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UP185 – Cities in a Global Perspective

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.

Useful Databases | Resources for Current Country Information | Primary Sources | Journals | Other Resources

Thinking About Your Resources

It has become really easy for you to find a lot of information, whether you are using Google or any other search engine.  But once you find it, what happens next?  You have to decide whether it is useful, authoritative, and appropriate for your purposes.  The most difficult part is usually deciding how authoritative the information is and how useful it is for you.

Useful Databases

Historical Abstracts1955 to present

      • Historical Abstracts covers the history of the world (excluding the United States and Canada) from 1450 to the present in over 40 languages with publications starting in 1955. Historical Abstracts started a project in 2006 to extend coverage through the late 1800s.

International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)1951 to present

      • IBSS provides comprehensive international coverage in 100 languages and countries identifying journal articles, books, reviews and selected chapters of works on economics, political science, sociology and anthropology.

PAIS (Public Affairs Information Services) – 1915 to present

      • PAIS identifies articles, books, websites, statistics, yearbooks, directories, conference proceedings, pamphlets, reports, government documents, and microfiche on political, social, public policy issues from 1915 – present.

Urban Studies Abstracts

      • This database covers essential areas related to urban studies, including urban affairs, community development, urban history, and other areas.

Resources for Current Country Information

EIU Country Intelligence

      • Provides quarterly analysis and forecasts of the political, economic and business environment for nearly 200 countries. Quarterly and annual statistics of at least 150 data points. Country Intelligence contains country reports and profiles, risk ratings, licensing and trading information for the new economies, plus G-8 and regional forecasts. An online newsletter, Business Middle East, is also included.

Europa World Plus

      • Combines the Europa World Yearbook and the Europa Regional Survey of the World in an online resource. An absolutely fantastic site for country information including current news on elections, recent events, and even allows you to compare statistics between countries of the world.

Political Risk Yearbook

      • This wide-ranging resource provides information concerning political and business stability in many countries.

Primary Sources

Confidential Print

      • Sources from the National Archives in the United Kingdom related to Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and North America with many original documents from colonial times.

Online Journals and Databases: Looking for a specific database or journal? Would you like to browse databases and journals by subject? Try the Online Journals and Databases.

Article Locator: Looking for a specific article or journal? Do you have a citation? Try the article locator.

Journals related to your project:

Academic sources to consult on urban development issues (these are peer reviewed ejournal s and accessible on line via UIUC library.  You can search them by your keywords and download the articles needed.)  Be sure to look at the dates listed in these links to make sure you are getting into the issues you need.

Other sources to consult:

For urban grassroots movements

For quantitative data about the country consult:

For interactive and animated maps consult

For learning on the colonial history of the country of your interest and also qualitative understanding of the importance of debt or structural adjustment policies in your country of choice you need to consult published books and journal articles. These you can find by consulting the main library catalog. If you have problem with identifying resources please see a reference librarian they can and will help you find anything you need!  But you may need to go to the main or undergrad library and ask them for assistance.