Resources for American Government Studies

American Government Studies
Information Resources

Periodicals

CQ Researcher: This magazine presents the pros and cons of controversial issues in Congress. The WCC Library has no access to these articles online, but it does keep paper issues for the current year, plus a 5 year backfile.
US News & World Report: Articles on business, education, politics, etc. Many current and past articles are available online. Print issues kept for the current year, from Jan 1999- Dec 1999, and on microfilm from 1980 on.
Newsweek: National and international news articles. Many current and past articles are available online. Print issues kept for the current year, and on microfilm from 1980 on.
The New York Times: Archives from a long standing, influential American newspaper.
Time Magazine: Articles on current events, including politics, business, etc. US focus with some world coverage. Many current and past articles are available online. Back issues kept for the current year and on microfilm from 1980 on.
The Nation: Articles on current events and issues, including politics, business, etc.
Adbusters: Articles on current events, including politics and popular culture.
Google Scholar: Links to full text articles available via the Web. Citation links can help you find more articles similar to one you like. Access may be free, free with login, or cost money. Take citations to a WCC librarian, who will help you track down free versions.

Books

Look for books (including ebooks), videos, pamphlets and more in the UH Libraries. The librarians can request items from other campus libraries for you.

Electronic books are also available via:

Ebooks from elibrary
Online books on a wide variety of topics. Login with your UH ID number. Create an account to save books, highlighting and notes.

Ebooks from NetLibrary
Online books (including books from University of Hawaii Press). Create an Ebooks account on campus, then you can login from anywhere.

Ebooks from Google
Online books on a wide variety of topics. Note: you'll be able to search the books, but only see a few pages of each.

Congress A to Z. REF JK 1021 .C554 1999: Articles relating to the US Senate and House, including organization, committees, the political process, etc.
Supreme Court A to Z. REF KF8742.A35 S8 1998: Medium sized articles relating to the US Supreme Court with biographies, entries on legal concepts, and more.
Presidency A to Z. REF JK511 .P775 1998: Information on presidents and vice presidents, elections, as well as presidential policies and initiatives.
Political Parties & Elections in the United States. REF JK 2261 .P633 1991: Short articles on both current and historical political parties, movements, and their leaders, as well as the elections they participated in.
Political Scandals: Opposing Viewpoints. TOPICS JK2249 .P648 2000: Pro and Con articles on various aspects of political scandal in the U.S.
United States Government Manual. REF JK421 .A 2000-2001: A descriptive directory of US Government agencies, including their histories, purposes, and roles in government.
Historic Documents. Online, or in the Reference Collection: REF E 839.5 .H57 2000: This publication gatherings together important documents, including excerpts from reports, speeches, court rulings, announcements, and statements. To use the print version, check the index in the back of the most recent volume to find material in previous volumes. To use the online version, login with your UH ID number and last name.

Safire's New Political Dictionary. REF JK9 .S2 1993: This dictionary not only gives definitions of political terms, but their origins.

Additional Online Resources

Historic Documents. Online, or in the Reference Collection: REF E 839.5 .H57 2000: This publication gatherings together important documents, including excerpts from reports, speeches, court rulings, announcements, and statements. To use the print version, check the index in the back of the most recent volume to find material in previous volumes. To use the online version, login with your UH ID number and last name.

USA.gov: Searchable index to US Government and Military Web sites.
Election Resources on the Internet: In addition to links to websites, this site provides basic information on political parties, the election process, and election results for many countries.
Thomas Legislative Information: This site gives access to current and past legislation, the Congressional Record, and to information on House and Senate Committees.
Congressional Research Tutorials: Short Flash video tutorials, on finding bills, debats, hearings, etc. Also see the "What's going on in Congress right now?" area for current events.
Metavid search: "Metavid ... seeks to capture, stream, archive and facilitate real-time collective [re]mediation of legislative proceedings."
Project Vote Smart: A non-partisan information source on federal, state, and local elected officials, election candidates and campaigns, voting records, issues, offices, and more.

C-SPAN Classroom

Short clips of C-SPAN video organized by these six major topic areas: Principles of Government, U.S. Constitution, Legislative Branch, Executive Branch, Judicial Branch, and Political Participation

Stateline.org: Non-partisan, non-profit source of news on state government, including comparative information about political activity in the 50 states.
Librarian's Index to the Internet: Selected links to online information. Search for keywords or browse by category.
Yahoo! Politics: Links to current and recent news stories on US Politics, including special sections on issues, political parties, the White House, the Supreme Court, Congress, and State & local politics.
AllPolitics.com: A joint effort of C-Span and Congressional Quarterly. Records on congressional votes, hearings, etc.
Capitol Spotlight: A joint effort of C-Span and Congressional Quarterly with daily articles from CQ writers, "Bills to Watch", live and archived video footage of Capitol Hill events.
Political science links: Links collected and maintained by the University of Hawaii Libraries
Think Tanks and Public Interest Organizations: A listing of directories, as well as many well known individual groups;
Selective Guide to Political Sites: By Rich Muslin
Fact Check: This nonpartisan organization "monitor[s] the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases."

The American Presidency Project

A comprehensive collection of data related to the study of the US Presidency.

First Amendment Center: This nonpartisan organization "monitor[s] the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases."

The Onion: Political and cultural satire.
The Daily Show: Satire news with comedian Jon Stewart

Go to links for the Evaluating Sources exercise.

Image courtesy of the U.S. Department of State
Updated 2/15/08 by Tara Severns

American Government Studies Information Resources

Periodicals

Books

Additional Online Resources

For Comic Relief

American Government Studies
Information Resources