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Economics

Resources for library and other research related to courses in Economics at SUNY New Paltz

Types of Information

Information can be categorized into different types. Your Professor may tell you to find a scholarly source, but what is a scholarly source?

Typically information can be categorized as either a scholarly or a popular source. A popular source is meant to be viewed by the general public and uses language that everyone can understand. For example, a news article about a protest. A scholarly source is meant to be viewed by other scholars or academics and uses language that may be more complex. For example, a journal article that examines the economic and social circumstances that lead to the protest. 

Popular sources are usually created within minutes to months of an event. Scholarly sources take a bit longer and are created months to years after an event. Check out the chart below for more of a comparison of scholarly and popular sources. 

Scholarly vs Popular Sources

  Scholarly Popular
Characteristics
  • Written by experts (researchers, scholars, faculty members)
  • Includes full citations/bibliography for sources 
  • Uses scholarly or technical language
  • Tend to be longer 
  • Does not contain advertisements
  • Often peer reviewed (read/edited by other experts and scholars before being published to ensure the content and quality is accurate and credible
  • Often written by journalists for a general audience
  • Rarely provide citations/bibliography for sources
  • Uses language that is easily understood by general readers
  • Tend to be shorter articles
  • May have advertisements
Examples American Economic Review, Journal of Labor Economics,  Economist, TIME, Forbes, Wall Street Journal

 

Anatomy of a Scholarly Article

Economics Journals

Recommended Databases

Search Tips

There are a couple of rules that all the databases tend to follow.

  • Search using key concepts rather than complete sentences
    • For example, don't use "What is the effect of income changes on consumer choice?"
    • Use income AND "consumer choice" AND effect
       
  • Put phrases such as "consumer choice" in quotes.
     
  • Connect concepts using AND. This tells the database to find articles containing all of the words connected by AND.
     
  • On the left or right side of each database is a number of checkboxes. These are similar to the filters used in online shopping sites like Amazon: they zoom in on the exact type of product (or in this case, article) that you need.

Where is the Article?

If your selected database record does not contain an HTML or PDF option:

To get to the full-text of the article, click on the button next to the reference that sayd "Find it @ New Paltz" Find it at New Paltz button

This will link you back into Search Our Library, which allows you to link to full text in another database, or if there is no full text available, request it by interlibrary loan.

To see your options for accessing an item in Search Our Library, click Get It. 

If we don't have access to an article,  you can request a copy through Interlibrary Loan.