Industry News and Trends
- Ethnic NewsWatch
Ethnic NewsWatch covers 1990 to present and includes newspapers, magazines, and journals of the ethnic and minority press, providing researchers access to essential, often overlooked perspectives. The publications offer both national and regional coverage - 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 - Business Source Complete
This is the world's definitive scholarly business database, providing the leading collection of bibliographic and full text content. As part of the comprehensive coverage offered by this database, indexing and abstracts for the most important scholarly business journals back as far as 1886 are included. - Nexis Uni
Replaces LexisNexis Academic.
More than 15,000 news, business, and legal sources from LexisNexis—including U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790.
Professional Associations:
These are great for finding out what people in the profession or industry area are reading and thinking about, as well as current trends. For many associations, some of the content is freely available, while other content is available to members only. To find industry associations, try these tools:
- Encyclopedia of AssociationsThis ebook allows you to search for associations that are based in the United States, in a variety of categories. Use the pull down menu on the first screen that says, "Select Series" to choose the Encyclopedia of Associations.
- Association DirectoryThis is a freely available web site that allows you to search for professional and industry associations by region, category, state, and more.
- Google SearchA quick search on a keyword for your industry (food service, finance, transportation, hospitality, etc.) plus the words association or organization will give you a list of web sites you can view.
Look for web sites for organizations and associations that address the problem you are researching. To do this, use the search engine of your choice, and simply type in your topic and the word organizations (ex. unemployment and organizations).
Industry Descriptions and Overviews, Plus Potential Competitors
- PrivCo
Private company information! PrivCo.com is the premiere source for business and financial research on non-publicly traded corporations, including family-owned, private equity-owned, venture-backed and international unlisted companies.
Registration Required! The first time you access PrivCo, you will be asked to create an account. Register with your academic email address (@usfca.edu). With your own account, you will be able to save your searches and track companies in your personalized watchlist. Your account provides 1,000 profile views, 1,000 exported records, and 500 deal views per year.
Market and Consumer Research
- Data.census.gov
Data.census.gov is the new platform to access data and digital content from the U.S. Census Bureau. It replaces the American FactFinder website, which was retired in 2020. - Statista
Easy to use statistics search engine with access to more than a million statistics and facts. - Social Explorer
After logging in, you will need to create a personal account on the Social Explorer site. Social Explorer provides quick and easy access to current and historical census data and demographic information. The easy-to-use web interface lets users create maps and reports to illustrate, analyze, and understand demography and social change. - PolicyMap
Thousands of U.S. data indicators for demographic and socioeconomic analysis. PolicyMap data can be presented as maps, tables, charts and pre-built reports that can be incorporated into papers, presentations, blogs and websites. In addition, students can upload unlimited amounts of their own address-based data, and can share these maps with others.
- IBISWorld
Select consumer information can be found within the US Business Environment Profiles. Click that link under Start Your Search Here to see the categories available, under the headings Consumer Behavior, Demographics, and Other Indicators. These are brief but useful reports, and they mention the sources and organizations from which the information came, which can lead you to more information.
Researching Social or Consumer Needs Within the Community
Social Issues Databases
- Opposing Viewpoints
"Pro" and "con" arguments on controversial issues. Includes full-text materials drawn from print series such as Opposing Viewpoints, Current Controversies, At Issue, Contemporary Issues Companion, and Gale Information Plus series. It also provides full-text periodicals, newspapers, journals, pamphlets, primary source documents, statistics, images, web sites, and student research tools. - CQ Researcher
CQ Researcher provides award winning in-depth coverage of the most important issues of the day. Our reports are written by experienced journalists, footnoted and professionally fact-checked.
News
- Access World News
Through nearly 7000 news sources, find diverse global, local, regional, and national perspectives on topics related to controversial issues, the environment, health, education, science, the arts, literature, business, economics, criminal justice, and more. - Academic Search Complete
Academic Search Complete, designed specifically for academic institutions, is among the most valuable and comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 8,500 full-text periodicals, including more than 7,300 peer-reviewed journals.
Statistics
- StatistaEasy to use statistics search engine with access to more than a million statistics and facts.
Business Plans
- Business Plans HandbookActual business plans compiled by, and aimed at, entrepreneurs seeking funding for small businesses. Presents sample plans taken from businesses in the manufacturing, retail and service industries which serve as examples of how to approach, structure and compose business plans.
- BRS AssistsThis guide from the Library of Congress features free business planning web sites, as well as book titles and subject headings to use to find books in our library.
- Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Business Plans IndexA free source that contains sample business plans in a variety of industries, and templates for creating your own plan.
Marketing Plans
- BizMove Small Business Guides: Developing a Marketing PlanOutlines the process of creating a marketing plan, and includes a worksheet.
- Entrepreneur: How to Create a Marketing PlanA three-part article about how and why to create a marketing plan.
Funding
- Small Business Association Lenders InformationTools and information for finding loans that are guaranteed by the US SBA. Includes Lender Match, a database you can use to find referrals to potential lenders.
- PrivCoRegistration Required. See "more" for access information. PrivCo.com is a source for business and financial research on non-publicly traded corporations, including family-owned, private equity-owned, venture-backed and international unlisted companies.
Product Development and Patents
- USF Innovation HiveThe Innovation Hive is part of the Engineering Department, but is open to all. It includes an ideation space for brainstorming, a light-fabrication and maker space for prototyping and light work, and a heavy-fabrication and trial space for woodworking, milling, and testing new ideas, featuring larger power tools and more. Spaces are reservable by the USF community.
- USF Academic Innovation LabTest out your ideas with a variety of technologies, including virtual reality, 3D printing, laser cutting, and more! You can swing by for drop in hours all semester, or attend/schedule a training. Check out the brochure for more details.
- How it's MadeScience Channel's show about how things are made, both finished products and their components.
- How Products Are MadeDetailed descriptions of how many products are made, including raw materials, needed, manufacturing process, and diagrams!
- AccessEngineering
AccessEngineering provides a collection of interdisciplinary engineering textbooks, reference handbooks, code commentaries, as well as Schaum's Outline series for review and practice. - Wiley Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Comprehensive reference work that defines the entire discipline, bringing together the core knowledge from every one of the many specialties encompassed by electrical and electronics engineering. Includeing over 1,700 articles, it is an ideal starting point for research projects, whether addressing basic questions in power systems and communications, or learning advanced applications in neural networks and robotics.
- Inventor and Entrepreneur Patent ResourcesJust getting started, or need more help searching patents and trademarks? This page will give you instructions to search on your own, plus list ways to get help if you need more assistance!
- US Patent Office Search TipsIncludes a video and step-by-step outline of how to search for patents. Perfect for beginners!
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!