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American Foreign Policy: International Relations 74

Useful Reference Resources for Background Information: Useful Reference Materials for background information:

• 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.
  
  
• Deconde, Alexander, ed.  Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy, 2nd ed. New York: Scribner, 2002

          FM-Ref  327.73  E562

• Europa World Year Book, London, England:  Europa Publications, 2004

          FM-Ref - MiniLinderman Reference 914 E89a ed.45,2004

• Jentleson, Bruce W., Encyclopedia of U.S. Foreign Relations, New York: Oxford University Press, 1997

           FM-Ref  327.73 E563

• Krieger, Joel, ed.  Oxford Companion to Politics of the World, 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001

          Online edition: http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/BOOK_SEARCH.html?book=t121

• Nolan, Cathal J. Greenwood Encyclopedia of International Relations. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002

          FM-Ref  327.03 N899g

• Ziring, Lawrence, et.al. International Relations: a Political Dictionary, 5th ed. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO: 1995

          FM-Ref 327.03 P712i 1995

Government Resources to locate official U.S. policy statements and documents.

United States Department of State:

Website, Current 2001 -   http://www.state.gov 

• Site divides into sections on Countries, International Issues, Publications, etc. Texts of speeches and special reports available
• Background notes: Publications on various countries containing facts about the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations.

        Website, Historical  1990-2000 - http://dosfan.lib.uic.edu/ERC/index.html

• Includes State Department speeches and foreign policy documents beginning 1993

State Department International Information Programs  http://usinfo.state.gov/usis.html

• Extensive section on U.S. policy toward other countries, including press statements, background reports
• Provides access to electronic journals: Economic Perspectives, U.S. Foreign Policy Agenda, U.S. Society & Values, Global Issues, and Issues of Democracy
• Replaces the U.S. Information Agency, which was eliminated on October 1, 1999

Country Reports on Economic Policy and Trade Practices  http://www.state.gov/www/issues/economic/trade_reports/index.html

      Covering 1993-1999, these reports are" intended to provide a single, comparative analysis of the economic policies and trade practices of countries with which the United States has significant economic or trade relationships. Because of the increasing importance in trade and economic issues, these reports are prepared to assist members of Congress in considering legislation in the areas of trade and economic policy."

The White House  http://www.whitehouse.gov/

• Text of presidential speeches, proclamations, press briefings
• Policies and initiatives section of website has coverage of Foreign affairs topics

Congressional Research Service Reports

The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is" the non-partisan public policy research arm of the United States Congress Since 1914 this component of the Library of Congress has provided Congress with research and objective analysis on a wide variety of topics."

A guide to locating these reports, which are not made readily available to the public may be found in an article by Stephen Young, entitled CRS Reports. This guide is found on LLRX.com at http://www.llrx.com/features/crsreports.htm

 Online Databases for finding articles in Journals, Periodicals and Newspapers

Academic Index - index to scholarly journal articles and popular periodical articles. Can link directly to articles if available online or through SFX.

American Newspapers - full text of articles from 650 U.S. Newspapers

CIAO - Columbia International Affairs Online - source for theory and research in international affairs, papers from think tanks

Econ Lit, Economic Literature - indexes articles, books and conference proceedings dealing with economic topics.

Lexis- Nexis Academic  - full text source for U.S. and international newspaper coverage and other news outlets

PAIS International - Public Affairs Information Service - provides indexing of journal articles, books and government reports on public issues back to 1972. Some linking to full text of articles available via SFX

Research Library-  indexes, abstracts and provides selective full-text for a broad spectrum of magazines, journals and newspapers. Also uses SFX technology.

Online databases for Government Information

Lexis Nexis Congressional  - a source for finding the full texts of congressional bills, hearings and testimony

GPO Monthly Catalog - index to U.S. Government publications since 1976

STAT-USA and NTDB (National Trade Databank) - a metasite for the U.S. business, economic and trade community

Other databases and descriptions - See Database Finder

Locating Books at Lehigh Libraries and beyond

Use the ASA online catalog to locate books at Lehigh. Also, our PALCI consortium offers a very fast way to borrow materials from other University and College libraries. Sometimes these materials arrive in 3 days or less, so even with the time constraints of a summer course this could be a mechanism for obtaining needed materials.

Selected Websites for Research

Interest/ Advocacy groups and Research Institutes.

There are several useful metasites which attempt to gather and index the websites of U.S. interest groups. Two of the best are:

Political Advocacy Groups: A directory of United States Lobbyists 

Politics 1.com - Political Issues and Debates

An excellent collection of Research Institutes and Think Tanks which concern themselves with International Affairs can be found on the WWW VIrtual Library: International Affairs Resources pages on American Foreign Policy and Research Institutes.

Metasite for Foreign Affairs:

Foreign Affairs Online:http://www.people.virginia.edu/~rjb3v/rjb.html
This highly acclaimed website is an excellent resource for students of foreign affairs. Use it to locate web resources on the U.S., foreign countries, UN and related organizations, International law, human rights and more.

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Documenting Sources

Your professor is requiring that you use the University of Chicago style for citing your resources. To locate information on this style you can consult the following:

The Chicago manual of style, 15th ed. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2003
FM- Ref  655.25 C532ma   (there are also circulating copies in the regular book stacks)

Citing Sources: Duke University Guide  Includes examples of Chicago, APA, MLA and Turabian styles.

Footnoting Electronic Sources in the Chicago Style

Additional research assistance or advice

Feel free to contact me for additional assistance or suggestions. During the summer I can meet with you by appointment in my office. Please email or phone me to make arrangements. You can also stop by my office, if I am there I'll be happy to help.

Roseann Bowerman
Social Sciences Librarian
Office: 621 Fairchild Martindale Library ( 3rd floor of Mart/South Wing)
610-758-3053
rb04@lehigh.edu

May 2005