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MBA Resources

Resources for students in JMU's MBA programs.

Cite Your Sources Correctly

This short video from the University of Houston Libraries explains why we cite sources.

Academic disciplines have unique citation style requirements. This is because different information is more valuable to some disciplines than others. For example, the data a source was publishing might be very important to researchers in business who want to rely on recent studies; whereas the date of a source used by a history researcher is not as significant. 

Some of the common citations styles are 

  • APA (American Psychological Association) is often used by Business, Education and Psychology
  • Chicago/Turabian style is often used by History, Philosophy and the Fine Arts
  • MLA (Modern Language Association) style is often used by English and the Humanities

Your professor might indicate which citation style they want you to use for their course. If it isn't specified in the assignment, ask them.

There are many online citation generators, although some require you to pay for a subscription to gain access to different styles. 

As a librarian, I recommend the citation generator ZoteroBib or Zbib. Its benefits include:

  • Doesn't require a software download
  • Doesn't require you to watch ads
  • Bibliographies can be shared among group members
  • It's free!

JMU Libraries has created several resources to help students cite our specialized business resources. Pasting a link into a ZoteroBib doesn't always generate a correct citation that your professor can review.

These links show how to use ZoteroBib to create citations for data you've found in business databases like IBISWorld or Mintel. 

Prefer a Google Slides tutorial?

Prefer to download and search within a PDF?

Other recommended help sites

For citation questions not covered by our tutorials, I recommend the APA Style Blog. On this site, the authors of the APA Style manual answer questions about unique citation problems, such as "How do I cite a mobile app?

Name Your Files Smartly

Carefully choosing file names that are informative and useful saves you time when researching. Consider these examples:

Files that don't employ a naming convention Files that do employ a naming convention
marketing mix FINAL 20180115_MGT555_BeverageDispenser_Smith.pdf
MGT-week2 20180115_MGT555_ConsumerExpenditures_BLS.xlsx
908AF84F-8C23-33CC-8701-2B9ABA59E939​ 20180201_MKT592_RestaurantDecisionMaking_Jones.pdf
Content (1) 20180215_​FIN600_IndustryAveragesRestaurants_Chen.pdf
Meeting Notes Oct 23 20240820_curriculum_meeting_minutes

The files with a naming convention provide a preview of the content, are organized in a logical way (by date yyyy-mm-dd) identify the database that provided it, and show which team member found it, unlike the files without a naming convention.

Tip #1: Choose machine readable names

Use deliberate deliminators

  • Common approach is using “_” and “-” to deliminate units of metadata in the file names.

  • Can use “-” to separate words you want to glob together and “_” to separate different information within a file name.

Don’t use spaces or punctuation

Don’t use special characters

  • Using $, @, %, #, &,*, (, ), !, etc. may have meanings in programming languages.

Tip #2: Choose human readable names

  • The more meaningful the name, the more useful it is for you.

  • The more metadata you store in the name, the easier it will be to search. Metadata could include an author's name or article title.

Tip #3: Choose names that use default ordering

When not employing version control, numbering methods facilitate file ordering and distinction.

Don’t use the word “final”

  • Number or date the versions so they can be ordered.

Put something numeric first

  • A date or version number is common.

  • Left pad version numbers with zeros (eg, 01_file.pdf).

Use YYYY-MM-DD for dates

  • The computer will order using this date format.

Other Helpful Links