Entrepreneurship + Social Impact (Concepts & Theories)
- ABI/INFORM Collection This link opens in a new windowIncludes international coverage and provides researchers a complete picture of companies and business trends around the world.
- Entrepreneurial Studies Source This link opens in a new windowOffers full text for key periodicals, reference books, case studies, company profiles and videos with transcripts and related articles from the Harvard Faculty Series and Vator.TV. Subjects covered include business planning, management, marketing, product development, raising capital, risk taking, etc. Coverage: Details not available
- ProQuest Entrepreneurship Database This link opens in a new windowThis database bridges theory with practice, covering a wide spectrum of resources useful to educators, researchers, students and practitioners. Content ranges from the scholarly - including journals, dissertations, working papers and conference proceedings - to a full toolkit of practical guides, templates, forms, sample business plans and tips from successful entrepreneur in a wide range of formats - from video to downloadable Word and Excel files, as well as traditional text and PDFs. Coverage: 1987-
- ProQuest Central This link opens in a new windowIndexes and provides full-text access to scholarly journals, newspapers, magazines, dissertations, working papers, and market reports across all major subject areas.
Data & Statistics
- Social Explorer This link opens in a new windowSocial Explorer allows users to visually explore demographic information, from census and economic data to election and religion data. The site includes data from the entire US Census from 1790 to 2010, all annual updates from the American Community Survey to 2008, and other data sets.
- PolicyMap This link opens in a new windowA U.S. national data and mapping tool and analytics platform with multidisciplinary applications related to social sciences, urban studies, real estate and housing analysis, community and economic development, public administration, public health, policy and political science, education, business, economics, statistics, and geography, among others.
- Statista This link opens in a new windowProvides data, statistics, and reports on many topics including media, business, politics, society, technology and education. Add-ons include: Consumer Insights, providing increased data and analytics on consumer attitudes and behavior worldwide and eCommerce Insights, providing increased data and analytics on the eCommerce landscape including customer behavior and digital market insights.
- Candid.org GuideStarThe place to go to look up information on non-profits.
- ProPublica - Nonprofit ExplorerBrowse millions of annual returns filed by tax-exempt organizations. See details like executive compensation, revenue, expenses and more. Search for an organization or a person, or search the full text of filings.
Stories & Perspectives
- Business Journals This link opens in a new windowYou will need to create an account using your WFU email to access this resource. Find the latest breaking business news, updated throughout the day, this week’s top stories from 46 Business Journals including the Greensboro/Triad Business Journal and the Charlotte Business Journal, and other popular features from the print edition.
- America's News (Newsbank)America’s News features national, regional and local news content from more than 3,650 U.S. news sources including the Winston-Salem Journal, Mercury News, and more
- ABI/INFORM Collection This link opens in a new windowIncludes international coverage and provides researchers a complete picture of companies and business trends around the world.
- Ethnic Diversity Source This link opens in a new windowProvides access to peer-reviewed journals, magazines, e-books, biographies and primary source documents that explore the culture, traditions, social treatment, and lived experiences of many ethnic populations in North America.
- Biography Reference Center This link opens in a new windowContains full-text biographies of historical and contemporary figures from around the world. Sources include Biography Today, Britannica, US presidential and congressional sources, Cambridge, and more. Coverage: varies
- Gale in Context: Biography This link opens in a new windowContains more than 600,000 biographical entries covering international figures from all time periods and areas of study. Also links to news, multimedia and scholarly content about the figures.
- PodBeanEasy place to find podcasts about companies and more!
eBooks to get you thinking about impact
Measuring Social Change by Publication Date: 2019The social sector is undergoing a major transformation. We are witnessing an explosion in efforts to deliver social change, a burgeoning impact investing industry, and an unprecedented intergenerational transfer of wealth. Yet we live in a world of rapidly rising inequality, where social sector services are unable to keep up with societal need, and governments are stretched beyond their means.
Measuring and Improving Social Impacts by Publication Date: 2014The world is beset with enormous problems. And as a nonprofit, NGO, foundation, impact investor, or socially responsible company, your organization is on a mission to solve them. But what exactly should you do? And how will you know whether it's working?
The Moral Marketplace by Publication Date: 2017Enter the world of the social entrepreneur. A global community of doers, thinkers and leaders who mix business with grass-roots activism to make social change possible.
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Librarian - Morgan Ritchie-Baum
Librarian - Summer Krstevska
Lateral Reading
One approach to source evaluation is called "lateral reading". We would suggest that you give it a try! It involves searching the web for more information about the/a source. You will need to answer the following questions about the/a source and "look at it from the outside" to properly evaluate the source's credibility and whether it's information is fact or opinion.
- Who’s behind the information?
- What’s the evidence?
- What do other sources say?
Facts vs Opinions
Facts vs Opinions
Facts represent something that can be known and can be proven to be true or false. Opinions are expressions of belief which may or may not be backed up by facts. Opinions also cannot be proven true or false.
To determine wether you are dealing with facts, ask yourself the following questions:
- Can the statement be proved or demonstrated? For example, by witnesses or documents?
- Can you see it happen in practice?
To determine if you are dealing with opinions:
- You see biased words (worst, good, worthless, ..)
- You see qualifiers (always, likely, possibly, should, …)