintel, Mediamark, Statista)
  • websites, blogs, and social media
  • datasets
  • dissertations and theses
  • government reports, reports, and whitepapers
  • personal communications (emails, personal interviews, unrecorded lectures, etc).
  • PowerPoint slides and lecture notes
  • podcasts
  • webinars
  • focus groups (research participants)

Go to https://libguides.bentley.edu/citingsources-apa to bookmark the guide today! We guarantee you’ll return to the guide over and over again, especially when working on your GB course projects.

About APA Style, 7th edition

In addition to citation and reference format updates and clarifications, the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 7th edition also presents:

  • new bias-free language guidelines
  • 100+ new reference examples
  • 40+ new sample tables and figures
  • additional student-specific resources, including sample student papers
  • expanded guidance on ethical writing and publishing practices

For a chapter-by-chapter overview of what’s new, check out the APA’s What’s New in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition (7 pages, PDF). If you’d like to consult the full manual, you can find copies at the Reference Desk and in the Reference Stacks.

Get More Help

Here are some free help resources provided by the APA:

Need personal assistance with citing sources? Contact the Reference Desk or the Bentley Writing Center


Database of the Month provides a very brief introduction to useful library databases, highlighting key features you should know about. If you would like more information about this resource (or any of the library’s databases), please contact us for research assistance. If you would like a demonstration of these resources for a class, please schedule a research instruction class using the instruction request form.

Top 10 Most Utilized Library Research Guides

The library building may be closed but Research Guides are open for business. Our 87 research guides were viewed 9,541 times in the last 30 days.

Most popular 10 guides by views:

Views Guide Name
2336 Citing Online Business Resources using APA Style
1214 Expository Writing Research Guide
736 Bentley Library Coronavirus Updates & Remote Services
546 Online Micro-Volunteering & Crowdsourced Projects
452 Pro/Con, Position Papers or Debates
352 GB214 Team Project Library Research Guide
335 Current News
286 Copyright Information & Guidelines
182 Film & Television Research
172 PS388: Abnormal Psychology (Nash)

There are guides for specific topics (American Political Elections), programs (GB112), and courses (HI200: Researching a Person). Some guides support specific assignments (Pro/Con, Position Papers or Debates) and some provide excellent information about special collections, such as Archives and Scholars @ Bentley. We’ve also built a guide to support our patrons’ need for remote access.  

Search by keyword or browse the complete list. Need more support for your project than the guide provides? Just open the chat box to get connected with a reference librarian for more personalized assistance.

Don’t forget, you can Ask a Librarian for help!

Faculty please take note! The library team will be happy to collaborate with you to create a guide or point you to an existing one that will meet your needs. Please reach out to your Library Liaison for assistance.

Research Guides for GB320, GB214 and More!

Taking GB214 or GB320 this semester? Let us help! Reference Librarians have designed custom library research guides to point you to the best resources for your assignments. Whether you’re looking for a SWOT analysis for Starbucks, a survey of the donut industry, consumer trends for luxury goods, or lacrosse participation data, we’ve got you covered! Take a look at the GB320 and GB214 research guides now – your first assignments are due very soon.

Library research guides are also available for a number of popular research topics and questions. For example:

Look for the Research Guides link in the Research Help on our homepage to browse and search our entire collection of guides.

Look for the Research Guides link on the library’s home page.

Don’t forget, you can Ask a Librarian for help 7 days a week! Visit us in-person at the library, send us an email (redesk@bentley.edu), use our chat widget, give us a call at 781.891.2300, or text to 781.728.0511.

New Research Guide: American Political Elections

American Flag

Election Day 2016 is fast approaching!  A new guide from the library “American Political Elections” not only provides information on elections in the United States but also highlights Presidential Election 2016 resources that can help you keep up to date until you cast your vote on November 8th.

Find information such as:

  • Links to candidate websites
  • Dates and times for the televised debates
  • Voting information
  • Sources of election news coverage

However, it’s not just the presidential election that will be decided on November 8th! State and local elections are also taking place including congressional races. See the “Voting” section to find out how to get connected to your state’s voter resources where you can find out registration deadlines, polling places, how to get an absentee ballot, information on the local elections, and more!

 

Image Credit: U.S. Flag. By jnn1776, 2009, (Flickr). Used under Creative Commons License BY-SA 2.0.

Research Guides to the Rescue

What do you do when you don’t have time to ask a librarian for help? Where can you turn for a list of the best databases or books to use for your class assignment? Where do you get help when the Reference Desk is closed? Give our online library research guides a try!

Library research guides are available for a number of popular research topics and course assignments (like GB214 and GB320). The guides are designed by Bentley Reference Librarians to help you locate the best resources for your research. Research guides can answer questions like:

“How do I get information about a company?”

“Where do I find financial ratios for an industry?”

“Which databases should I use to get articles for my Business Ethics paper?”

“How do I cite sources in APA Style?”

“I’m taking GB214. What are the best databases for my assignment?”

The entire collection of library research guides is available at http://libguides.bentley.edu/, or just look for the link on our homepage.

Library Research Guides
Look for the Research Guides link on our homepage.

If you’d like to suggest a topic for a library research guide please comment on this post. Don’t forget, you can Ask a Librarian for help 7 days a week! Visit us in-person at the library, send us an email (redesk@bentley.edu), use our chat widget, or give us a call at 781.891.2300.

Have You Heard About Our Research Guides?

What do you do when don’t have time to ask a librarian for help? Where do you turn when the Reference Desk is closed? We recommend you use our online library research guides.

Library research guides are available for a number of popular research topics, course assignments (like GB 214 and GB320), and common questions. The guides are designed to help you locate the best resources for your research. Research guides can answer questions like:

The entire collection of library research guides is available at http://libguides.bentley.edu/, or just look for the link on our homepage.

Library Research Guides
Look for the Research Guides link on our homepage.

If you’d like to suggest a topic for a library research guide please comment on this post. Don’t forget, you can Ask a Librarian for help 7 days a week! Visit us in-person at the library, send us an email (redesk@bentley.edu), use our chat widget, or give us a call  at 781.891.2300.

Research Guides to the Rescue!

Although we encourage you to ask us for help with your research, we realize that there are times when this isn’t an option. So, we have created a great collection of online library research guides that you can consult if a librarian is not available.

These guides are designed to help you locate the best resources for your research.  In each guide we recommend specific books, journals, library databases and web sites.  Library research guides are available for a number of popular research topics and common questions, such as:

The entire collection of library research guides is available at http://libguides.bentley.edu/.  If you’d like to suggest a topic for a library research guide please comment on this post.