Dr. Paul F. Diehl
Fall 2005
Welcome! We are providing this site to assist you in exploring library resources on your topic. Our library is one of the largest in the United States and it can be very intimidating. We will try to make things a little easier for you, but you have to ask questions. It takes patience, curiosity, and a sense of adventure to use our resources and facilities so think of this page as a road map for your travels with us.
On this page you will find a list of resources that will assist you in discovering material for your research. It has been divided into several parts:
GENERAL INFORMATION - Locating Materials - Plagiarism | COUNTRY INFORMATION - Conflict Awareness - Policy Analysis
The processes involved in library research are those of discovery and location. We provide a wide variety of tools to help you discover the materials that exist on your topics. Once you have discovered the works that exist in this area we help you to locate the texts you need to learn more about the topic.
First, a few very basic suggestions - come with a basic understanding of your topic, be flexible when you search for terms, be creative in your use of language, read voraciously, don't give up! Be sure to use the Ask-A-Librarian link, or e-mail me if you are having trouble.
Use our Ask-A-Librarian Service to IM, chat, email, phone or find a reference librarian. You can also type in the box to the right to instant message us.
Fill out an Individual Research Consultation Form to sign up for a one-on-one appointment with a librarian to learn about the best databases, search strategies and information sources for your upcoming project or paper.
We have over 40 departmental libraries on our campus. The libraries you will find most important are the Education and Social Science Library, the Documents Library, and the History Library. These all reside in the Main Library building.
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 even your textbooks to discover what is being written about your topic using bibliographies and suggested readings. All three of these should provide you with good leads.
Historical Abstracts - Identifies international articles and books on history since 1450, excluding the U.S. and Canada. Includes topics from the Renaissance to Tiananmen Square. A targeted selection of hundreds of journals in the social sciences and humanities is also provided.
Historical Newspapers - Suggested databases from this long list would include :
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.
Political Risk Yearbook - To access this, click on the link provided here and type Political Risk into the search box. You can also type in the name of the country you are interested in reading about. This wide-ranging resource provides information concerning political and business stability in 106 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.
CIA World Factbook - Frequent updates - includes map, overview, politics, economics, population, and more. Last section for entry usually includes "transnational issues" including internal disputes.
Country Surveys - In Print
Europa World Year Book (Most current in Reference Library, next last volume in ESSL - Q.310 EU741
For individual countries, search the current name of the state as a subject in the online catalog.
Ethnic Surveys - In Print
Ethnic Relations: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia - (ESSL Reference - 305.8 L578e)
Ethnic Groups Worldwide - (ESSL Reference - 305.8 L5782e)
Countries and Their Cultures - (ESSL Reference - Q.306.03 C832) - 4 volumes
Encyclopedia of World Cultures - (ESSL Reference - Q.306 En19) - 3 volumes
Encyclopedia of the Stateless Nations: Ethnic and National Groups Around the World (ESSL Reference - 909.82903 M66na) - 4 volumes
One Europe, Many Nations: A Historical Dictionary of European National Groups (ESSL Reference - 940.03 M66o)
Electronic Newspapers - A large number of newspapers are available electronically through the Library Gateway. This link will provide the entire list for you to choose from. They are both national and international in origin.
Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe -A comprehensive source for news, business, and legal information, with full text and abstracts. 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 as well.
NewsBank - This will lead you to a large number of newspaper indexes from the U.S. and around the world.
Newspapers in Print - This link leads you to a seach engine for newspapers that are held in print at the University Library. You can search it to find out where the print editions are held.
Encyclopedia of Modern Separatist Movements - (ESSL Reference - 305.8003 H497e)
The ACCESS Guide to Ethnic Conflicts in Europe and the Former Soviet Union - (Undergrad - 305.800947 Ac22)
Ethnic Politics in Eastern Europe: A Guide to Nationality Policies, Organizations, and Parties - (ESSL Reference - 305.800947 B864e)
Encyclopedia of Genocide - (ESSL Reference - 364.15103) - 2 volumes
Statistics of Democide - (ESSL Reference - 364.1510904 R865s)
The Encyclopedia of Political Revolutions - (ESSL Reference - Q.903 En19)
Warfare and Armed Conflicts: a statistical reference to casualty and other figures, 1618-1991 (ESSL Reference - 904.7 C62w) - 2 volumes
A Study of Crisis (ESSL Arms Control - 909.82 B742s)
A World Record of Major Conflict Areas (ESSL Arms Control - 909.82 M926w1990)
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 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.
CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online) - Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO) is designed to be the most comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs. It publishes a wide range of scholarship from 1991-on that includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGO's, foundation-funded research projects, and proceedings from conferences.
EBSCO - EBSCO online offers general, business, newspaper and health-related information. 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.
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.
P.A.I.S. (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: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish. The subject headings and abstracts are in English. Covers 1972-present.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts - This database is built upon the merged backfiles of Political Science Abstracts, published by IFI / Plenum, 1975-2000, and ABC POL SCI, published by ABC-CLIO, 1984-2000. The database provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy.
Once you have discovered materials that are of use, you need to locate the text of this material. Experienced researchers on this campus often keep several browsers open to determine if an item is available. First, you will have a browser window open with the search you are doing. These may link to the full-text or article from a report. Just follow the links in the database to find this. If this doesn't work, keep a second browser open that is pointed to the Online Research Resources page. Then you can just cut and paste the title of the source of your article into the search box to see if we have electronic access to the full-text. If that doesn't work, keep a third browser window open that is linked to the Online Catalog so you can find out where the item is in print.
An additional function of the catalog is the discovery of books. Again, you will find it most helpful to have an author, a subject, or a specific title in mind when attempting to discover more materials using this resource.
ILLINET ONLINE CATALOG - Our very own list of holdings plus much more. Look here to find titles to books that you want to read, titles of magazines or journals containing articles that you need, and the location of these items. In addition to the 9 million volumes we have on this campus, you can connect to 45 libraries within the State of Illinois and request books be sent to you. You can also sign up for a variety of brief tutorials known as minilibs if you want to learn more about using this resource and many others.
WORLD-CAT - Still can't find it? Look here to see if it exists. This connection goes to something called OCLC and you can choose to look for your book in this database. You have several sources here - WorldCat will take to to the place you want to go. Use the Interlibrary Loan link to order these resources.
Article 1, Section 4(d) of the Student Code discusses the infractions against intellectual policy which you are expected to be aware of when writing up your research. Please read this rule carefully and abide by it at all times. Penalties for the theft of intellectual property are quite severe.
University LibraryFor comments on this page contact: Education and Social Science Library
Last modified by: Megean Osuchowski on 11/4/09