CMN323 - Argumentation - Fall 2009 - Sections 3 and 4

FINDING YOUR WAY AROUND

We have over 40 departmental libraries on our campus.  The libraries you will find most important are the Education and Social Science Library, the Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences Library, the Business and Economics Library (BEL), the History Library, and the Documents Library. 

If you are working from off campus you can get into most of these resources by logging into the proxy server.  Just select the database you need and you will be automatically prompted for your netid and login.  These are the identifiers you use for your e-mail or to register for classes on UIDirect.  If you are working from a campus computer you should be able to connect without identifying yourself.

DISCOVERY

The process of discovering materials that are useful to your research involves the use of a variety of databases and traditional print materials.  If you already have an article or book that deals with your topic you can use what we refer to as the citation pearl research process.  Look at the cited references, the author, and/or the subject tracings of the work.  Use these terms to search widely for more information.  If you do not already have a work in hand, start with encyclopedias, reviews, or your textbooks and class readings to discover these clues.  All three of these should provide you with good leads. 

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ASSESSING THE PROBLEM

The first task before you is discovery and assessment of the issue you are interested in.  You will want to read generally about this.  Information can be found in a variety of databases or indexes.  Some you might want to try include:

    Illinet Online - This is our online catalog.  It is fairly simple to use.  To search for our books, simply enter a keyword, subject, or author search to find if and where we have an item.  If we don't have what you are looking for, or if our copy is checked out to another patron, click on the "ILCSO libraries" tab at the top of the page and repeat your search in the statewide system.  Here you can request that a book be sent to the UIUC Library for you.  It is also possible to see the titles you already have checked out from our library, as well as any you have requested from others through Illinet Online.  Simply go to "My Account" to find this information or to renew items from the UIUC collection.  In addition to books, you will be able to find the locations of the journals and magazines we subscribe to in print format.

Online Research Resources - Here is where you will find the electronic databases that the Library purchases.  You can search by type of resource (index, e-journal, reference work, etc.), by subject (select from the drop-down list), by exact title of the resource in the search box provided, or by a word in the description of the resource.  If you need help using this page, please call 244-1868.

EBSCO -  EBSCO online offers general, business, newspaper and health-related information.  EBSCO provides full text for over 1,250 journals covering the social sciences, humanities, general science, multi-cultural studies, education, plus 960 journals covering business, management, economics, finance, banking, accounting and selected full text articles from 143 U.S. and international newspapers.  Searching tips:EBSCO has a very easy to use search engine.  You can even choose to search for online articles only and/or scholarly articles only.  For your background reading, you might want to look at all types of articles in order to gather a variety of opinions on your subject.

Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe -A comprehensive source for news, business, and legal information, with full text and abstracts. Academic Universe includes foreign news sources, major U.S. newspapers, regional U.S. news services, radio and television transcripts, federal and state case law, medical, legislative and industry news, annual reports from Securities and Exchange Commission and many other sources. Newspapers are updated several times daily, and wire services hourly.  Use this site to access Congressional Universe and Statistical Abstracts as well.  Searching tips:  Lexis-Nexis' Academic Universe will lead you to some really great newspaper articles.  Try searching on the term you have chosen and select the "previous month" at the date for your search.  Look at the difference between the articles from various parts of the world.  The software for this database is set up for searching newspapers.  It will look for words in the title of the article and the first paragraph of the article unless told to do otherwise.  Call the library if you need help accessing and using this database.

NewsFile Collection -U.S. regional and national newspapers, wire services, and broadcasts. Articles cover social, economic, environmental, government, sports, people, the arts, health, and science issues and events. 

New York Times - Digital reproductions of every issue from cover to cover can be found in the New York Times Historical file which includes not just the news stories and editorials, but also the photos, graphics, and advertisements, from 1851 to 1998.  For articles after 1998, look in Lexis-Nexis Academic.

PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) - This is a bibliographic index with abstracts covering the full range of political, social, and public policy issues. Topics covered include economic, political, and social issues, business, finance, law, international trade and relations, public administration, government, political science, and any topics that are or might become the subject of legislation. The database covers selected journal articles, books, statistics, yearbooks, directories, conference proceedings, pamphlets, reports, government documents, and microfiche. More than 1,600 journals and over 8,000 monographs are indexed each year. Coverage includes documents published worldwide in any of six languages.  PAIS has links to some full-text articles and coverage is from 1972 to the present. Searching tips:  This database is one of the easiest to search and is very straightforward.  You can combine terms by clicking on the icon on the top of the page or by writing the terms you want into the search statement.  For example typing "globalization and environment" in the search box, you will get citations to articles that contain both terms.  This database will also provide the URLs for various websites of interest. 

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BASIC STATISTICAL INFORMATION

One of your tasks could be to find basic statistical information to support your argument.  We have many excellent resources for this type of information.

Statistics in the Social Sciences - The purpose of this guide is to provide links to major sources of statistical information on the Internet. The focus is on education and areas within the social sciences, such as crime, population and demography, crime and arms control. Links to international sources of statistical information are also included.

  EIU - Economist Intelligence Unit- Country Intelligence supplies in-depth analysis of current political, policy and economic trends with an 18 month outlook. Quarterly and annual statistics with at least 150 data points picked from the most reliable sources and reviewed by analysts for over 195 countries.  Country Intelligence contains country reports and profiles, risk ratings, licensing and trading information for the new economies, plus G-8 and regional forecasts.  Searching tips:  You will probably be most interested in the Country Commerce or Country Reports, but there are others.  Select the type of report you desire.  Next you will be offered the list of countries for which reports can be accessed, choose one.  Next, you may choose a full report or an update and any specific subject you wish to see.   

   Political Risk Yearbook - This wide-ranging resource provides information concerning political and business stability in over 100 countries. A standard format provides information on each country including a country forecast and a country review.  Data sections are followed by entries providing comment and analysis, forecast scenarios, a forecast data summary, players to watch and political players and parties. The country overview provides basic data, a political overview of the people, history, government, and political conditions.  Searching tips:  Enter "political risk" in the Online Research Resources search and choose on the the countries revealed by the search.  Choose a graphical or text access to the database, then a geographic region, and finally a country.  You will receive a pdf file of information for the country you have chosen.  Some of these files are very, very large.  

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MEDIA RESOURCES

Newspapers (online)

News resources can be very helpful and provide a good basis for your understanding of a variety of issues. We frequently forget that these reports are written from a particular point of view. We have provided a number of sources for you to explore that include the New York Times, sometimes known as the paper of record for the United States, as well as various other resources from the U.S. and around the world.

• New York Times - This will take you to the historical version of the paper which begins in 1868 and runs through 2003. More current articles from this paper can be found in NewsBank as the first link in the center column of the page. Here you also have a choice of the New York Times newspaper, the New York Times Review of Books and the New York Times Magazine, all from January 2000 to date. You can also sign up to have a daily digest of news sent to your e-mail by going directly. There is a fee to access archives and selected articles however.
• The Washington Post is another national newspaper of note. You can access the full-text of articles electronically through this link from 1977 to date. For articles published between 1877 and 1990 go to the drop-down list in Historical Newspapers and select the title.
• The Christian Science Monitor is a leading newspaper with an international focus and it tends to be a little different from other western news sources, providing in-depth coverage of events from an analytical and less-biased viewpoint. The full text is available from January 1, 1987 in the NewsBank link by entering specific terms, or you might want to browse the issue for the entire date.
• Access World News - A large aggregation of news articles in English from around the world.
• Watching America - This is an independent web site that translates a wide variety of newspaper articles.

Other world news media resources

• Arab world - Al-Jazeera
• England - B.B.C.
• France - Monde diplomatique
• Hong Kong - Asia Times
• India - Times of India
• Japan - Japan Times
• Latin America - Zona Latina Collection
• Russia - Moscow Times
• South Africa - Sun Times
• United States - New York Times

General Magazines

To search for general magazines and opinion journals, you might want to try EBSCO or InfoTrac. These resources will lead you to a large number of resources, many with full-text. Some of the titles you will find here include U.S. News and World Report, Time, Newsweek, New Republic, National Review, Commentary, Nation, and the Economist. Most of these magazines can also be accessed individually through the Online Research Resources page.

Opinion Journals

Some opinion journals exist that are directly related to public policy.  You can try searching for these through the Library Search Assistant or through an index called PAIS. You can also go directly to the full-text of the following titles.

• Foreign Policy
• Foreign Affairs
• New Republic

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WHAT OTHER DATABASES WILL WORK FOR THIS CLASS?

JSTOR - Includes the full-text of over 100 journals in the areas of African American studies, anthropology, Asian studies, ecology, economics, education, finance, history, literature, mathematics, philosophy, political science, population studies, sociology, and statistics. Most include full texts of complete journals from their inception up to a “moving wall.” The moving wall is a fixed period of time ranging, in most cases, from 2 to 5 years, that defines the gap between the most recently published issue and the date of the most recent issues available in JSTOR.  Searching tips:  Enter the terms you are interested in and select the journals in the desired subject area or areas as well.  The search can also be limited by type of article and or date, and the results can be sorted in a variety of ways. 

Project Muse - This service picks up where JSTOR leaves off in many titles. It enables access to the full text of over 40 scholarly journals in the humanities, the social sciences, and mathematics. Subjects include psychology, mathematics, history, American studies, history and literature of medicine, black studies, literature, performing arts, human rights, religion, children?s literature, philosophy, politics, and others. Coverage varies among journals, usually from between 1994-1997 to the present. 

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OTHER IMPORTANT WEB SITES

FedStats - More statistics from the United States government.

United Nations/Economic and Social Development - Site provides information concerning statistics, country reports, plans, development research and analysis and much more.

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LOCATING ITEMS OFF OF THE UIUC CAMPUS

A search of the online catalog and online research resources may not lead you to all of the materials you need.  You should also check WorldCat, for items of interest.  You can use the interlibrary loan facility found in WorldCat to request items from other institutions, or you may want to go directly to the Interlibrary Loan pages to make your requests.  In using the electronic version of ILL you will need to log in with your netid and password.  Using the Illiad software provided through this office, you can request books and photocopies of articles in journals not held on our campus.  It is also possible to check to see what you have requested recently and go to the articles that have been delivered to you electronically. 

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