Penny's Top Tips for Research Success
Look for connections. Learn about your company/brand, and your country, and see where there are connections. Example: Your company, Chipotle, is committed to environmental causes. Then you learn that most people in your country are concerned about the environment and are willing to support sustainable products. There's a connection you can use for your project!
Be flexible about your keywords in searching. If you are researching the industry for your company, think broad (restaurants, fast food, dining out) and specific (burritos, Mexican food, healthy choices, vegan, organic)
Read widely about your company to learn the most about it. Use company web site, articles, social media, analyst reports (for public companies), reviews, and specialized library databases like Statista and Fusion.
Get help as soon as you need it! Contact your professor, your librarian, or the library 24/7 chat service! Or all three!
Company Information
The first place you'll want to look is your company's web site. There you can find:
- Values, products, locations, information for employees, history
- Financials, annual reports (if it's a public company), investor information
- Information about strategies, partnerships, sustainability actions
- Look at everything! What graphics do they use? What information do they share? What do they NOT share? This is all useful information!
- Social media links
And, in addition to your company's web site, try these library databases!
- International Directory of Company Histories
Provides histories of companies that are a leading influence in a particular industry or geographic location. For students, job candidates, business executives, historians and investors. - Gale Business Insights: Global
Detailed company and industry profiles including SWOT reports, market share reports, and financial reports. Thousands of company histories and industry essays from Gale's core business collection. Case studies, scholarly journals, and business news for deep research coverage of global economies. - Mergent Online
Detailed company information including 15 years of financial statements. Note: This database will be retired June 30, 2025 and replaced by Mergent Market Atlas. We will offer links to both resources until that date.
- Business Source Complete
Use the links on the right side of the page to find company reports and SWOT analyses. For MarketLine company reports, click Company Profiles and then type your company name into the search box. For MarketLine country reports, click Country Reports and then type your country name into the search box. - ProQuest One Business
A comprehensive business database containing millions of full-text items across scholarly and popular periodicals, newspapers, market research reports, dissertations, books, videos and more. Includes the full text of the Wall Street Journal. Formerly called ABI/INFORM Collection - Access World News
To find out the latest on your company, try this international news source. For best results, search your company in either the Headline or the Introduction/Lead Paragraph.
Country Culture and Business Climate
- globalEDGE
Click on the name of your country, then click on “Culture” for information on culture and doing business in the country you are studying. Or, use globalEDGE to learn more about a country's economy, trade, political climate, and more. - Country Commercial GuidesUse the pull down menu to select your country name, then use different sections on doing business in your country. Then, use the menu on the left to select various topics. A good place to start is the Doing Business In section, and the Business Travel section.
- GoinGlobal
Click on Career Guides, then Country Career Guides. Once you choose your country, click on Living There and then Cultural Advice.
- Hofstede's Cultural InsightsHofstede studies how the culture of a country impacts the workplace, and this site allows you to search by country to see the six dimensions of culture for each.
- Clearly Cultural Geert Hofstede Cultural DimensionsA web site that explains the six cultural dimensions discovered by Hofstede. Click on the link for each dimension to see more information.
- Geert Hofstede: The 6 Dimensions Model of National CultureExplains Hofstede's six dimensions of national culture, and includes world maps to show how the dimensions that are the strongest in each country.
Citing Your Sources
Whenever you do research, you will need to cite the information sources that you use. Most business scholars use APA style. Here are some tools that can help you with this task:
Gleeson Library's guide to citations: How? Why? When?
- APA 7th Edition Citations for Business SourcesAn excellent guide to using APA 7th edition style for popular business sources. Scroll through the guide to find an example for the business source you are using in your research. Compiled by librarians Naomi Schemm, Marcia Dellenbach, Zachary Grisham, Marianne Hageman, Natalia Tingle, Matt Trowbridge, and Amanda Wheatley
- Citing Business Databases in APA: Michigan State University GuideThis guide was created to help with citing some common business databases
- Citing Business Databases from the University of North Carolina at GreensboroThis guide has some additional business database examples in APA style.
- MLA Business Citations: Youngstown State UniversityScroll down the page to see citations for specific business web sites, reports, and databases cited in MLA style.
- Purdue OWLOur favorite style guide web site is the OWL from Purdue University.
- RefWorks
RefWorks allows users to create personal databases to manage, store, and share the information citations/references. Users can automatically insert references from their database into their papers and generate formatted bibliographies and manuscripts in seconds. See our RefWorks Guide for information about creating accounts, adding references, and using add-ons.
Getting Help!
There are several ways to obtain assistance with your research. Read on!
You have your very own librarian! She is Penny Scott, and you can contact her for help.
Her contact information is: email: plscott@usfca.edu * phone: 415-422-5389
It is best to email ahead, or make an appointment, to make sure she is available! Appointments are available virtually via Zoom, or in person, and are great for groups or individuals. If you don't see a time that works for you, email Penny.
If Penny is not available, or any time you need help, you can always get help, just Ask a Librarian!
You can also take a look at our Research Guides on many topics!