Google is a great starting point, but make sure to evaluate your online sources for legitimacy!
To evaluate an online resource, look at the following:
•Authority – who wrote it, are they an expert?
•Credibility – is there bias / which point of view? Are there other sources supporting it?
•Currency – the timeliness of the information
•Authenticity – is it just copied or does it link back? Where does the original lie?
If you aware of organisations that would have reports about your topic, use their websites as well as a starting point. An example of this would be the World Trade Organization.
World Trade Organization. Agriculture and Development: Cotton
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/cotton_e.htm
World Trade Organization. The Cotton Initiative
https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/agric_e/negs_bkgrnd20_cotton_e.htm
Atlas on Regional Integration in West Africa. Cotton. Paris : ECOWAS-SWAC/OECD, 2006. https://www.oecd.org/swac/publications/38409410.pdf
Baghdadli, Ilhem, Hela Cheikhrouhou Gael Raballand. Strategies for Cotton in West and Central Africa: Enhancing Competitiveness in the “Cotton-4”. Washington D.C. : The World Bank, 2007. (World Bank working paper no. 108) https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/6784/405330AFR0Cott101OFFICIAL0USE0ONLY1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Cotton textiles 1962-1968 : Trends in Production and Trade and Policy Measures Affecting Them. Geneva : GATT, 1969.
https://www.wto.org/gatt_docs/English/SULPDF/90660207.pdf
Gillson, Ian. Developed country cotton subsidies and developing Countries : unravelling the impacts on Africa. London : Overseas Development Institute, 2004. (ODI briefing paper, July 2004) https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/2604.pdf
Gillson, Ian, Colin Poulton, Kelvin Balcombe, and Sheila Page. Understanding the impact of Cotton Subsidies on developing countries : working paper, May 2004. London : Overseas Development Institute, 2004. https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/4721.pdf
Imboden, Nicolas. How to Re-invigorate the Cotton Issue at the WTO: Gin Ideas, Spin Proposals, Weave Solutions and Avoid Stocks. IN: Tackling Agriculture in the Post-Bali Context : a collection of short essays. Geneva : International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, October 2014. http://www.ictsd.org/sites/default/files/research/Tackling%20Agriculture%20in%20the%20Post-Bali%20Context_0.pdf
International Cotton Advisory Committee, International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development. Cotton : trends in global production, trade and policy. Geneva : International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, May 2013. (Information note) http://www.ictsd.org/sites/default/files/research/2013/06/cotton-trends-in-global-production-trade-and-policy.pdf
Lau, Christian, Simon Schropp, Daniel A. Sumner. The 2014 US Farm Bill and its Effects on the World Market for Cotton. Geneva : International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, September 2015. http://www.ictsd.org/sites/default/files/research/The%202014%20US%20Farm%20Bill%20and%20its%20Effects%20on%20the%20World%20Market%20for%20Cotton.pdf
Owen, Henry. The evolution of cotton trade and its impact on African countries under W.T.O law. 2017. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2921706
Torres, Carmen and Jeske van Seters. Overview of trade and barriers to trade in West Africa: Insights in political economy dynamics, with particular focus on agricultural and food trade. Maastricht, The Netherlands : European Centre for Development Policy management, July 2016. (Discussion paper no. 195) http://www.subsahara-afrika-ihk.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DP195-Overview-Trade-Barriers-West-Africa-Torres-Seters-July-2016.pdf
Townsend, Terry. Evaluating the WTO Nairobi Outcome on Cotton. IN: International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development. Evaluating Nairobi: What Does the Outcome Mean for Trade in Food and Farm Goods? Geneva : International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development, 2016. http://www.ictsd.org/sites/default/files/research/Evaluating%20Nairobi%20-%20What%20Does%20the%20Outcome%20Mean%20for%20Trade%20in%20Food%20and%20Farm%20Goods.pdf
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Export competitiveness and development in LDCs: policies, issues and priorities for least developed countries for action
during and beyond UNCTAD XII. New York and Geneva : United Nations, 2008. http://unctad.org/en/Docs/aldc20081_en.pdf
United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Pan-African cotton road map : a continental strategy to strengthen regional cotton value chains for poverty reduction and food security. New York and Geneva : United Nations, 2014. http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/suc2014d6_en.pdf
Woodward, Andrea R. (2007). Case Study #10-5, "The Impact of U.S. Subsidies on West African Cotton Production". In: Per Pinstrup-Andersen and Fuzhi Cheng (editors), "Food Policy for Developing Countries: Case Studies." 12 pp. https://cip.cornell.edu/DPubS?service=UI&version=1.0&verb=Display&handle=dns.gfs/1200428204