About stalemates and how to cause one Are their possible positions where the 'white' side is losing but the person is in a  situation where they can force a stalemate? Are there chess positions one can 'look out for' to enable one to force a stalemate if 'needed'?
Well, if the player can force stalemate, then he isn't lost. So the strict answer is no :-)

There are many elementary endgames where a successful defence is possible only because of stalemate, like king + pawn vs pawn:

[FEN "8/3k4/8/2KP4/8/8/8/8 b KQkq - 0 1"]

1...Kc7! 2.d6+ Kd7 3.Kd5 Kd8 4.Kc6 Kc8 5.d7+ Kd8 Kd6 =


or king + queen vs king + pawn with the pawn on the c file:

[FEN "7K/8/6Q1/8/8/8/2p5/1k6 w KQkq - 0 1"]

1.Kg7 Kb2 2.Qb6+ Ka1 3.Qc5 Kb1 4.Qb4+ Ka1 5.Qc3 Kb1 6.Qb3+ Ka1!


and if white takes the pawn now, it's stalemate, so he can't progress.