1. Go to the temporary WARC login link. Leave the other boxes blank and select ‘Continue with Open-athens-warc’.

2. Select ‘Oxford Brookes University’

3. Enter your Brookes student login.

4. You should now be able to search WARC as normal.

If you have any further problems logging in or accessing WARC content, please email us at library@brookes.ac.uk or find other ways to get in touch on our get help and support page.

We have been advised of some changes to the way our users will be able to access the Mintel database. From 1st January 2026, Mintel have announced that they will turn off EZ Proxy authentication due to content security concerns. This means that we have to use a different method to access the database.

What is changing?

There are now a few additional steps to login to Mintel as a Brookes user. We have created some new instructions for How to log into Mintel, which will be added to our web pages and shared on social media. To avoid disruption of service when the change happens on 1st January, we aim to change over to the new login method by 19th December 2025.

Please note, there are no planned changes to the content we can access, this should only affect the way that we log in to the database.

Need help?

You can email us (library@brookes.ac.uk) or use live chat to send us a quick question. If you have a more complex query, you can book a one-to-one appointment online or in-person using our booking form or by sending us an email. We also have drop-in appointments available at the Library Helpdesk on Level 1 of Headington Library, JHBB.

Start with your reading list

Based on your brief, you may need to create an event proposal. Your tutors will guide you on what is required. Take a look at the reading list for your module (you can search here for any reading list, by module code, title or module leader’s name). Your reading list will include books, articles and/or websites designed to support your learning.

Your course resource help page will also contain links to key resources.

Scope your market

Use our market, industry and consumer research databases to find out more about your target market.

For example, if you are planning a music event you could:

• Use Mintel to find the latest market research report on Music Concerts and Festivals in the UK. Browse the report sections to find out e.g. the market forecast, consumer motivations for attending music events and their attitudes to different event formats. Don’t miss the interactive databook, which will give you the survey responses in a format you can adapt for your assignment.
• Use Statista to find more statistics including bookings and ticket sales data. For example, you could search for ‘UK concerts’. Some of these graphs are broken down further e.g. by genre of music or demographics.

Investigate industry trends and best practice

Our list of Useful websites about events management includes links to web pages of professional organisations for events management and marketing, as well as news on the latest market trends, technologies and challenges.

We also subscribe to The Purple Guide which has best practice relating to health and safety at events – click ‘Log in’ to view the content.

Use journal articles

Journal articles are sources of research-based information. Hospitality and Tourism Complete and Business Source Complete are two recommended databases for events management, and you can find links and guides to those here. For example, you could search for ‘music concerts’ and ‘experience’ to find evidence relating to how attendees perceive their experience of gigs and how it can be measured.

These databases also contain trade publications aimed at professionals in the field (labelled as ‘Periodicals’ and similar to magazines). These are not quite as rigourous as journal articles because they are not peer-reviewed (for example they may not present evidence for their views), but they are useful for different reasons – they provide an industry perspective on a variety of issues and can provide examples of events management practices in the real world.

Use the Source Type filters on the left hand side of these databases to select academic journals, trade publications or other types. Find out more about those databases here.

Need help?

If you need any help with research for your event proposal, please drop us an email at businesslibrarians@brookes.ac.uk.

Assignments across the Business School vary depending on your subject, level of study and what your tutors want you to get out of the module.

Some might involve reading a lot of academic sources like journal articles to explain the theory of something and how it is applied. Some will ask you to do research into a market or industry, which might include finding out about consumer behaviours or forecasts for an industry’s future growth. You might be asked to investigate a company in detail in order to discuss their business strategy, which might include getting access to the company’s accounts or finding out about their HR practices. Other modules, particularly at higher levels, will ask you to collect your own data through independent research.

Firstly, you should get familiar with your course resource help page, which will contain links to key resources.

Google it?

Many students’ first response to an assignment question is to Google it. This is fine, if what you are aiming for is to get a general overview of a new topic. But the sources you find there might not be reliable, and we have many high quality sources that you will not find on Google because the Library buys subscriptions to these. So you can start with Google, but definitely don’t stop there!

Another quick word of caution here – putting a whole assignment question into Google might send you to websites that we call ‘essay mills’, which have copies of assignments written by or for students. Do not use these! Find out more about essay mills and how to avoid them here.

Academic sources

If you’ve been asked to look at academic sources, you will be primarily searching for books and journal articles. Always start with your reading list (you can search here for any reading list, by module code, title or module leader’s name), but also be prepared to go beyond this to find your own sources.

Journal articles are sources of research-based information. Some of the journal articles databases that we particularly recommend for Business School students are here, along with guides to using them.

To find out how to search these effectively (which will save you a lot of time!) you should check out our Super search strategies guide. Journal articles databases work like search engines, but you have more options to sort and filter your results, giving you more control over the results.

Market and industry information

We have a wide variety of databases containing reliable information about industries and markets. These are very valuable resources used by companies to conduct their own market research (access to a single Mintel report costs about £2000, and you have access to all of these for free!)

Market research databases you have access to include Mintel, Statista, Passport (Euromonitor), IBISWorld and Marketline. Find links to these and guides to using them here.

Company information

Large companies will usually have a profile on Marketline, which will give you information about their market position and strategies, including a SWOT analysis.

You can also search for the company on Business Source Complete. As well as journal articles, Business Source Complete also includes trade publications aimed at professionals in the field (labelled as ‘Periodicals’ and similar to magazines), which might feature profiles of companies and related news.

For company financial accounts, we have Orbis, Fame and Mergent. Find out more and explore those databases here.

Collecting your own data

Sometimes you will be asked to collect your own data, for example for a dissertation or research project. We have lots of books on different data collection methods, and this reading list is a good place to start.

Citing your sources

Always, always cite your sources! This means putting a citation in the text and a full reference in your reference list at the end of your assignment for every source you have used. Use the Library’s guide to Harvard referencing (the style used across the Business School) and check out our playlist of bitesize videos which explains what you need to do and how to do it.

We also have a blog post on referencing graphs, tables and diagrams.

Need help?

If you need any help with research for your assignment, please drop us an email at businesslibrarians@brookes.ac.uk. We can set up a one-to-one meeting with one of the business librarians, either face-to-face or online, or answer your quick questions via email.

If you’d like to start exploring what the Library offers, we would recommend that you begin by taking a look at the Library page for new starters.

We hope you can attend one of the upcoming Headington Library tours – these might be arranged through your course, but you can also check the Library website for information about general tours. These will help you to find your way around the library building and its online spaces, showing you the essentials like how to collect a book you’ve reserved or find a journal article online.

If you’ve got a bit more time:

1. Check out your course resource help page. You can find this by going to the Library homepage, scrolling down to Subject Help and choosing your subject (e.g. Economics or Hospitality). Here you’ll find resources compiled especially for you, including guidance on finding information for your assignments, links to key databases (e.g. for finding articles or market research reports) and contact details for us.
2. We have an online training course on Moodle called Library Information Sources for Business Students – once you have your log in details, click ‘Enrol’ if you don’t already have access, and it will appear in your Moodle dashboard so it’s there whenever you need to refer to it. There are quizzes so you can practice finding different kinds of information.

Finally, note the details of our drop-in sessions, where you can pop in to ask us any questions:
Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays 12-1pm, on Zoom: https://brookes.zoom.us/j/87322532513

Or you can email us at: businesslibrarians@brookes.ac.uk

Here are some top tips for conducting an effective literature review. Expand the sections to see more detailed advice:

Identify appropriate sources of journal articles

The top databases that we recommend for Business School students can be found here. These are collections of academic journals which you can search using keywords related to your topic (Business Source Complete also has industry magazines and other sources – you can filter to academic journals in your search results if you don’t want to include these).

Many students also make use of Google Scholar, which can be enhanced with LibKey Nomad – a tool that will give you quick access to PDFs if we subscribe to the journal. You can also link Google Scholar to Brookes using library links, so it will show which search results you can access through Brookes.

Choose your keywords

We recommend that you start by making a list of keywords related to your topic which you can try in databases and search engines. Think about synonyms (different words for the same idea) – an online thesaurus can help with this.

Avoid putting your whole dissertation title into databases – the database will try to match every word and you probably won’t find many results. Instead, divide your topic into sub-themes, find keywords that express these, and search for them alone or in combination.

It’s usually best to start with a broad search (not too many keywords and terms that are not too specific) to see the results you get before narrowing it down.

Most academic databases have multiple search bars, and you can use these to make your search more specific. See the next section for search strategies.

Search strategies

You can combine keywords in academic databases to get the most relevant results. The most common way of doing this is using ‘AND’ and ‘OR’. Here’s an example:

This is a screenshot of a search in Web of Science. The database will look for articles with the word influencers AND the word fashion AND either sustainability OR green OR eco-friendly. These last three words are synonyms, and putting OR in between them will tell the database to look for articles with any of those words.

You can find more search strategy tips in this document.

Keep good notes

It’s important to have a good system for storing your notes and references. You could try using a reference management program such as Endnote (you can access both the online and desktop version for free via the Library, and one of the Business Librarians will be happy to help you to set it up if you drop us an email at businesslibrarians@brookes.ac.uk).

There are a number of online tools available for notetaking, such as Evernote or Notion, which has a template for academic note-taking.

Critical analysis

Rather than just reporting the findings of other papers in your literature review, you want to make sure that you are approaching sources with a critical mindset and explaining the significance of other researchers’ findings for your dissertation.

The Centre for Academic Development at Brookes have useful advice on critical appraisal of research.

Presenting your literature review

When you write up your literature review, you should give it some structure to make it easier for the reader to navigate.

For inspiration on how to write and structure a literature review, take a look at previous examples on RADAR (these are good examples that were graded 65 or above).

It is common to break down your literature review into themes, gradually narrowing down towards your question. Gather sources that relate to different parts of your topic. Here’s an example, from an MSc Business and Management dissertation entitled ‘The Role of Identity in Consumer Purchasing Behavior in Fashion Industry in Thailand and the UK’:

You can see how the author has broken down their literature review chapter into three main sections (consumer purchasing behavior, identity and its role in consumer behaviour; the role of culture in consumer purchasing behaviour), followed by a conclusion. The three sections are broken down further with sub-headings to aid the reader.

The Business Librarians are available to help you with your literature review. Please email businesslibrarians@brookes.ac.uk if you would like an appointment to talk through your search strategy or other areas covered in this post.

LibKey Nomad is a simple tool that you can add to your browser to give you fast, one-click access to academic articles. Check out our library guide to installing it (it’s really easy!)

Nomad offers:

• Direct access to PDF and HTML articles
• Fast and precise linking from thousands of publisher’s websites
• Open access content where subscriptions are not available.

There are two ways to access the audiobooks. In LibrarySearch, enter the title of the book or subject you are interested in and use the Format filter on the left hand menu to restrict your search to audiobooks. The example below shows a search for the topic ‘management’ and the results filtered to audiobooks only:

When you click on the Listen to audio button, you will be taken to the O’Reilly platform. When you access an O’Reilly resource like an audiobook or ebook via LibrarySearch, select the ‘Institution not listed’ option on the O’Reilly Welcome webpage and enter your academic email address to access the resource. (Here is a document showing students how to access O’Reilly if you need further help with this). You are then taken directly to the audiobook.

The second option for accessing audiobooks it to go directly to the O’Reilly learning platform and select the Start Learning tab, followed by the Books option under the Browse format. Then, on the Start Learning page, select the Audiobooks option as shown in the screen below:

Use the Topics filter to select the subject you are interested in. The example below shows the audiobooks available using the Leadership and Management topic filter:

To be truly on the go, take advantage of the O’Reilly apps which enables you to download ebooks and listen to audiobooks on the go.

Happy listening and if you need help, just contact the business librarians by emailing businesslibrarians@brookes.ac.uk.

Students can view and complete the whole course on Moodle.