Political Science 239
The Presidency
Professor Trish
Using resources available through the Library
Current (or Historical) Events:
Lexis-Nexis Academic http://www.lexis-nexis.com/cis/
- Choose “Power Search” tab
- Type in terms, for example: “George Bush” and “educational policy”
- Select date range from the date box, for example: “date is after” January 20, 2001
- You can also choose to search within particular parts of the article, for instance: title or abstract: Click on “show” under “Search within Document Sections”
Full text searching means that you will have to work at narrowing down your search.
To search a specific newspaper such as the New York Times or the Washington Post, click on the “Sources" tab. (Includes the New York Times full text back to 1980)
America’s Newspapers (foreign news sources and U.S. newspapers-national and regional) http://infoweb.newsbank.com/
Includes U.S. sources and sources from around the world. Foreign language sources are either originally in English or have been translated into English. America’s Papers provides coverage of many regional newspapers including Iowa papers. (Includes the NY Times full text back to January 2000).
New York Times: The libraries have the entire run of the New York Times on microfilm from 1851 forward. We also have a printed index to the entire run of the New York Times from 1851 to the present. This index is set up in a manner that allows you to follow the progression of a story over time. You may get some insight into a story to see how it unfolds and public awareness of details change. ALSO see http://nytimes.com/ for online indexing back to 1851, and access to a considerable amount of full text. |
CQ Weekly Report (online 1983 to the present)
http://library.cqpress.com/cqweekly/
National Journal in paper and online--http://nationaljournal.com/
This will only work for National Journal proper and for the links along the right hand side. Ask a librarian for the password and id.
Polling the Nations--Compiles more than 14,000 surveys conducted by more than 700 polling organizations in the United States and more than 80 other countries from 1986 to the present. You can download results to an Excel file. http://poll.orspub.com/
Documents/Government information
Congressional Universe (Lexis-Nexis) http://web.lexis-nexis.com/congcomp/
Access to
* Congressional Publications
keyword search or search by numbers
* Legislative Histories, Bills & Laws
* Members & Committees
* Regulations
* Congressional Record & Rules
* Political News/Hot Topics
Federal Election Commission http://www.fec.gov/
Find information about who contributed to whom—committees to committees, individuals to campaigns, campaigns to committees, organizations to campaigns—who or what and how much.
Documents in the News: Current Events Research
http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/docnewsnew.html
See also our own Hot Docs site at http://www.lib.grin.edu/research/hottopics.html
Major Sources of Data:
CQ Voting and Elections Collections- data, analysis, explanations, historical documents on the American voter, parties, campaigns, and elections. ONLINE: http://library.cqpress.com/elections
Historical Statistics of the United States: Earliest Times to the Present. Available online http://hsus.cambridge.org and in print. The online version allows you to download statistical tables for all years that statistics have been collected for each agency or topic (beginning with the colonial era). Includes topics that can be found in:
Statistical Abstracts of the United States
Perm Reserve & Ref HA202
Also available online with the link in the libraries’ catalog record http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/
These are issued yearly
Fedstats.gov: http://www.Fedstats.gov—similar to both titles above but lacking the deep historical data of HSUS. Search by topics or agencies. |
ICPSR
http://www.icpsr.org/
full text bibliography links
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/citations/index.html (home for bibliographies and related data) or click on related literature tab (middle of the screen) and type in a search term. Bibliographic records include a link to data used—also links to some full text of articles available. All data sets are now searchable through the libraries’ online catalog. Search by author: “Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research” and then by topic---for instance, presidency or elections or ….?
National Election Studies (part of ICPSR)
Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior
http://www.electionstudies.org
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Other resources:
Through our library catalog find the link to the online version of:
Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents. 2003 and earlier located at the following URL:
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/wcomp/index.html. Online you can browse by date and also by subject. For instance—search veterans for speeches given to veterans or about veterans. Search stem cells for speechs on stem cell research.
(do a title search on Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents in our catalog)
The bound public documents of most other presidents can be found on the shelves at
J 82.E and J 82.D . . . For example:
Public papers of the Presidents of the United States, George W. Bush
2001 http://www.gpoaccess.gov/pubpapers/search.html |
Project Vote Smart http://www.vote-smart.org/
Information about most candidates voting records, position statements (for some candidates)—this is as useful as the information provided by each candidate. Still—it is a good source for finding out about candidates in local elections and from third parties.
Print resources (a few examples):
Almanac of American Politics 2006
Perm Reserve. JK 1012 .A44 2004 (earlier volumes in stacks.)
(available online through the National Journal Web site)
“In depth profiles and photographs . . .colorful, insightful narratives for each state and congressional district”
America at the Polls 1960-2000
“A Handbook of American Presidential Election Statistics”
Ref. JK 524 .M33 2001
America Votes: Election Returns by State--President, House, Senate, Governors, General Elections, Primary Elections, Special Elections, county/district maps (This information is also in CQ Voting and Elections Online) Ref. JK 1967 .A8 v. 1-27 (and growing)
CQ Researcher
Ref H35 .C672
Takes timely subjects and presents both sides of the issue with bibliographical
references for further research.
CQ’s Politics in America 2006. The 109th Congress
Ref. JK 1012 .C63 206
Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Almanac
Ref JK1 .C66
Earlier volumes in stacks, most recent volume in reference. Covers activity in the two houses of Congress during the previous years.
Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to the Presidency, 2nd ed.
Ref JK 516 .C57 1996 v. 1-2
Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections, 4th ed.
Ref. JK 1967 .C662 2001 v.1-2
Presidential, House, Senate, Gubernatorial
Open Secrets: The Encyclopedia of Congressional Money and Politics
Ref. JK 1991 .M26 1996
Statistical History of the American Electorate
Ref. JK 1967 .R87 2001
A variety of statistics back to 1778
United States Presidential Primary Elections 1968-1996: A Handbook of Election Statistics
Ref. JK 522 .C66 2000
Vital Statistics on American Politics
Ref. JK274 .V582 2007-08
Prepared by Rebecca Stuhr, February 2008
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