Your Librarian
Searching with Keywords
Searching in the library databases can be different from the web searching we do every day. Here are some tips to help you find the information you need.
- DON'T type in your whole question, as you might do sometimes in a web search.
- DO break your question down into the key words (or keywords), the most important words and concepts.
- DO be flexible with the words you use. For example, if you're looking for information on renewable energy, you might try
- Wider terms, such as energy in general
- Narrower terms, such as different types of renewable energy
- Related terms, such as alternative energy,
- Even opposite terms, such as fossil fuels.
Country Overviews
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Global Road Warrior This link opens in a new windowA country-by-country resource for learning about culture, customs, history, and language worldwide. Global Road Warrior consists of 175 Country Guides of 119 topics each.
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CIA World Factbook This link opens in a new windowProvides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.
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CountryWatch This link opens in a new windowComprehensive and regularly updated reports on every country.
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Statista This link opens in a new windowComprehensive reports on over 1,000 industry topics. Access to 1 million statistics – ready to use in PPT, XLS and PNG. Includes COVID-19-related data and infographics, including supply chain and other economic impact summaries on various industry sectors. Includes reports on individual countries.
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Country Commercial GuidesFree market research reports, from the U.S. Dept. of Commerce
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Doing BusinessProvides objective measures of business regulations for local firms in 189 economies and selected cities at the subnational level. Provided by the World Bank.
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globalEDGEInternational business and trade information on over 200 countries, the 50 U.S. states, as well as nearly two dozen industry sectors, and many of the world’s trade blocs. Created by the International Business Center and the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University.
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Mergent Online This link opens in a new windowContains company and industry research, company data, annual reports and industry reports.
Analysis
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ABI/Inform This link opens in a new windowContains articles on business, advertising, marketing, economics and finance.
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The EconomistSearch within the magazine The Economist or browse issues, within the ABI/Inform database.
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Business Source Premier This link opens in a new windowContains articles about business, marketing, management, accounting, finance and economic, as well as company and industry reports, and country and market research profiles. Watch a 3-minute tutorial on basic searching here.
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OneSearchSearch Cal Maritime's print and digital collections in one place.
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IMF World Economic OutlookEconomic forecasts from the International Monetary Fund
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World Bank CountriesEconomic overviews and feature stories
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OECD Economic SurveysOECD’s periodic reviews of member and non-member economies. Each issue provides a comprehensive analysis of developments in the subject country, along with individual chapters covering key economic challenges being faced and recommendations for dealing with the challenges.
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Transparency InternationalTransparency International has been publishing the Corruption Perceptions Index since 1995.
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IMF eLibrary Digital CollectionThe International Monetary Fund has made its collection of digital publications available at no cost, as of January 1, 2020. Topics include global and regional economic outlooks, debt, law, infrastructure, and more. Some resources require creating a free account.