Back to REFERENCESSocial Sciences Statistics Lab
UNION COLLEGE
January 5, 1997
HOW TO: USE THE WILSON BUSINESS PERIODICALS INDEX (BPI) TO RESEARCH AN INDUSTRY
1. First, you should know the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) code for your industry. You can obtain this in several ways:
a. Refer to the SIC manual in the reference section of the library.
CALL NUMBER: HF1042 .A550 1987 -- c1 -- Ref Book -- NonCirculating
b. Try searching the Economic Census web site at
To get more detail click on the SIC codes (the numbers themselves) that correspond best to your industry. Keep going until you get to the 4-digit level.
c. Use the BPI itself to help you out by searching for either your industry by name, or a company you know operates in your industry. When you get some results, scroll down the listing and look for the listing under SIC CODES. Choose the 4-digit code that best describes your industry.
2. Once you know your SIC code, choose the second option on the Wilson DISK SEARCH MENU:
2. Multiple subject search . . . . . . . . . (Wilsearch)
3. Fill in your SIC Code on the line provided, then press End, and then Enter to perform the search. You can put other restrictions on your search if your first try retrieves too many articles (e.g., specify one or more Subject Words, or Year to be 1996, or Journal Name to be Wall Street Journal). Don=t forget that you can also search on the names of the companies in your industry, or brand names made by those companies. You might also consider including search terms like market share, concentration, competition, economics, strategy, antitrust, public policy, structure, profits, or other issues of interest along with the SIC code.
Note that to modify a search, just press Esc, and elect to 2. Modify a saved Search, then choose LAST, which is the default.
4. Wilson Disk first shows you a list of titles and sources for articles. If you place the cursor next to an article and press the space bar, you select the article. Pressing enter displays the full data for all selected articles (or if you haven=t selected any, it shows you all articles in your search). Note that Wilson Disk displays articles form newest to oldest, so the most recent articles are displayed first.
5. You can print or download the references to the articles you find by following the instructions at the bottom of the screen.