Select a company and product (real or imaginary).
Use the Internet to find 5 websites that provide the types of information and data that you would use in a marketing information system for that company. You need to find information, data, and/or statistics that should be used in the company's marketing information system. Examples include demographics or trend data. (Do not include websites that are listed in your textbook as sources for marketing information. The websites that you find should contain freely available information that would be useful for marketers. Note that this assignment does not ask you to find websites of companies that sell decision support software. Rather, your goal is to find sources of useful marketing information.)
Explain what type of information each site offers as well as why this information would be useful to the organization.
For each website, cite the URL using the APA format, and write 3-4 sentences describing the type of information that the site offers
http://www.sou.edu/library/searchtools/
At this webpage, you can go immediately to the search sites (first three columns across the top) -- or even better you can scroll down until you see the section called HOW TO SEARCH THE INTERNET. Those are the links to start with. You'll not only learn how to come up with good search terms, but also how to evaluate the webpages you get as results. Some will be good and others will be garbage. You need to know how to tell the difference.
My favorite way to search is to go to Google's advanced search page http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en and put my search words or phrases into the first or second search box (either "all the words" or "exact phrase"). However, there many other strategies for searching you can use, and the HOW TO SEARCH THE INTERNET section will help you best.
Learning to use Google or other search engines can save you time and help you learn to find information efficiently. Here are some websites that can teach you how:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/FindInfo.html
http://www.sou.edu/library/searchtools/searchtips.html
http://www.pandia.com/goalgetter/index.html
http://websearch.about.com/mbody.htm?once=true&COB=home&PM=112_100_T
... and one to help you judge whether a particular website's information is worth your time:
http://www.sou.edu/library/searchtools/evaluate.html
Happy searching.
Then ... for the annotated bibliography you need to set up:
(Broken Link Removed)
This link will give you the basic information you need for annotating, but in MLA format.
(Broken Link Removed) = APA format
http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/apa4b.htm = APA format
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