Trade Associations are a source of research and publications that benefit their members--and they can benefit you. Think, "Who would care about this topic?", and you are likely to find a corresponding association. Associations are staffed by experts in the field, who are familiar with the latest trends. If some of the information that's collected by a trade association isn't freely available online to nonmembers, you may still be able get assistance (and information) by directly contacting the association's librarian or research specialist.
Research Tip: You can look for research or commentary from an association by searching for the association name in one of the article databases mentioned in this guide, or the name of a relevant association may come up in your topic search, particularly in trade publications. If you try searching in Google, focus on results with .org domain names.
One of the Library's online databases, Plunkett Research Online, includes lists of associations related to the industries that they cover. Some of these industries (retail, media & entertainment, apparel, etc.) are related to your projects.
Another way to find an association is to use the Encylopedia of Associations shown below. Look for keywords related to your product, and you can see if there's a group specifically organized around that product or industry. If more than one association seems relevant, compare the size of their budgets, or number of members. These may be useful indicators of the strength and influence of a group.
Shipmap.org offers online visualizations of major international shipping routes. A blog post from Vox.com describes the features of this comprehensive interactive tool.
Use the Advanced Search feature in Google, and limit your results to domain = .org
You need to apply a critical eye to information you find on the web. There are many evaluation criteria, but these 2 are most important:
Authorship: People or organizations qualified to know the topic
Currency (of the document itself): Recent info is usually best
To increase the chances of finding information to use that is true, complete, easy-to-use, up-to-date, not biased, and not a hoax, try these steps: