MCC LIBRARY RESOURCES

MKT 290 Consumer Behavior

This guide has been prepared by the MCC reference librarians to assist you with research for your class. If you need further assistance, please stop by the reference desk to consult with a librarian.

Reference Sources

Reference Sources are a good place to start your research. They can give you a concise overview of your topic, background information, facts & statistics, plus help you define and spell words, and focus your topic. Reference Sources include both books located in the Reference Collection and databases accessible on the Library Web Site under the link Reference Databases.

Call Number Title
REF HA202.U51 Statistical Abstract of the United States
REF HA203.C68 County and City Extra
REF HA203.S735 State Trends
REF HA203.S7314 State Profiles: The Population and Economy of Each U.S. State
REF HA214.A512 The American Marketplace: Demographics and Spending Patterns
REF HB848.L54 The Lifestyle Market Analyst
REF HC101.A131222 Business Statistics of the United States
REF HC102.D8 Million Dollar Directory
REF HC106.5.A272 Economic Report of the President
REF HC110.C6.O34 Household Spending: Who Spends How Much on What
REF HC110.I5.R87 American Incomes: Demographics of Who Has Money
REF HD8051.H36 Handbook of U.S. Labor Statistics
REF HF5415.D4874 Dictionary of Marketing Terms
REF HF5415.127.M376 Market Share Reporter
REF HN60.C58 Cities Ranked and Rated
REF HN60.C68 CQ's State Fact Finder
REF HN60.P53 Places Rated Almanac

 

Books & Media

The Stacks contain books and audiovisual items that may be borrowed or "checked out" of the library. These resources are useful when you need a more in-depth study of a topic than can be provided in reference sources alone. Use the Library's Online Catalog to determine what resources are available on your topic and the call number and location in the library. If our library does not own the necessary resources for your research needs, you may request additional items be ordered through interlibrary loan.

Possible search terms to use for your topic are:

Possible Keywords:

 Possible Subject Headings:
demographics consumer behavior
marketing and consumer consumption
consumer and psychology market surveys
retail and marketing decision making

Article Databases

Periodicals consist of popular magazines, newspapers, trade and scholarly journals. Magazine & newspaper articles can be good sources to use for very current information, to focus on specific topics or aspects of a topic, to find reviews, and for opinions. Trade journals are helpful to follow trends and career opportunities within a field, and to find practical tips and techniques to use "on the job". Scholarly journals give details of actual research studies that have been conducted and/or scholarly treatment of discipline specific topics. All of these resources can be located using the article databases located on the library web site.

Recommended Databases for periodical articles

Database Name Vendor Name
Academic Search Premier EBSCO
Business Source Elite EBSCO
PsycARTICLES EBSCO
Regional Business News EBSCO
ArticleFirst, ECO FirstSearch
ProQuest ProQuest

Passwords to access the library databases from off-campus are available on the pink handout MCC Library Database Chart. If you have not received this handout, please ask for it at the Reference Desk.

Internet Resources

Recommended web sites for this subject are listed below. For additional web sites on this subject, refer to MCC Library's Web Sites by Subject link on the library web site.

Web Site Address
The American Customer Satisfaction Index www.theacsi.org
Bureau of Labor Statistics www.bls.gov
FedStats www.fedstats.gov
Gallup Poll Topics A to Z www.gallup.com/poll/topics.aspx
NationMaster www.nationmaster.com
Pew Research Center pewresearch.org
StateMaster www.statemaster.com
Statistical Resources on the Web / Business and Industry www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/stecind.html
Surveys of Consumers (Reuters/University of Michigan) www.sca.isr.umich.edu/main.php
U.S. Census Bureau www.census.gov
U.S. Industry and Trade Outlook www.ita.doc.gov/td/industry/otea/outlooknews.htm


Remember to carefully evaluate information found on the Internet. Unlike most traditional print sources, Internet sources may not go through any review process before the information is made available to the public. Anyone can create and publish a web site. If you need help evaluating your sources, please ask at the Reference Desk for guidance. For critieria to use to evaluate your sources refer to our handout on Evaluating Sources. It is available at the Reference Desk.

 

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