This guide provides a research process for students in classes such as BUS 301-Business in Action and organizations such as Illinois Business Consulting, as well as other consulting classes and organizations.

Please use the links, suggestions, and instructions as a reference during your projects!

The steps are presented as linear, but research is an iterative process, and you may (and should!) need to return to resources from an earlier step to plug in new information you've found.  For example:

• If you first see company's name or a product or service through the resources in Steps 3, 4, or 5, go back to the article databases in Step 2 to look for additional information in news and articles.
• As you're searching the web (Step 7), take any new terms or names you find there and search for articles (Step 2) and profiles (Steps 3-5).  Also look for experts in those topics at UIUC (Step 6).

You may cite or quote from the documents you find in the Library's databases, but DO NOT DOWNLOAD, COPY, OR OTHERWISE PROVIDE ANY CONTENT FROM OUR LIBRARY RESOURCES TO THE CLIENT.

Acknowledgment:  Special thanks to TLAS GA Maura Maguire for setting up the structure and navigation for this guide (January 2025)