LibGuides: Nonprofit Research: Finding articles

Core Journals

The following journals focus on issues related to nonprofit organizations. Select the Publications search option in each database if you want to browse issues from a specific title.

Other Tips

Advanced Search - this option is available on most databases, and allows you to specialize your search based on documents (books, articles, video etc), date, geographic location, language, etc.

Quotation Marks - using quotation marks will allow you to search for exact phrases. For example, searching "nonprofit organization" will only retrieve searches with both "nonprofit" and "organization" together in that order.

Refine Search - many online databases allow you to specify your search criteria after selecting your keywords and clicking on search.

Finding a Specific Journal - if you know the name of the journal you are looking for, type it in the library catalogue, then select "Periodical Title", then hit "go".

Indexes & Databases

Indexes and Databases bring together a number of different online journals and other resources into one search engine. Use these tools to find citations, abstracts and/or full text articles, reports and other resources on your topic. Both scholarly and popular articles may be included.

Proquest Business
Simultaneously search all business & industry periodicals available through Proquest Central, including the ABI/Inform databases, concentrated publications on the pharmaceutical, banking, computing and telecommunications industries and Canadian, Asian and European business news.
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Specific databases included in the Proquest suite of business databases at York University are: ABI Inform Global, ABI/Inform Trade & Industry, CBCAComplete, Proquest Asian Business, and Proquest Europe.
Business Source Complete
Offers premium content including peer-reviewed and business-related journals, magazines and newspapers, including scholarly, trade, and popular titles. Other content includes business e-books, case studies, company profiles, country economic reports, faculty seminar videos, industry reports, executive and analyst interviews, market research reports, SWOT analyses, and working paper collections.
Scholars Portal Journals
Almost 9,000 full-text academic journals covering a wide range of academic disciplines. Search business topics by selecting Search button and typing relevant keywords, or browse individual publication titles.
Canadian Periodical Index
Includes Canadian and international academic journals, magazines, and newspapers in both English and French. All subjects are represented, with an emphasis on Canadian and international issues. Many articles are full text. Coverage is from 1988 - present.
PAIS Index
Indexes articles from scholarly journals, books, government publications, directories, and reports of public, intergovernmental, and private organizations. Web sites are also included. Covers all subjects related to public affairs, including political, economic, environmental and social issues. Coverage is from 1972 - present.
Factiva
This index provides access to over 1,000 newspapers including the full text of the Globe & Mail, Toronto Star and National Post. It indexes more than 6,500 magazines, including industry-specific journals and newsletters, 270+ newswires, including Dow Jones, Reuters and The Associated Press, 160+ Media Programs, with transcripts from BBC, ABC, CBS, NBC and more, 9,000 Web sites in more than 20 languages and more than 20,000 Company Reports.
Lexis Nexis Academic
This service makes available over 30,000 news, business, and legal information sources. Included are current international newspapers, as well as comprehensive company and industry reports.Information available includes trade and marketing reports, patent details, merger and acquisition analysis, country reports and industry and legal publications. Lexis-Nexis also provides access to numerous reference tools, including biographical information, company directories, quotations and Who’s Who titles.
Proquest
A single search screen that provides access to multiple databases for searching literature in a number of disciplines. It is possible to search across all 50 + Proquest databases or to limit searches to subject areas including business, health and medicine, history, literature and languages, social sciences and more.

Search Tip

When you are searching in databases the words you use have a direct impact on the results you retrieve. Try searching for "nonprofit organizations" and combine with other keywords such as employment, careers, management, "strategic planning", "organizational behaviour", "corporate culture", etc

Scan your search results to get ideas for additional search words.

Boolean Operators

When searching online, various words are used to help broaden or narrow your search.

Boolean operators are most common in internet and electronic databases. Boolean logic refers to the relationships (connections or differences) between different search terms. The most common boolean operators are:

AND - used to narrow a search and establish more relevant results by linking keywords together (e.g. "nonprofit" and "administration").

OR - broadens a search and get more results. Typically used for synonyms and words with variant spellings (e.g. "nonprofit" or "NPO").

NOT - use to narrow a search and get more relevant results (e.g. "nonprofit organization" not "education").

Truncation: used to find similar words with different endings

e.g. nonprofit* searches "nonprofit and nonprofits"

e.g. charit* searches "charity", "charities", "charitable" etc

asterisk (*) searches for various different endings of a word in most databases (including York University), however LexisNexis uses an exlamation mark (!).