Journal Evaluation - Rolls Royce, the growth of a firm

Journal Evaluation
Barker, T. (1980). "Rolls Royce, the growth of a firm.". Economic History and Review, 33(2), 284-286.
Strategy for finding the journal article

How did you find the journal article?
I found the article through the research database http://web.ebscohost.com/bsi/search?vid=1&hid=14&sid=8b1ccbed-854d-4231-aed6-c33e1b810d43%40sessionmgr9, this was the same website I was assigned to research and find its uses.

What database, book, bibliography, etc. did you find this source in? (if appropriate) http://web.ebscohost.com/bsi/search?vid=1&hid=14&sid=8b1ccbed-854d-4231-aed6-c33e1b810d43%40sessionmgr9

What was your rationale for selecting that journal article? In other words, why did you think that journal article would be useful for your research?
The article was labeled as the growth of a firm. Since my research question asks about the history of Rolls, Royce, I saw this as only fitting.


Rationale for selection of the journal article

Why did you think that the journal article would be useful for your research, before you reviewed it?
Before I had even reviewed this journal, I thought it would be useful by looking at the title. Seeing as how my research question inquires about the history of Rolls Royce, this journal had the initial first impression that it would be helpful. It also was written around about the same year as my book source was. I figured that both of these being used together might prove very helpful.



General evaluation of the journal article

The authority, scope, intended audience, and currency or timeliness of the journal article.
The authority of this article is some what believable; it seems to have been written indirectly with the company so I’m not to sure about using it. The scope includes the company’s beginnings and a brief synopsis of its competitive history. The intended audience, besides being the general public, seems to include anyone who is interested in the topic. The timeliness of this journal is somewhat outdated. It was written in 1980 and though I’m interested in the company’s history up till then, I would still like to know more about the past 28 years.
Select the evaluation criteria that are most appropriate for evaluating this particular journal article.
Relevance, Currency, Scholarly vs. popular

List each and write a short explanation of how well the journal article fulfills the criteria.
Relevance-the article is slightly relevant to my topic. My topic obviously includes the History of Rolls Royce. This article is very short but covers a few things that I can address in my research.

Currency-the currency of this article was outdated. This was a major contributing factor when I decided not to use this source. Even though my book source was written only a few years later, it was more in depth than this one.

Scholarly vs. Popular- most of this journal has to deal with people who were able to purchase a Rolls Royce in the early days of the company. Though it does talk little about its early foreign endeavors, it is mostly directed to talk about Rolls Royce’s American market. This will help me if I decide to use this article later on.


Example strategies used to search within the journal article

How did you find information within the journal article?
I read through the article. One thing I wasn’t to crazy about was the fact that the journal didn’t have any visual references like my book source did. The diagrams give a more in depth view to issues addressed.

What terms did you use to search the journal article?
“Rolls Royce” “Rolls Royce History”

How did you combine these terms?
I just used “Rolls Royce” as my term because when I used history the topic became way too broad and I received articles that were totally irrelevant to what I needed.

What other strategies did you use to find information within the journal article?
I read the entire article. I would have looked in an index if I could have, but the article was only two pages long. My book source had an index so I was able to quickly find the information I needed.

What were the results of your searches within the journal article?
Most of my searches yielded information on the American endeavors of Rolls Royce. It talked about how the company was hesitant to not create an American assembly factory. The influence of this decision actually came from the American public.

Explanation:
Throughout my journal search, I was able to find out that




A brief summary of the information yielded by the journal article.
Throughout this journal, I was able to find out why Rolls Royce doesn’t have any American facilities. I was able to figure out what types of influence the American market has on Rolls Royce. This article was very short so I was unable to retrieve as much information as I had hoped too. I was able to find out a little more about the company’s history.

What information does the journal article as a whole contain?
History of Rolls Royce

What information does the journal article contain that is relevant to your research question?
The impact of the American auto market on Rolls Royce’s foreign operations

How does the journal article help you (or not) to answer your research question?
Though the article did include some information about the companies early endeavors, most of it was information I had already read before, besides the American factory part.




-My research question has still stayed the same.