POSC 4350 (Dr. Vick): Public Administration
Purpose: To acquaint you with materials in Cornette Library and on the World Wide Web that will make research for your assignment easier.
Reference Sources
- Excellent place to start research.
- Provide background information.
- Include basic information sources like dictionaries, encyclopedias, bibliographies, chronologies, and research guides.
- Government Finance Statistics Yearbook
- HJ 101 .G68 Ref.
- Published by the International Monetary Fund. "Detailed data on revenue, expense, transactions in assets and liabilities, and stocks of assets for the general government sector and its subsectors." International in scope. World tables, country tables, and institutional tables.
- Stastistical Abstract of the United States
- HA 202 .A2 Ref.
- Also available online
- Federal Domestic Outlays, 1983-1990
- HJ 275 .B47 1991 Ref.
- Statistics about domestic spending by Congressional district. Compares spending categories over a period of years.
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Books
- Cornette Library's online catalog
- Includes books, government documents, videos, journal titles, etc. available throughout the Library. Suggested searches include:
- a keyword search for your subject, such as public administration.
- the general LC subject heading public administration.
- the LC subject heading for a specific time and place such as public administration united states.
- ScienceDirect Books
- Links to nearly 100 book series covering a wide array of subjects. The links below will take you to series that you might find useful for this class.
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Journal, Magazine, & Newspaper Articles
Provide current information
- Library shelves contain more than 1500 bound and current journals.
- Microform (film or fiche) available for dozens of leading newspapers, as well as other periodicals.
- Databases index articles found in journals and magazines.
- Citation only;
- Citation and a short summary of the article (abstract);
- Full text;
- General, covering many kinds of topics, and specialized, for specific disciplines.
- For this assignment be sure to use scholarly sources, not general interest magazines. The differences are important, for citation and for evaluating reliability.
How to Access Databases
- On-campus: In the library or HELC.
- Off-campus: Login with your Buff Advisor username (for example, js123456) and your Buff Advisor password (for example, buffaloes).
- Database citations not in full-text may be located in Cornette Library's online catalog, or the list of online journals.
- Use Interlibrary Loan to request articles inaccessible through Cornette library. Allow up to 1 week (3 weeks for books) for articles to arrive.
Which database?
- Academic Search Premier
- Contains abstracts and citations for a broad range of topics, with substantial full-text. Over 3,000 peer-reviewed sources. Use the subject phrases expenditures, publicand public administration in each of two of the search boxes to get the most appropriate articles. Adding a political subdivision such as state or city or a specific state will narrow results even more.
- America History and Life
- History of the United States and Canada with information on public policy and political science issues as well. Use the subject term public administration with the keyword phrase United States indicating English as the language and limit to articles.
- JSTOR
- Back volumes from the earliest issues of over 375 titles in a wide range of topics, including political science. The most recent 2-5 years are not available through JSTOR.
- Social Sciences Citation Index.
- A part of the much broader Web of Science, this is the main citation tracking service for the social sciences.
Logo
- Displays in most of our databases. Links from a citation to one or more of the following:
- One or more links to full-text of the cited article,
- A link to a pre-set search of the Cornette Library catalog for the cited item,
- A link to a pre-filled Interlibrary Loan request form for the article, or
- A link to various help options.
- For more information see the tutorial Using SFX to Link to Articles
Need Help?
- Ask at the Reference Desk (first floor) or Periodicals Desk (second floor).
- Call 651-2215 during the hours Cornette Library is open.
- Use the "Ask A Librarian" page for electronic reference support.
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Newspapers
Provide current news, and contemporaneous views of historical events. The listed items are in microfilm on the second floor.
- Christian Science Monitor (Nov. 1908-present); index: 1950-present
- Daily Universal Register (1785-1787, became the Times - London)
- Dallas Morning News (Oct. 1885-present)
- New York Times (Sep. 18, 1851-present) Index: Sep. 1851-present
- Times - London (Jan. 1788-present) Index: 1790-present
- Wall Street Journal (Jul. 1889-present) Index: 1955-present
Several databases contain current newspapers in electronic form.
- Infotrac Newsstand
- Most current 1 to 3 years of more than 150 local, regional, national and international newspapers.
- LexisNexis Academic
- Full text of a large number of general newspapers. Access by clicking on General News in "Step One: Select a news category"; then clicking on Major Papers in "Step Two: Select a news source"; then entering key words; then choosing the appropriate time frame in "Step Four: Narrow to a specific time range".
- New York Times Historical
- Full text of the New York Times from 1851-2008.
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Government Documents
Cornette Library collects United States federal and Texas state documents on many topics.
- Most U.S. documents published since 1994 are listed in the Cornette Library's online catalog.
- For older documents, you will need to use the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications.
- We also have British Parliamentary Papers from 1731-1978/79 in microform.
Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications
- Indexes all United States government documents made available through the Government Printing Office.
- Includes Congressional reports, hearings, debates, and records; judiciary materials; documents issued by executive departments (Defense, State, Labor, Office of the President, etc.).
- Dates available include:
- Documents/Reference (1913-present).
- Online via FirstSearch. (1976-present)
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Web Sites
- The World Wide Web is an excellent source of information.
- Not everything found on the Web is accurate.
- You must evaluate information on the Web.
General Interest
- Rand Corporation
- Provides research on issues and challenges facing both the public and private sectors. Some reports available in full text.
- The Heritage Foundation
- "A research and educational institute...whose mission is to formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense."
- The Urban Institute
- "A nonpartisan economic and social policy research organization."
- The Cato Institute
- "A non-profit public policy research foundation."
Web Guides
- Searchable lists of annotated web sites, discussion lists, and electronic journals that have met specific selection criteria.
- Scout Report Archives
- Scholarly. Keyword or advanced search. Results listed by relevance.
- INFOMINE Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
- Scholarly. Keyword search or browse by general subject area. Can limit to free sites.
- ipl2 - "Information You Can Trust" (merger of Internet Public Library and Librarians' Index to the Internet)
- General public interest. Keyword search, or browse by general topic and subtopic.
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Citing Your Sources
Why must I cite the sources I use for research projects?
- To give credit to the author of the information you use.
- To avoid plagiarism (WTAMU Code of Student Life: Appendix III-Academic Integrity Code). Plagiarism is a serious offense that can result in a failing grade or worse!
- So that others can verify the information.
- To assist others in doing their own research.
CITATION MANUAL
- Dr. Vick requires you to use Turabian's A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations.
- A copy of this manual is located at the Reference Desk.
- Additional assistance is available from our Citing Internet and Print Resources web page.
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Your Comments
- Suggestions for improvements?
- Particularly helpful items?
- Please email Linda Chenoweth.
Thank you.
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