ENG 362 : Political Rhetoric
For further assistance, contact Atifa Rawan, rawana@u.library.arizona.edu
Guides/Tutorials:
Identify Popular vs. Scholarly Articles - Guide, Tutorial
Explore Pros & Cons of Contemporary Issues - Guide
Evaluate Information on the Web - Guide
Do Keyword Searching in Library Databases- Tutorial
Find Articles using Academic Search Premier - Tutorial
Primary sources are records of events as they are first described, without any interpretation or commentary. Examples of primary sources include original work, slave diary, poem, treaty, videotape of a performace, government publications.
Secondary sources, on the other hand, offer an analysis or a restatement of primary sources. Examples of secondary sources include: dictionaries, encyclopedias, textbooks, and books and articles that interpret or review research works.
Books about Contemporary Issues
Use the Catalog - Tutorial
Find a topic for your paper -- just by searching the Library Catalog for many topics that cover current social, elections, public opnion, economic and political issues that would be appropriate for your paper
At Issue Series
Click on the title to see the topics covered in each book and where to find them.
Topics include affirmative action, domestic violence, future of the internet, policing the police, rainforests, welfare reform, and others.
Contemporary Issues
Click on the title to see the topics covered in each book and where to find them.
Topics include affirmative action, animal experimentation, drugs, abortion, euthanasia, gun control, homosexuality, immigration, pornography, and others.
Contemporary Issues Companion
Click on the title to see the topics covered in each book and where to find them.
Topics include battered women, depression, eating disorders, legalized gambling and organized crime.
Current Controversies Series
Click on the title to see the topics covered in each book and where to find them.
Some of the topics in this set include assisted suicide, crime, gambling, gay rights, gun control, hate crimes, Native American rights, police brutality, sexual harrassment, and many others.
Opposing Viewpoints Series
Click on the title to see the topics covered in each book and where to find them.
A few of the topics in this series include America's prisons, biomedical ethics, censorship, euthanasia, immigration, media violence, sports in America, working women, and many others.
Reference Shelf Series
Click on the title to see the topics covered in each book and where to find them.
Each book presents more than 20 important articles from a wide range of national publications, exploring the "hot button" topics people are talking about from multiple perspectives. Recent topics includes the European Union, free trade, women's rights and Homeland security.
Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues
Click on the title to see the general topics covered in each book and where to find them. Then click on each book title and scroll down to the Contents note for specific topics covered.
Political Speeches
Presidents of the United States
Relevant Databases for Contemporary Issues
Begin to find resources about that topic -- these databases will provide information for your paper.
Includes topics such as adoption controversies, animal rights, biology and behavior, drinking on campus, economics of recycling, medical marijuana, the Prozac controversy, and other current controversial issues. New reports added weekly. CQ Researcher is an especially good place to start. Material on all of the issues can be found in it.
Try using synonyms and other words when searching issues in the other sources, such as Abortion for Roe vs. Wade. Remember you may find material within books on broader topics, for example material on “Drinking Age” may be found under the topic of “Teen Drinking.”
2. Academic Search Complete— Web Resource Includes popular and scholarly articles.
3. General OneFile (formerly Expanded Academic ASAP) — Web Resource Includes popular and scholarly articles.
4. Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe— Web Resource. Particularly good for newspaper articles.
5. Issues & Controversies @ Facts.com
This database explores more than 250 controversial news topics from the complete backfile of Issues and Controversies on File from 1995 up to the present.
Includes indexes by topic and by subject areas, as well as a section on pro and con topics of debate.
6. CQ Weekly - CQ Weekly is known as the pre-eminent resource for Congress-watchers who need nonpartisan information on Capitol Hill. This is a weekly source includes comprehensiv legislative news and analysis. This is a good source to keep pace with ehat is happening on Capitol Hill.
7. PAIS and PAIS Archive- Citations and abstracts to articles in business and the social sciences. Emphasis on international coverage of public policy, government, international relations and current economic, political and social thought.
Primary Full-Text Sources:
- CIS Congressional Universe. Includes information on campaign fifnace, campaign contributions, key votes, and congressional testimonies and resports.
- Historical Documents (LC)
Federal Government Official Sites:
Implementation of Public Law Sources
- Executive Branch Reources- This sites includes
- Code of Federal Regulations (CFR): Current regulations.
- Electronic Code of Federal Regulations (e-CFR): A regularly updated, unofficial, non-legal edition of the CFR, created in partnership with the Office of the Federal Register
- Federal Register: Notices and regulations (proposed, new, amended).
- List of CFR Sections Affected (LSA): Index of updates to regulations.
- Regulations.gov: Find, review, and submit comments on Federal rules open for comment.
- Unified Agenda: Developing or recently completed regulations.
- GAO Comptroller General Decisions
GAO Comptroller General Decisions contains decisions and opinions issued by the Comptroller General in areas of Federal law such as appropriations, bid protests, and Federal agency rulemaking. The database is updated within two business days after decisions have been released. Documents are available as ASCII text and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. Available from 1995 forward.
- GAO Reports
The GAO Reports application contains reports (“blue books”) on audits, surveys, investigations, and evaluations of Federal programs conducted by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). All published reports, testimonies, correspondence, and special publications are included. Products that are restricted or classified are not included. The current fiscal year’s database is updated within two business days of a report’s release. Reports are available as ASCII text and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files. 1995-2004 GAO Reports and also includes limited reports from 1993 and 1994.
Newspapers and Other Political News
Inside Washington (Congressional Universe). Includes full text information from Washington Post, The Hill, Roll Call.
America 's Newspapers (NewsBank) Web Resource. Includes selected full text.
Editorial's On File. D839 .E32 Latest volumes in InfoCommons Reference area, earlier in stacks. This includes editorials from selected newspapers. You can search by topic or by newspaper.
Vanderbilt Television News Archive. Searchable archive of abstracts (detailed summaries-not transcripts) of evening news broadcasts from ABC, CBS, NBC, and CNN, as well special news reports, such as ABC's Nightline, selected coverage from PBS and FOX News, political conventions, Presidential press conferences, State of the Union Addresses, political campaign coverage, and national and international events. Abstracts include names of reporters, a summary of the event reported, and beginning and ending times for each news segment. Also includes RealVideo (online video) access to CNN programs from 1998-present.
National Newspaper . Index of articles from The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post
New York Times (Proquest Historical Newspaper). Complete version of the New York Times, including viewing of entire pages as well as specific articles from 1851-
Polls and Surveys:
From Articles and Databses serachings choose the following sources:
Polling the Nations - Polling the Nations is a compilation of surveys conducted by polling organizations in the United States such as US polling organizations e.g., Harris International, The Pew Center, Universities e.g., Rice University, University of Maryland, Newspapers e.g., Special interest groups e.g., Boy Scouts, AFL-CIO, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Television news organizations e.g., CBS, NBS, Fox, CNN and other countries and organizations such as International polling organizations e.g., Eurobarometer from 1986 to the present time. Also this source includes a discussion of the history of polling and surveys with significant results as well as a glossary.
Polls and Surveys (Academic Universe -Reference)- The file is maintained by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, a non-profit education and research organization in the field of public opinion and public policy. Topics covers politics and government, public institutions, international relations, business, social affairs and consumer behavior and preferences. The file includes sources in opinion polling such as Gallup, Harris, Roper; ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC; Los Angeles Times, New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal.
Election and Voting:
Voting Behavior- The site also offers a discussion of the background
to the 2004 election and voting behavior in national elections, and
exercises that explain how to analyze the data and understand the
results. Data on the site are accessible for free to APSA departmental members
and ICPSR members. Please see the attached brochure or the Web site for
more details.
Election 2000 (University of Michigan Library)- This is a comprehensive site with information such as campaign finance, campaign and election, voter information and guides, and other related information.
Presidents of the United States
Citing Sources
Citation Guide- It is very important to cite your sources of information to allow a reader to consult the sources you used in your research and to acknowledge and give credit to someone else's words or ideas. This guide shows how to correctly cite books, articles, Web sites, and more, in different citation formats.
Write Citations - MLA Citation Guide, APA Citation Guide, Tutorial
Understand & Avoid Plagiarism
Guide , Tutorial (choose Research Exercises, click cancel, and then choose MLA or APA)