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FSP 161: The Simple Life: NGOs, think tanks, trade associations and more

NGOs and think tanks

Finding trade associations

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.

Encyclopedia of Associations
Call Number: REF HS17 .G334
(Reference, may be used in the library)

Supply chain visualization

Shipmap.org offers online visualizations of major international shipping routes.  A blog post from Vox.com describes the features of this comprehensive interactive tool.

Finding Associations and Organizations

Use the Advanced Search feature in Google, and limit your results to domain = .org

Info from websites: Can you trust it?

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:

Probe for bias: Ask yourself if the person or organization responsible for the information could have an interest or agenda that is motivating the writing.
Compare: Don’t use just one source. Use multiple sources and compare the coverage. 
Corroborate: If your topic is controversial or includes numbers and statistics, see if you can find another source to back it up that has the same numbers, or similar evidence.
Use your background beliefs: Check information against what you already know and understand. The more outlandish a claim is, the more research you will need to do to make sure it is true.

 

Websites and blogs