Research Guides: POLS 320: Democracy in America (HC) [Fall 2013]: Background Information

Web Sites

Center for Responsive Government
Founded by Senators Church and Scott to track the influence of outside money on Congress. For more resources in this area, see the list put together by Vanderbilt University.
Consortium for Policy Research in Education
"CPRE researchers have made their mark studying the effectiveness of federal, state, and local policies, with particular emphasis on accountability systems, school finance, teacher quality initiatives, assessment systems, and school governance."
Financing Professional Sports Facilities
This list of resources was put together by the Minnesota State Reference Library for the use of legislators.
National Conference of State Legislatures
"The National Conference of State Legislatures is a bipartisan organization that serves the legislators and staffs of the nation's 50 states, its commonwealths and territories. NCSL provides research, technical assistance and opportunities for policymakers to exchange ideas on the most pressing state issues."
Philadelphia Schools and Neighborhoods
A resource guide done by Patty Lynn at the University of Pennsylvania

Background Information: Literature Reviews

Literature reviews are a particularly useful resource when doing research. They address the issues involved in a particular question and the debates among scholars. They map out the intellectual terrain succinctly and give you the major landmarks in terms of key authors and significant titles for greater understanding.

Check here for literature reviews devoted in whole or part to issues related to your topic:

Annual review of political science

Examples include:

Studying Organizational Advocacy and Influence: Reexamining Interest Group Research. Annual Review of Political Science Vol. 15 (June 2012)
Policy Makes Mass Politics. Annual Review of Political Science Vol. 15 (June 2012).

From other titles in the Annual Review series examples include:

The Political Consequences of Social Movements. Annual Review of Sociology Vol. 36 (2010)
School Reform 2007: Transforming Education into a Scientific Enterprise. Annual Review of Sociology Vol. 33 (2007)
Criminal Disenfranchisement. Annual Review of Law and Social Science Vol. 1 (2005)
On the Politics of Imprisonments: A Review of Systematic Findings. Annual Review of Law and Social Science Vol. 6 (2010) Request through Article Delivery

Finding Additional Background Information

Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Researcher
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Offers full-text reports on current and controversial issues in public affairs. Each report includes background, highlights on special focuses, a bibliography of sources, list of involved organizations, and more research sources. Covers 1991 to the present.

Relevant articles include:
• Downsizing Prisons (2011)
• Hosting the Olympics: Is it a Good investment for Cities? (2012)
• Fixing Urban Schools: Has No Child Left Behind Helped Minority Students? (2007; updated 2012)

Encyclopedia of activism and social justice
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The Encyclopedia of Activism and Social Justice presents a comprehensive overview of the field with topics of varying dimensions, breadth, and length. This three-volume Encyclopedia is designed for readers to understand the topics, concepts, and ideas which motivate and shape the fields of activism, civil engagement, and social justice as well as short biographies of the major thinkers and leaders who have influenced and continue to influence the study of activism.
Offers multidisciplinary perspectives with contributions from the fields of education, communication studies, political science, leadership studies, social work, social welfare, environmental studies, health care, social psychology, and sociology." (Publisher's description)
International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences
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This recent, scholarly set has special strengths:
1) Emphasis on social science theory, both historical and contemporary
2) Essay-length treatment of many specific topics
3) Cross references to related articles

Start by looking in the index volume for your topic words. Once you find relevant articles, check the lists of sources at the ends of entries for new books and journal articles to read.
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You can browse the tables of contents and see abstracts for each article via the online version of the Encyclopedia.
Oxford Bibliographies Online: Political Science
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Extensive annotated bibliographies written by scholars in the field. This volume is under development and covers only a small number of topics now. Essays of interest now available include: The Impact of Campaign Contributions on Congressional Behavior and Politics of Higher Education in the U. S..
Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History
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Online access to a 2010 reference work on American politics. Scholars were commissioned to write the 190 articles on a wide range of political topics including aspects of religion, popular culture, and education.

Subject Guide

Margaret Schaus

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Subjects: Africana & Black Studies, Cities, Classics, History, Latin American & Iberian Studies, Political Science, Writing Program