WMU Research Guides: BCM 1420: Introduction to Business Communication: Moreno

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Census Resources

Census Quickfacts
Census Quick Facts provides a quick overview of demographic, economic, and geographic data, offering insights into population size, income levels, education, and business patterns. It helps students frame their reports with relevant community data, supporting recommendations with local trends and characteristics. This tool is especially useful for case studies or business reports focused on specific regions or target audiences.
Data.Census.gov
Data.Census.gov offers access to comprehensive datasets from the U.S. Census Bureau, covering population, industries, and economic trends. Students can filter data by location or demographic to support their reports with precise statistics relevant to their topic. This platform enables deeper analysis of market dynamics, employment trends, and community insights, enhancing research-based recommendations.

Industry and Market Research

IBISWorld This link opens in a new window
IBISWorld provides detailed industry reports, including market trends, competitive landscape, and financial forecasts, which are valuable for analyzing communication issues within specific sectors. Students can use this resource to contextualize their case study by identifying industry challenges, business strategies, and key players. It supports the assignment by offering data that strengthens recommendations tailored to an organization's industry dynamics.
Mintel US Reports This link opens in a new window
Mintel offers consumer and market research reports, providing insights into customer behavior, brand performance, and emerging trends. For the assignment, students can use Mintel to understand consumer expectations and communication challenges, aligning recommendations with market realities. This resource helps students develop data-driven solutions focused on improving customer or stakeholder communication.
Statista This link opens in a new window
Statista provides statistics and infographics on a variety of topics, including industries, markets, and consumer behavior, offering visual data to support business communication reports. Students can leverage Statista to incorporate relevant charts and graphs, enhancing their analysis and visual elements for the assignment. Its easy-to-access data ensures students can back their recommendations with credible, up-to-date statistics.
Google Scholar This link opens in a new window
This service from Google searches scholarly literature, including articles, theses, books and technical reports, and "gray literature" from many areas of research. Some materials are free, some will be available to WMU users by clicking on "Article Linker" while others may require a fee. Use this source in addition to library databases for a more complete search of scholarly literature.
To enable links from the "Find it@WMU" from off-campus computers, follow these instructions or watch a video tutorial :

1. Go to Google Scholar.
2. Click on the "options" wheel in the top right corner.
3. Select "Library Links" from menu on the left side.
4. In the "Library Links" search box, type "Western Michigan University Libraries".
5. Click the checkbox next to "Western Michigan University Libraries (ArticleLinker)".
6. Click the "Save".
8. A link to "ArticleLinker" should now appear next to those citations that are available electronically from the Libraries.