D&B Hoovers

Most academic research databases and other similar resources in the library's collections provide access to content from journals, books, magazines, newspapers, and other sources that are widely available. Readers looking to access these sources for themselves may use different means to access them, such as other databases or print copies. This is why APA Style does not require you to include the name of the database in your references for these articles and books.

D&B Hoovers, on the other hand, includes mostly content that is original and proprietary in nature, and that is not available through other means. Readers would need access to D&B Hoovers in order to retrieve that content for themselves. Therefore, you should include information about D&B Hoovers in your reference when citing this content.

You can find more information about these distinctions on the APA Style website's "Database Information in References" guidelines.

General Guidelines

Author: Most of the content in Hoovers company profiles and industry reports has been created by Dun & Bradstreet for D&B Hoovers. Therefore, you should use Dun & Bradstreet as the author. However, analyst reports come courtesy of other firms like Morningstar and GlobalData. In these cases, the reference list entry should include the name of the analyst(s) or outside firm as the author, and D&B Hoovers as the name of the database.

Publication Date: Company profiles often include a copyright date at the bottom of the page, but this date does not necessarily apply to all content on the page. In these cases, where the publication date is unclear, use "n.d." for the publication date. However, analyst reports and some other profile sections include a specific publication date (either day, month, and year, or just month and year).  In these cases, include the day and month along with the year (see examples below for formatting).

Bracketed Descriptions: Bracketed descriptions such as "[Company profile]" or "[Analyst report]" can be included after the title to better convey the format of the source, as this content is different from more typical sources such as journal articles, books, and websites.

Database Information: The name of the database should be included in italics, just like the title of a periodical.

Retrieval Date: Company profile information is continually updated over time, so the retrieval date should be included to let readers know when you accessed the profile.

URL: The full URL in your browser's address bar will be session-specific, meaning it won't work for other users, so APA guidelines specify that you should include the database login URL instead.

Be sure to follow all general APA guidelines for capitalization, punctuation, etc., as outlined in the APA Publication Manual, 7th edition.

Special Exceptions: News, Annual Reports, & SEC Filings

In some cases, D&B Hoovers provides links that direct users to external sites, and readers don't need access to Hoovers to find the content on these sites. This is the case for the links found in the News, Annual Reports, and SEC Filings sections of company profiles. Therefore, information from these linked sources should be cited according to APA Style guidelines for webpages. The staff of Seton Hill's Writing Center can also assist you if you have questions.

The examples listed below highlight common Hoovers citation circumstances. However, this list is not intended to be comprehensive, so be sure to consult the APA Style website, the Purdue OWL APA website, and/or a copy of the APA's Publication Manual, 7th edition. If you're unsure how to properly cite information from Hoovers, ask your instructor.

Citing Full Company Profiles

Reference list entries for full company profiles should follow this basic format:

Name of Author Organization. (Publication date). Title of company profile [Company profile]. Database Name. Retrieved date, from URL

Example:

Dun & Bradstreet. (n.d.). The Walt Disney Company [Company profile]. D&B Hoovers. Retrieved July 26, 2024, from https://setonhill.libguides.com/hooversDB

Note: If you're using a full company profile as a source, but want to cite a specific section of the profile (such as a stock report or SWOT analysis) in the text of your paper, follow the APA guidelines for citing specific parts of a source.  Your reference entry should still be for the full report.

Citing Single Sections of Company Profiles

If you're only citing one section of a company profile, the bracketed "[Company profile]" can be left out, with the name of the section included in the title instead.

Example (one profile section):

Dun & Bradstreet. (n.d.). The Walt Disney Company corporate overview. D&B Hoovers. Retrieved July 26, 2024, from https://setonhill.libguides.com/hooversDB

Example (SWOT analysis with publication date):

Dun & Bradstreet. (2023, December 8). The Walt Disney Company SWOT analysis. D&B Hoovers. Retrieved July 26, 2024, from https://setonhill.libguides.com/hooversDB

Citing Analyst Reports

As mentioned above, the analyst reports in Hoovers are not created by Dun & Bradstreet, but rather by analysts working for outside firms or brokerage houses. If the names of individual analysts are not listed, use the name of the analyst firm or brokerage house as the author.

Reference list entries for analyst reports should follow this basic format:

Name(s) and initial(s) of individual author(s) OR Name of Author Organization. (Publication date). Title of report [Analyst report]. Database Name. Retrieved date, from URL

Example:

Karnovsky, D. (2024, July 8). Disney raise F3Q24 estimates following better box office results [Analyst report]. D&B Hoovers. Retrieved July 26, 2024, from https://setonhill.libguides.com/hooversDB