This general research guide serves as a starting point for students enrolled in business courses. In this guide you will find a variety of freely accessible and subscription resources for business research. It is not intended to be comprehensive, but contains information on selected resources in the Centre College Library, as well as links to materials that are available elsewhere.
Use the tabs at the top of the page to find help in locating information on company profiles, investments, non-profits and more.
If you can't find exactly what you're looking for, please contact a reference librarian or stop by the Reference Desk for more help.
The Business section of NexisUni includes the full text of company profiles from Hoovers as well as SEC filings and financial reports. To search the Business section of Nexis-Uni, click on the link above, scroll down to the bottom of the page and, under "Discover Topics," click "Business." On the page that opens, enter the name or stock ticker of the company you are researching.
There is no one database of pre-packaged industry reports for all industries. Finding industry reports takes research! Try searching both Google and library databases for the name or NAICS of your industry plus other keywords, like "association," "consumer group" or another relevant party interested in the industry. Also try searching your industry plus terms like "data," statistics" or "finances." Be more specific if your industry is fragmented (i.e. search for restaurant equipment, not just restaurant). Often the best way to find industry information is to read a scholarly or trade article and mine data sources from it.
Below are some recommended sources for industry research.
Like private companies, nonprofit organizations can be challenging to research. In addition to searching for articles and looking at the organization's website, the following websites can be useful resources.
Trade and macroeconomic data
Country guides
Census Data
Don't forget to look for data in a country's census. Many countries collect economic census data similar to that collected in the US.
