Politics Junior Paper Workshops

Resources for JP #9: Cities & Institutions

In addition to using keywords to search the Main Catalog, in an effort to be comprehensive, you might also want to try a subject heading approach. Since you will most likely be researching specific cities, you should become familiar with the subject headings that correspond to your city. Here are some examples:

Remember that traveling down the list of headings will take you to subjects that are further sub-divided and, therefore, more specific. Traveling up the list gets you subjects that are more general. Here are some sub-headings that should be useful:

For most of your topics, you should be able to find many useful journal articles, book chapters, working papers, etc. by doing some very careful searching in the main Politics databases we've already discussed. Here are some additional databases that should be of help as well:

• ABI Inform (PU only)
  A comprehensive index to worldwide business periodicals. Provides in-depth coverage of business and economic conditions, management techniques, theory and practice of business, advertising, marketing, economics, human resources, finance, and taxation.
   
• America: History & Life (PU only)
  Indexes books and journal articles on the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Covers works published 1954-present. This resource can be useful for finding articles that discuss U.S. relations with, and influences on the countries in question.
   
• EconLit (PU only)
  Provides citations and selected abstracts of journal articles, books, dissertations, working papers, conference proceedings and book reviews dating back to 1969. Covers topics including regional and international economics, urban economics, economic development, fiscal and monetary theory, business and public finance.
   
• Index to Current Urban Documents (PU only)
  Provides access to full text PDF reports and documents by government agencies, civic organizations, academic and research organizations, public libraries, and metropolitan and regional planning agencies in approximately 500 selected cities in the United States and Canada. The online version covers documents going back to 1995. Earlier documents are available on microfiche and have a corresponding print index held in the Social Science Reference Center.
   
• Policyfile (PU only)
  Provides indexing and abstracts of research publications addressing the complete range of public policy research. PolicyFile draws its content from public policy think tanks, university research programs, research organizations, and trade publishers. The database consists of over 50,000 abstracts dating from 1990 to present, with some full-text where available and links to organizational home pages.
   
• Sage Urban Studies Abstracts.
  Publisher: Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. Quarterly.
  Location: Architecture Library (UES) Indexes
  Call Number: HT51 .S24
  Library Has: 1973-present
  This useful print index provides references to scholarly articles in urban studies, planning, and affairs.
   
• Social Sciences Citation Index (PU only)
  Multidisciplinary index to more than 1,725 journals in the social and behavioral sciences. This database covers works published 1956-present, and is very useful for tracing the chain of citations in social science literature. Use SSCI to find references to articles that were cited in a given article, as well as other articles that cite that article.
   
• Sociological Abstracts (PU only)
  Indexing and abstracting of the world's literature in sociology and related disciplines, both theoretical and applied. Covers 2,500 journals, conference papers, dissertations, and book reviews. Includes materials in 30 languages and covers works published 1963-present.
   

News sources can be very useful for finding primary coverage of specific events, as well as feature articles and editorials related to your topic. For additional resources, be sure to consult the Newspaper Indexes page.

Contemporary News (mid-1980s to present):

• Lexis Nexis Academic (PU only)
  Provides full text access to news from across the U.S. and around the world. Coverage of most newspapers goes back to the mid 1980s, but varies widely. Also provides access to business, legal, and medical journals, as well as corporate financial information.
   
• NewsBank Full-Text Newspapers (PU only)
  Provides full-text of many major national and regional newspapers from the United States and around the world.
   
• Factiva (PU only)
  Database from Dow Jones & Reuters that provides full text access to various newspapers and news wire services.
   
• ProQuest Newspapers (PU only)
  Provides indexing and full text of the Wall Street Journal (1984- ) and the New York Times (1995- ) and abstracts only of USA Today (1989- ).
   
• Alt-Press Watch (PU only)
  Full text database of newspapers, magazines, and journals from alternative and independent presses.
   
• Google - News
  URL: http://www.google.com/news
  Google News presents information culled from approximately 4,500 news sources worldwide, automatically arranged to present the most relevant news first. Pulls together related headlines and photos worldwide, enabling you to see how different news organizations are reporting the same story. Topics are updated continuously throughout the day, making this an excellent source for breaking news.
   

Historical News (back to mid-1800s):

• Historical New York Times (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) (PU only)
  Provides retrospective coverage of the New York Times going back to the first issue (1851-2001) in full text. Search by keywords and date.
   
• Historical Wall Street Journal (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) (PU only)
  Provides retrospective coverage of the Wall Street Journal going back to the first issue (1889-1986) in full text. Search by keywords and date.
   
• Historical Washington Post (ProQuest Historical Newspapers) (PU only)
  Provides retrospective coverage of the Washington Post going back to the first issue (1877-1987) in full text. Search by keywords and date.
   
• Reader's Guide Retrospective (PU only)
  This retrospective online version of the ever-popular Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature contains comprehensive indexing of the most popular general-interest periodicals published in the U.S. between the years 1890-1982.
   

For more help finding economic statistics and data for specific cities and states, be sure to consult the Basic Sources of Economics Statistics page. For assistance in data analysis, see the folks at Data & Statistical Services. For some additional background on using the Census, see this presentation by my colleague at the University of Michigan.

• American FactFinder
  URL: http://factfinder.census.gov
  This web site is the Census Bureau's primary vehicle for distributing recent Census data. Data from the 2000 and 1990 Census, economic censuses since 1997, and the American Community Survey are also available here. For additional statistics and data from other Census programs, see the Census Bureau entry below.
   
• Bureau of the Census
  URL: http://www.census.gov
  The Census Bureau is the preeminent collector and provider of timely, relevant, and quality data about the people and economy of the United States. The Census home page provides access to a wide variety of finding tools for Census data and publications, as well as links to related information from other agencies.
   
• Statistical Abstract of the United States.
  Publisher: Washington, DC: U.S. Bureau of the Census. Annual.
  Location: Social Science Reference Center (SSRC)
  Library Has: 1865-present
  Current Volume: SSRC Ready Reference
  URL: http://www.census.gov/statab/www
  Statistical compendium that covers a wide variety of topics, including population, vital statistics, health and nutrition, education, law enforcement, environment, parks and recreation, elections, government finance and employment, defense, human services, labor, income and expenditures, prices, banking and finance, business, communications and information technology, energy, science and technology, transportation, agriculture, natural resources, construction and housing, manufactures and trade. Tables provide summary statistics with footnotes indicating sources for more detailed data.
   
• Bureau of Economic Analysis
  URL: http://www.bea.doc.gov
  The BEA is an agency of the Department of Commerce and part of the Department's Economics and Statistics Administration. The mission of the BEA is to produce and disseminate accurate, timely, relevant, and cost-effective economic accounts statistics that provide a comprehensive, up-to-date picture of economic activity. BEA's national, regional, and international economic accounts present basic information on such key issues as U.S. economic growth, regional economic development, and the Nation's position in the world economy.
   
• Bureau of Labor Statistics
  URL: http://www.bls.gov
  The BLS is the principal fact-finding agency for the Federal government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics. The BLS serves as a statistical resource to the Department of Labor and collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data on topics such as inflation, wages and earnings, employment, and productivity.
   
• Statistical Universe (PU only)
  Provides indexing and abstracts to federal, state, and international statistical publications as well as selected business and professional publications containing statistics. Many statistical tables are available in full text, and direct links to many web-accessible statistical sources are also provided. Statistical Universe is the web equivalent of the print American Statistics Index, Statistical Reference Index, and Index to International Statistics; and provides indexing for the corresponding ASI, SRI and IIS microfiche sets located on the C-Floor of Firestone. The publications indexed in the ASI and SRI would be of most interest, given your research topics.
   

• Library of Congress State and Local Governments
  URL: http://lcweb.loc.gov/global/state/stategov.html
  Provides links to meta-indexes for state and local governments, as well as links to individual state web sites.
   
• Official City Sites
  URL: http://officialcitysites.org/
  Provides access to city and county web sites from the U.S. and other countries.
   
• U.S. Conference of Mayors
  URL: http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/home.asp
  The United States Conference of Mayors is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more.
   

URL: http://firestone.princeton.edu/politics/guides/cities.html
Send suggestions and comments on this page to:
jhernand@princeton.edu

Page last updated: November 30, 2005