Research and Course Guides: Actuarial Science Research Resources: Getting Started

Getting Started

Use this site to find news, scholarly articles, and data.

If you spend more than 15 minutes on a research task without progress, reach out to librarian Jim Kelly for advice on choosing the right tools and search strategies.

Email Jim or schedule an appointment for a research consultation. (See adjacent box for Jim's email address and link to appointment calendar.)

Or try our "Chat with a Librarian" service (see purple pop-up below).

Economic News

Wall Street Journal (digital)
Direct access to wsj.com paid for by St. Thomas.
First-time users: Create a free account using your St. Thomas email address.
Access includes news, commentary, podcasts, WSJ+, use of the mobile app, and more.
Students will be prompted to enter their graduation date upon activation. Faculty and staff will receive an email to renew their academic pass every 364 days.
You can also refresh your access by following these steps:
1. Logout of any WSJ sessions.
2. Clear all browser history & cookies.
3. Visit WSJ.com/StThomas and follow the steps to login.
Financial Times (digital)
FT.com is the digital version of The Financial Times, a leading global news source offering in-depth analysis of global markets, economics, and diverse topics like politics, technology, climate change, and much more.
Use your stthomas.edu email address to set up your account for personalized access to content on the FT.com website and mobile apps (ft.com/mobile).
Once registered, sign in to FT.com directly. Use myFT to curate topics that you're interested in, set up email alerts, subscribe to newsletters, and save articles to refer back to later.
Other features include:
- The ePaper, a digital replica of the printed newspaper optimized for offline access
- Portfolio Tool for tracking performance of your holdings and viewing relevant news stories
- FT video and podcasts
The St. Thomas Libraries also offer the Financial Times Historical Archive beginning with the first issue in 1888.
New York Times (digital)
Direct access to nytimes.com paid for by St. Thomas.

First-time users: Create a free account using your St. Thomas email address. Existing paid New York Times subscribers must cancel their subscription before authenticating via the school-funded program.
Includes access to The New York Times in Education (separate registration required), TimesMachine, The Athletic (separate registration required), NYT podcasts, mobile apps, and more. Does not include Cooking, Wirecutter, or Games.
Once registered, students will have access until 12/31 of their graduation year. Faculty/staff will have 4 years of full account access, after which they must re-authenticate by visiting accessnyt.com.
Economist, The
University-wide subscription to the digital edition of the esteemed British newsweekly. Includes current and prior coverage back to 1997; see the separate Economist Historical Archive for coverage back to 1843.

Web login via Single Sign On
Enter your stthomas.edu email address on the institutional login page (do not click the blue Log in button). You will automatically be redirected to the St. Thomas Single Sign-On login page if you don't already have an active session.
Mobile App login
Our subscription includes access to Economist podcasts and other digital content available via the Economist mobile apps . To log in, go to Menu > Settings > Log in, and enter your St. Thomas email address when prompted. Note: There is no need to enter a password on the login page--instead, you should automatically be redirected to UST Single Sign-On.

Scholarly Articles

Not sure how to approach or think about academic/scholarly articles? Take a look at this piece from ICPSR that provides reading strategies to fit your need or situation:

How to Read (and Understand) a Social Science Journal Article

Scopus

Largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature: over 21,500 scientific journals, 130,000 books and conference proceedings, covering all fields of academic study: science, technology, medicine, social sciences, and arts and humanities. Scopus also includes 8 citation metrics, analyzing impact at the author, article, journal, and institution levels.
Now includes Scopus AI, a research tool that generates summaries based on Scopus abstracts with references to help decipher complex content, facilitate deeper exploration, and provide academic insights.
Scopus user guide
EconLit

Economics journal articles, books, book chapters, book reviews, working papers, and dissertations.
EconLit user guide
Consensus

AI-powered academic search engine that finds and summarizes relevant research from millions of peer-reviewed papers using natural language queries. Advanced features allow you to get topic-level and paper-level insights, do deep research searching, and see a "Consensus Meter" that groups surfaced papers according to their findings.
UST is currently trialing the premium paid version of this tool. Create an account with your stthomas.edu email address to take advantage of the UST Libraries' unlimited Pro enterprise subscription trial. Select University of St. Thomas under Search settings in your account to enable full-text links to subscribed content.

Consensus University Access overview guide
Google Scholar

Search across a wide range of academic literature indexed by Google. Use this link to get full-text access to articles available through the library via “GET IT@UST Libraries” links in search results.

Financial Markets

S&P Capital IQ Pro

Provides detailed company financial information for US and international public and private companies and investments firms. Great for financial statement analysis, comparable analysis, sector analysis, and charting. Also includes 40+ million investment analyst research reports (some with SWOT analyses) from more than 1,800 firms including top global investment banks like Barclays, Citi, J.P. Morgan, and Wells Fargo, as well as regional providers and independent brokers.
Available data includes: capital structure, fixed income securities (including credit ratings), analyst sentiment and estimates, macroeconomic indicators, commodities and futures markets, current and historic company-level ownership, key developments, transactions, profiles of companies and people, and business relationships.
Excel Plugin (Windows computers only)
Capital IQ Pro offers a Microsoft Office plugin that can be downloaded and installed on Windows PCs.
1. Personal computers
To download the plugin on your own Windows computer, select S&P Capital IQ Pro Office Download under the Apps & Links menu.
On the resulting page, click “Install Capital IQ Pro Office” to download a .exe file, then click the downloaded file to start the installation process.
To allow the Excel plugin to connect to your Capital IQ Pro account, you will need to install a registry fix on your computer by following these steps:
1. Copy and paste the following into a text editor:
  
  Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
  [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SNL Financial\SNL Office\SAMLSettings]
  "SAMLUrl"="https://secure.signin.spglobal.com/sso/saml2/0oa1wofflflrljdbQ1d8/app/spglobaliam_sp_2/exk1mw4pskqubQAnJ1d8/sso/saml"
  "LoginHeight"=dword:00000300
  "LoginWidth"=dword:00000300
2. Save the document as a .reg file.
3. Double-click to execute the file, then restart your computer to update your registry.
4. Open Excel and select the Capital IQ Pro tab, then Sign In (under settings).
5. The plugin should prompt you to sign in using your UST credentials.
2. University-managed computers
To install the plugin on a UST-managed Windows computer, visit the Software Center and select Capital IQ Pro Office from the Applications menu. After completing the installation, follow the steps listed above to install the registry fix and sign in to the add-in.
Morningstar

Information on stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs, plus economic and market news and analysis.
Value Line Research Center

Data, reports, and analysis on stocks, industries, mutual funds, options, special situations, and exchange-traded funds.