Research Guide for Freshman Writing Seminars

WRI 150 Politics of the American Dream

John J. Hernandez
Politics & U.S. Documents Librarian
Office: A-15-J-1 Firestone Library
Phone: (609) 258-3209
Email: jhernand@princeton.edu

Naz Pantaloni
Law & EU Documents Librarian
Office: A-15-J-2 Firestone Library
Phone: (609) 258-5316
Email: npantalo@princeton.edu

The resources listed here are helpful for clearing up terminology, finding the meanings of key concepts, and gathering background on issues. This is only a sampling of what is available online and in the General & Humanities and Social Science reference centers in Firestone.

• CQ Researcher (PU only)
  URL: http://library.cqpress.com/cqres/lpext.dll?f=templates&fn=titlepage.htm
  Each issue of CQ Researcher explores a single hot issue in the news. Topics include social issues, the environment, health, education, and science and technology. Presented with objectivity and balance, these reports are written by experienced journalists and experts on all sides of every issue.
   
• Facts.com (PU only)
  URL: http://www.facts.com/princeton/
  This useful service provides digests of world news from 1940 to the present as well as information from the World Almanac. The Issues & Controversies section provides thorough background on contemporary hot topics, such as corporate scandals, industrial regulation, trade, foreign relations, etc.
   
• International Encyclopedia of Social & Behavioral Science (PU only)
  Aims to capture the "state of the art" of the social and behavioral sciences, expanding its focus to include related biological fields, such as evolutionary science, genetics, cognitive neuroscience, psychiatry, and health. Topics include anthropology, archaeology, demography, economics, education, geography, history, law, linguistics, philosophy, political science, psychiatry, psychology, and sociology.
   
• Oxford Reference Online (PU only)
  This convenient web resource brings together online versions of 100 well-known and trusted dictionaries and reference books such as the Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics, Dictionary of Political Biography, Dictionary of the Social Sciences, and Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy.
   

The Main Catalog is your primary tool for finding books in the Princeton University Libraries. You can also use the catalog to find other materials, including videos, sound recordings, internet sites, and journals (the journals themselves- not individual articles). The Main Catalog provides two search modes: Basic Search and Guided Search.

Keyword searching is best used when you don't know the exact title, author's name, or subject heading. Use keywords especially when you want to discover what items the library has for your topic, as this allows you to express the topic in your own words. For more tips on using the Main Catalog see the Help Page.

When you get some search results, use the Long View feature to display the full record with subject headings. Once you find items that seem relevant to your topic, take note of the subject headings listed for those items. You can do follow-up searches using these subject headings to get related items.

If you find your subject searches are not yielding good results, you might want to look at the Library of Congress Subject Headings located at the reference desk. This set of large red volumes provides a listing of the appropriate subject headings that correspond to various topics. Be sure to ask the staff at the reference desk for assistance.

Beyond the Main Catalog, you have access to other Princeton Library catalogs, as well as regional and worldwide catalogs, via the Library Catalogs Page. If you find items outside of Princeton, you can request these be sent here via Interlibrary Loan or Borrow Direct.
 

The following databases provide references to many scholarly journal articles and papers. Here's a useful search strategy that works for essentially any article index database.

General & Multi-disciplinary Databases:

• EBSCO Academic Search Premier (PU only)
  This is a multi-disciplinary full text database covering over 7,000 scholarly and peer-reviewed journals in nearly every area of academic study including: social sciences, humanities, education, computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language & linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, ethnic studies, and more. Coverage goes back to 1975.
   
• Wilson OmniFile (PU only)
  Multi-disciplinary database providing select full text articles, abstracts, and indexing. Consists of databases for scholarly sources in agriculture, applied science and technology, art, biology, business, education, general science, humanities, law, library and information science, social sciences, as well as popular appeal titles.
   
• ProQuest Research Library (PU only)
  Provides (mostly) full-text access to a wide variety of newspapers, magazines, and scholarly journals from 1986-present.
   

Specialized Databases:

• ERIC (PU only)
  ERIC is a complete bibliography of education materials featuring published and unpublished sources of thousands of educational topics, with information from the index Resources in Education and the Current Index to Journals in Education.
   
• International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (PU only)
  Compiled by the British Library of Political & Economic Science of the London School of Economics & Political Science, this database provides bibliographic information from an international selection of publications (including over 2,600 journals) in the fields of economics, political science, sociology, and anthropology. Covers 1951-present.
   
• PAIS International (PU only)
  Provides citations to articles, books, reports, and select government documents on U.S. and international public policy issues. Generally considered to be a comprehensive index to policy literature. Covers 1972-present.
   
• 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.
   
• 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. This resource may help you to locate articles on the social aspects of democratic development in various countries.
   
• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts (PU only)
  Worldwide provides citations and abstracts of the international literature in political science, including journal articles, books and book chapters, dissertations, and reviews. It also covers such areas as international relations, law, sociology, economics, and public policy. Provides references to reliable websites. Covers 1975-present.
   

URL: http://firestone.princeton.edu/politics/guides/wri150.html
Send suggestions and comments on this page to:
jhernand@princeton.edu