Skip to Main Content

MKTG 4P31: Consumer Behaviour

Sources and strategies for researching consumer behavior topics.

Gather Background Information

Lightbulb idea iconIt can be challenging to gather background information about specific brand name products, trends, or phenomenon. Most databases do not properly index content by product or brand name, or fail to capture trends and phenomenon (and describe them using Subject Headings) in a timely manner. 

 

Here are some research tips to help you tackle this part of the assignment.

  • Search by keyword in Omni for your topic (product, trend, or phenomenon). Remember to put quotation marks around your brand name product (e.g. "beanie babies") for more specific results.

Beanie Babies search in Omni

  • If you are not finding much information with a keyword search, you can expand your search results by searching within the full text of newspaper articles & magazine articles & broadcast transcripts using Omni Newspaper Search. 

 

​Newspaper Search Beanie Babies

  • You can sort the search results from oldest to newest to find a start date for news coverage of the product, trend, or idea, or by relevance to find a key source as a starting point. 

Omni News Results

Very recent phenomenon, such as fidget spinners, may be covered in current news publications, online, & broadcast media, while older trends or products, such as Beanie Babies, will have a longer paper trail of documentation including scholarly journals and books.

Recommended Library Database:

Subjects: Business