Mergent Online Citation Guide for Students

Mergent Online is a comprehensive database of business and investment information, providing valuable resources for students conducting research.

Mergent Online can be accessed through the library's website, with a valid student ID required for login.

To get started with Mergent Online, students can begin by searching for a company or industry using the database's search bar.

For in-text citations, students should use the following format: (Company Name, Date of Access), as seen in the example: (General Electric, 2022).

When citing Mergent Online, you'll want to make sure you're using the correct format. If you're citing a company profile, use the author-date format, but be aware that company profiles in Mergent Online are not dated, so use "n.d." (no date) for the publication date.

For example, if you're citing a company profile for McDonald's, it might look like this: Mergent, Inc. (n.d.). McDonald's Corp [Company profile]. Retrieved July 27, 2020 from Mergent Online database.

If you're citing a financial statement or 10-K/Annual Report, you'll need to include the official date of publication, which can usually be found at the end of the document. For instance: McDonald's Corporation (2019, February 22). Form 10-K annual report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018. Retrieved from Mergent Online database.

Here are some general guidelines to keep in mind:

Citing Mergent Reports is a breeze, but it does require some attention to detail. Mergent reports can be cited in APA style using the following format: Author. (Date of Publication). Title of report. Retrieved from DatabaseName database.

For reports that are not dated, use n.d. (no date) for the publication date and include the retrieval date in the citation. This is especially true for company profiles, which are often not dated in Mergent Online.

The URL is not a reliable way to cite a report, as it may not link back to the same report. Instead, provide the general link to the login page of the database, and include database information in the citation. This is because the information cited in Mergent is not widely available in other databases.

Here are some examples of how to cite Mergent reports:

Note that the official date for an SEC filing can usually be found at the end of the document, so be sure to include that in the citation.

Citing News Articles from Mergent is a straightforward process. You'll see a whole line of tabs with different options in the company profile, and under the news tab, Mergent will link you to news stories from many sources.

These links will bring you to the original story, usually on the news source's website.