Information Sources for International Relations

Selective guide to Resources for I.R. 10: Introduction to World Politics

Table of Contents

Reference Works


The following materials provide background information and may be useful to you as you begin your research:

CQ Researcher Database- This database is a good source of background information. If your topic is included you will find historical timelines, discussions of the issues and references for further research.

Europa world year book. London, England: Europa Publications Limited, 2003  914 E89a  Linderman- REF

The International year book and statesmen's who's who.   East Grinstead, West Sussex, England : Kelly's Directories, 1999
   305.8 I61 1999  FM-1-REF

The Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Relations. Osmanczyk, E.J. (1985).  New York: Taylor and Francis.
    341.2303 O83e 1990 FM-1-REF

Global development : a reference handbook . William Savitt, Paula Bottorf.  Santa Barbara, Calif. : ABC-CLIO, c1995.
     338.9 S267g  FM-1-REF

The Oxford Companion to the politics of the world. 2nd ed. Joel Krieger, ed.  New York : Oxford University Press, 2001
    320.03 O98  FM -1- REF
    Electronic version: http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/BOOK_SEARCH.html?book=t121

The Penguin dictionary of international relations .  Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham. London ; New York : Penguin Books, c1998.
     327.03 E92p     FM-1-REF

Political Handbook of the World.  New York : Published for the Center for Comparative Political Research of the State
     University of New York at Binghamton and for the Council on Foreign Relations by McGraw-Hill Book Co.
    329.9 P76 1997 FM-1-REF

The Statesman's Year-book; Statistical and Historical Annual of the States of the World. (latest). London, New York, Macmillan, St.
     Martin's Press.     305 S797  FM-1-REF

The Times atlas of the world : tenth comprehensive edition. New York : Times Books, 1999.
    912 T58 1999    FM-1-ATLAS  or    L-1-ATLAS.    Note: the libraries have a wide variety of atlases that may be useful for your work.
    New  editions are frequently added. Check the Atlas cases  in both libraries.

Yearbook of the United Nations. United Nations. 1947-
    341.1 U5805  Latest edition in  FM-1-REF

Ziring, L., Plano, J.C., and Olton, R. (1995) International Relations : A Political Dictionary. (5th Edition). Santa Barbara, Calif. :
     ABC-CLIO. , c1995.
    327.03 P712i 1995  FM-1-REF

Lehigh Library Online Catalog - ASA


     Search ASA to find those books, journals, government documents  and electronic resources owned by the library. It is often
     useful to begin your search with a keyword search. After you have located a few materials on target for your topic, utilize the
     hypertext linked subject headings to expand your search to other materials cataloged under that same subject heading.

    You can search ASA to locate those journals owned by Lehigh in either print or electronic form.  If you know the title of the journal, perform
    a Browse/Periodical Title search.


U.S. Government Documents

Lehigh's  Fairchild Martindale library receives over 50% of  the federal document published by  U.S. government agencies and legislative bodies. Most of these are cataloged and can be located using the ASA library catalog. Increasingly these materials are made available on the Web. An ASA search will link you out to these materials. The library also subscribes to a variety of indexes to help you identify government materials.

Marcive Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (1976-present)

Lexis Nexis Congressional  (1970 - present) : focus on Congressional materials.

 

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Databases and Indexes to Periodical Literature and News Sources

These databases can be accessed from the Library's database page.

     Academic Index (Infotrac)
     This database indexes and abstracts a wide range of journals in the social sciences. It includes the full text and graphics of many
     of the articles it indexes. Coverage goes back to 1980. Uses SFX technology to provide access to full text of articles if they are available from other sources.

    America: History and Life
    Covers the history of the United States and Canada from prehistory to the present. Coverage of over 2,000 journals published worldwide.

America's Newspapers
A useful database for locating articles in U.S. Newspapers...contains many local and regional newspapers from around the country. Coverage dates vary by newspaper...generally not much earlier than the 1980's or 1990's. Includes New York Times coverage.For complete NY Times archive see the Historical New York Times database.

     CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online
    This database specializes in international affairs and foreign policy issues. It publishes a wide range of scholarship from 1991 on that
    includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, and
    proceedings from conferences. It also provides access to abstracts (and at times the full text) of articles from 26 International Relations
    journals.

   CQ Researcher
   While not a database of articles from a variety of journals, CQ Researcher is a easily accessible introduction to a variety of topics. Each CQ Researcher             issue reports on one particular topic, many of which deal with foreign affairs, international relations current events. The reports provide background information, a chronology, current situtation, outlook and presents a balance of perspectives on the topic.

    Historical Abstracts
    Indexes materials published since 1971It covers publications about the history of the world from 1450 to the present (excluding North America).

     PAIS: Public Affairs Information Service
     PAIS indexes periodicals, books, government documents and to some degree publications of International organizations on a
     wide variety of public affairs topics. The database covers the years 1972 - present. Lehigh also owns the printed index back to
     1923. INDEX  FM-3-SOUTH  016.3 P976.

     Lexis/Nexis Academic Universe
     Contains the full-text of articles in many major U.S and international newspapers. Some foreign language newspapers can also be
     accessed. Selected journals, magazines and newswires are also part of the product. The service is updated daily and although
     the coverage varies, content can go back to the 1980's.

    Research Library
    This interdisciplinary database provides scholarly and popular articles on a variety of topics. Uses SFX technology to link out to the electronic full text of articles.

     World News Connection
     Index to the FBIS translated full-text of foreign news broadcasts, newspapers and periodicals. One user liscense. Please be sure
     to exit the system properly or other users will have trouble. Covers past 5 years.

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Web Sites

Criteria for Evaluating Information on the Internet . Use this guide and suggested tutorials to review what to look for as you evaluate the worthiness of websites: Web Resource Evaluation.

 

Web Gateways, Portals and Recommended Web sites


    Metasites

    Foreign Affairs Online
    http://www.people.virginia.edu/~rjb3v/rjb.html

    WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs
    http://www.etown.edu/vl

    Political Resources on the Net
    http://www.politicalresources.net/

Governments and International Organizations:

     Europa - European Union Server
     http://europa.eu.int/index-en.htm

    Foreign Goverment Resources on the Web (UMich Documents Center)
    http://www.lib.umich.edu/govdocs/foreign.html

     Governments on the WWW
     http://www.gksoft.com/govt/en/

     GPO Access
     http://www.gpoaccess.gov
     An Online database with access to the full texts of  U.S. government publications. Also includes links to government agency homepages.

     Nations of the World:. U.S. Library of Congress.
    http://www.loc.gov/law/guide/nations.html

International Crisis Group
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?l=1
The International Crisis Group is an independent, non-profit, non-governmental organisation, which workds through field-based analysis and high-level advocacy to prevent and resolve deadly conflict. Teams of political analysts are located within or close by countries at risk of outbreak, escalation or recurrence of violent conflict. Based on information and assessments from the field, it produces analytical reports containing practical recommendations targeted at key international decision-takers. Crisis Group also publishes CrisisWatch, a twelve-page monthly bulletin, providing a succinct regular update on the state of play in all the most significant situations of conflict or potential conflict around the world.

    International Monetary Fund
    http://www.imf.org

    International Court of Justice
    http://www.icj-cij.org/  

     ISN: International Relations and Security Network, Center for Security Studies and Conflict Research, ETH Zurich.
     http://www.isn.ethz.ch/
     In Particular try their LinksLibrary by Subject (i.e., International Relations-Journals) by Region (i.e., Middle East), or a Directory (i.e.,
     International Organizations).
     http://www.isn.ethz.ch/linkslib/

    Yahoo International Organizations
     http://www.yahoo.com/Government/International_Organizations/

    United Nations
    http://www.un.org/english/

     UN and International Organizations and Related Links.
     http://undcp.org/unlinks.html

     World Bank
    http://www.worldbank.org/

    

Country Information and Regional Resources:

     Asian Studies Online Virtual Library
     http://coombs.anu.edu.au/WWWVL-AsianStudies.html

     Background Notes.
     http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/
     http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes   (Archive)
     The State Department's electronic version of Background Notes on the Countries of the World.

     CIA WorldFactbook
     http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

       Country Studies
     http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html
     Sponsored by the Department of the Army, this series is also called the "Area Handbook Series", earlier editins, in printed volumes are also
    available in the Library collection. Search ASA, the online catalog for locations.

     Internet Resources on the Middle East (Harvard)
     http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~mideast/inMEres/inMEres.html

     Latin American Network Information Center
     http://Lanic.utexas.edu

       Regions and Countries (The World Bank)
     http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/regions.htm

Web sites focusing on foreign policy:

     Africa Action
     http://www.africapolicy.org

     Brookings Institution
    http://www.brook.edu/default.htm

    Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
    http://www.ceip.org/

    Council on Foreign Relations
    http://www.cfr.org/  

    Online Middle East net assessment reports [computer file]
    Center for Strategic and International Studies (Washington, D.C.)
    http://www.csis.org/mideast/online.html

     US Department of State
     http://www.state.gov/

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Citing Sources

Refworks - this exciting new resource allows you to download the bibliographic information about articles, books and websites that you are using for your research project into your own collection of materials. As you write your paper in Word, you can instantly add footnotes, endnotes or bibliographies to your paper. The amazing thing is that your footnotes and bibliography will be formatted into the citation style you select. Be sure to find out from your professor which style he prefers for your paper.

Refworks is easy to use and there are excellent online tutorials, so get started!!

If you are curious about the variety of citation styles see below for examples.

American Psychological Association. (1994). Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association.
Fairchild or Linderman Library Reserve desks: 808.02 A512p 1994

 The APA web site offers an official way to cite Internet sources at http://www.apa.org/journals/webref.html

 In addition, a number of APA crib sheets are available at http://www.psywww.com/resource/apacrib.htm

Chicago Manual of Style, Chicago, University of Chicago Press. 2003
F-Ref  655.25 C532ma

Using Chicago Style to cite online publications.
http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite7.html

Turabian, Kate L., A manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations. 6th ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
FM - Reserve Desk or Linderman Reserve Desk  378.2 T929m

Additional information on footnotes and style guides: http://www.lehigh.edu/library/footnote/footnote.html
 

   Research Advice

Don't hesitate to ask for assistance, I'll be happy to meet with you to discuss your specific research needs. Email or phone me to set up a time to meet.
Contact:
     Roseann Bowerman
     Social Sciences Librarian
     Lehigh University
     Office: 101 Linderman Library
     Phone: 758-3053
     email: rb04@lehigh.edu

     Web Guide revised May 2007