Political Science 95

Suggested Electronic, Print and Web Resources for the Congressional Simulation

PHASE ONE:
Congressional Districts and Representatives
Interest Groups
Bush Administration

PHASE TWO:
Identifying and tracking legislation for the project
News Sources
Position Papers and Background Information

Information on Congressional Districts and Representatives:

Almanac of American Politics , The 2002 edition is available on the web, it is also located at the  Fairchild Library, Reserve Desk - 329.0092 B265al . This very useful reference work, arranged by Congressional Districts within each State , provides an analysis and description of the political and demographic make-up of the districts. It includes some concise statistical information on the population, results of past elections, information on the current Legislator and ratings by interest groups.

Congressional Districts in the 1990's: a Portrait of America, Fairchild Library, Reserve Desk - 328.78 C 7491co 1990. This reference book describes each Congressional District, its industrial and economic base, provides information on the ethnic make-up, local institutions of higher education and identifies major businesses and employers.

Census 2000 - Demographic Profiles of Congressional Districts. First, click on  the "Demographic Profile Data Search" link from the Census Bureau page, http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2002/demoprofiles.html   - Select your state and then type "Congressional District #" into the field.

Congressional Quarterly's Politics in America.  324.73 C749p 2002   FM-RESERVE ,   This work is similar to the Almanac of American Politics. It provides a profile of each member of congress and congressional district with demographic information and descriptions of the  political environment.

Project Vote Smart  - This website covers candidates and elected officials in federal and state positions. You can find contact and biographical information, issue positions, campaign contributions and interest group ratings for these officials from over 100 liberal to conservative groups.
 
 

SEE ALSO NEWSPAPER RESOURCES

Information on Interest Groups

Political Advocacy Groups: A directory of United States Lobbyists. This site offers a directory of over 200 advocacy groups arranged by name and subject. Subject listing provides address, phone number, brief description, and web link if available.
 

Political Science Resources, U.S. Politics. A section of the Univ. of Michigan mega-site on Political information, this page provides well rounded access to information on U.S. Politics. Click on the link to "Lobby Groups" to jump to the section with links to interest groups. (URL- http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/Documents.center/psusp.html)

Directory of Political Debates and Issues.  This section of the larger Politics1 website provides a listing of  ideologies and political and social issues with links to organizations which take a serious interest in that issue.
(URL - http://www.politics1.com/issues.htm )

See also: Project Vote Smart -click on Issue Sources/Groups. Be patient for this PDF file to load, it is rather large. Use the binocular icon in Adobe Acrobat to search for a key word.
        Two good directories to advocacy groups are also published by Project Vote Smart:
        Vote Smart Web Yellow Pages  Fairchild Library - Reference Collection  324.973 V971 2002
        Project Vote Smart 2002 Reporter's Source Book   Fairchild Library - Reference Collection  324.973 R425 2002

Finding information by or about an Interest group or organization:

To locate information in the WWW on a specific Interest group, Political Action Committee, or Organization, use a Web Searching tool and search by the exact name of the group. Use the "SEARCH" button on your internet browser to open up a list of Web search tools, or use Google or AltaVista.
 

SEE ALSO NEWSPAPER RESOURCES

Information on Bush Administration : Position statements and policies of U. S. Executive and Administrative agencies

The White House website offers access to public information streaming from the Presidential offices. You can find major speeches, policy statements, the transcripts of press briefings, radio addresses, executive orders and information from offices from within the Executive Office of the President.

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents  contains statements, messages, and other Presidential
materials released by the White House. Documents from 1993 to the present can be found by  performing key- word searches.

Executive Agencies, positions and policies of the Bush Administration.  You should explore the appropriate Executive Agency websites to glean information on the policy statements of the Bush administration. Use the Federal Web Locator to get to the webpages of these Departments.

SEE ALSO NEWSPAPER RESOURCES

Identifying and Tracking Legislation, Locating testimony:

Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report    This weekly publication provides news and analysis of the political and legislative activities of congress. Conduct a search of the phrase "Legislative Summary" and limit it to a particular year in order to find a complete list of the legislation passed or pursued in a particular session of congress. Each "Legislative Summary" gives a synopsis of the legislation, the Bill numbers associated with the proposed legislation and a discussion of the action by  supporters and opponents of the Bill.
 (http://libraryip.cq.com)

Lexis Nexis Congressional.This commercial resource available to Lehigh users allows you to monitor legislation and public policy on almost any topic and pinpoint testimony on legislative  issues. It can be used to identify Bills and Hearings on various topics. If you have identified a Bill number for a piece of legislation, use it to identify hearings and perhaps find the full text of some on the web.Those hearings which are not available on the web can be obtained in the Government Documents Department in Fairchild Martindale Library.    For assistance locating the printed copies of hearings speak to Steve Firtko, Government Documents Coordinator,  758-5337, EMAIL - e049@lehigh.edu

Selected Newspaper Resources


Lexis Nexis Academic

This database contains the full text articles for a large number of important newspapers. It can be useful for exploring the position of the Bush Administration, lobby groups or even to get a feel for the local coverage of a political issue.


If no newspaper for your community is included in Lexis, try:

Factiva -  This database covers over 8000 publications  including newspapers back to early 1980's  It is the replacement for Dow Jones Interactive. You can narrow your search to publications from specific regions of the U.S. or specific newspapers.

Proquest Database - Use this to search for backfile articles older than 6 months from the Allentown Morning Call. (Lexis Academic has only the most recent 6 months.) Click on the Collections button and choose the Morning Call as your collection.

Ultimate collection of News Links. - This Web site provides links to over 6000 newspapers and magazines from around the world. Useful for browsing the local newspapers of communities in the U.S. (URL: http://pppp.net/links/news)

Position Papers and Background on Contemporary Issues:

CQ Researcher  - Each week this online source explores a political, social or economic issue and provides background analysis, timelines and commentary from journalists, experts and politicians. One section of each issue provides a Pro/Con presentation from policymakers or experts.

Congressional Research Service Reports - These reports are created by the Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service for the use of Congress. They are not distributed to libraries but several congressmen have posted electronic versions on their websites.

For additional help with researching information for your project contact by phone or Email: Page revised: 09/23/02 - Roseann Bowerman