Market Price Analysis

Before you start

• Remember that research is a process
• When doing your research think carefully about the sources of information you include in your assignment. Some things to consider:
  • all journals are not equal, are you finding journal articles published in academic journals
  • be aware of bias: why did the author publish the information? Do they have appropriate qualifications?
  • use the how to critically evaluate information sources to help you.
• We recommend that you complete the ABARE registration form so that you can access both reserve readings and other ABARE publications electronically. Registration is free. (On the registration form uncheck "Remember my password on this computer" if you are using a public access computer).

Library catalogue

Remember to look at the readings on Reserve for this unit.

Catalogue search tips:

• use the keyword search screen
• sort results by Date
• to find ABARE publications on a specific commodity, enter the commodity in one box and ABARE in another box
• once you have found a relevant title look at the subject headings. Use these headings to search for other relevant material. There are often a number of relevant subject headings. For example if you are looking at coal the following subject headings may be relevant to you:
  • Coal -- Economic aspects
  • Coal -- Economic aspects -- Australia
  • Coal mines and mining -- China
  • Coal -- Prices
  • Coal -- Trade
  • Coal trade -- Economic aspects -- Australia.

Research databases

Before you start searching the databases, check out designing a search strategy for search tips.

• ProQuest 5000 - business database
• Business Source Premier - business database
• Web of Science - major multidisciplinary database. A help sheet is available.
• EconLit - major economics database
• Australian Bureau of Statistics - Australian statistics
• Factiva - full text newspaper database. A help sheet is available.
  The following publications, indexed by Factiva, will be helpful to you:
  • Australian financial review
  • Business review weekly
  • The Economist
  • Financial times
  • Wall street journal
• SourceOECD - includes the full text of all OECD publications

Help sheets are provided for many of the databases.

Remember that most of the databases are finding tools, ie. they provide you with a summary of the article but not the full text. Databases are increasingly providing links to the full text, however these full text links are incomplete. None of the Library's print holdings are reflected in the databases and only some of the library's electronic holdings.

Tips for finding references:

• always check the library catalogue to see if we have the item you are looking for.
• you will still need to use the print collections in the Library.

Web resources

• ABARE (Australian Bureau of Agricultural & Resource Economics)
• USDA Economic Research Services
• USDA Economics, Statistics and Market Information System
• International Trade and Commodity Data
• FAO - Food & Agriculture Organization
• Agricultural & Resource Statistics provides links to statistical resources on the Web.
• AgEcon search - "AgEcon Search collects, indexes, and electronically distributes full text copies of scholarly research in the broadly defined field of agricultural economics".

Web search tips:

• does the commodity you are interested in have an industry body, eg Australian Coal Association? If so, look at the information provided on the industry body web site
• check out the resources on the Finding Australian industry information page

Referencing tips

• ABARE publications are available in a variety of formats; books, journal articles conference papers, reports. Book references are not the same as report references, so ensure that you cite your sources correctly. Use the instructions in your handbook.
• If you are citing an electronic journal or a report available electronically, use the format for a journal article or report and add the URL. You should not cite them as web pages.