Research for DECA Competition

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Daily Progress Chart

1. Select your competitive event after reading descriptions of all the competitive events in the DECA Guide at DECA.org. Pay special attention to the Event Overview, Written Entry Guidelines, Penalty Point Checklist, Presentation Guidelines and Presentation Judging for each event.
2. Once you have selected your event, read the written entry guidelines and the rubric for your event and determine the potential questions you need to answer.
   1. Guidelines for Business Operations Research Events
   2. Rubric for Business Operations Research
3. Locate Sources: How can you find relevant information on your topic?
   1. How to develop keywords (blank)
   2. How to develop keywords (filled in)
   3. Basic searching in Google
   4. How to search ProQuest
   5. How to search Masterfile Explora
   6. Record the effectiveness of your searches (blank)

BUSINESS AND DEMOGRAPHIC DATABASES

Find descriptions of companies and demographic information using databases from Spokane Public Library. You will need to use your student library card number from Spokane Public Library to access these databases.

• Business Source Complete: Full-text journals for business, including marketing, management, accounting, and economics, as well as detailed information on public and private companies.
• Demographics Now: Searchable demographics and consumer and business statistics, with directory information and easy business startup reports.
• Morningstar Investment Research Center: Searchable demographics and consumer and business statistics, with directory information and easy business startup reports.
• Reference USA: Searchable listings of millions of U.S. businesses and residents, including searches by location, size, or business type, or consumer lifestyles.

MAGAZINE, JOURNAL, AND NEWSPAPER DATABASES

Find news articles on companies and business trends using these databases.

• Masterfile Explora: A collection of the most popular full-text magazines, journals, and other highly-regarded sources from the world's leading publishers.
• ProQuest: Search magazines and newspapers for information on current events, education, arts, and social sciences, including full-text articles from the Spokesman Review since 1994.​

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION WEBSITES

• Better Business Bureau
• Small Business Administration​​

​CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION WEBSITES

• Charity Watch
• Guide Star
• The Life You Can Save

YOUR TEXTBOOK

Marketing Essentials by Lois Schneider Farese, Grady Kimbrell, and Dr. Carl A. Woloszyk (ISBN: 9780021401109)

4. Print, photocopy, or save the sources that will contribute valuable information to your project.

5. Organize photocopies and prints from information sources.

6. ​Read, highlight, and annotate your sources like this.

7. ​Take notes using this organizer (blank). Here's a sample of a filled-in organizer.

8. ​Record any sources that you read for background information or that you took notes from in a bibliography. Articles from databases always include an MLA citation. If you cite a source that doesn’t provide a citation, create a citation using a bibliography composer like Citation Machine.

9. ​Write a rough draft from your notes.

10. Type a final draft of your paper using the guidelines in the DECA guide and these MLA format guidelines.