Government 217: Interest Groups
| Professor: Richard Skinner Librarian: Ginny Hopcroft Spring 2006 |
The purpose of this guide is to help you locate the library resources most useful for research in this class. If you have questions about your research, please contact Ginny Hopcroft (x3298 or ghopcrof@bowdoin.edu) or call the Library Reference Desk at x3227.
Data and Directories
- Open Secrets (Center for Responsive Politics)
http://www.opensecrets.org/
- Reliable and comprehensive information related to all aspects of money and interest groups, ranging from specific individuals to industry related groups. A key site for this class.
- Federal Election Commission
http://www.fec.gov/
- Official campaign finance reports of candidates and PACs, laws and regulations.
- Political Advocacy Groups (Caltech)
http://www.csuchico.edu/~kcfount/
- Lengthy list of political advocacy groups’ web sites, organized by interest.
- Vital Statistics on American Politics/ Harold W. Stanley and Richard G. Niemi
- Main Ref JK274 .S74 2003
- Political Marketplace USA/George Thomas Kurian and Jeffrey D. Schultz
- Main Ref JK271 .K87 1999
- Encyclopedia of Associations 3 vols (kept at reference desk)
- Main Ref AS22. E5 2004
Directory of all U.S. organizations.
Article Indexes/Databases
Once you have identified some relevant journal articles, use either the “check availability” link in the index or the Journals tab in the library catalog to see if Bowdoin subscribes to the journal in electronic full text or paper. If we do not, then place a request with the Interlibrary Loan service.
- Academic Search Premier
Online in Library Indexes & Databases
- Indexes scholarly and general interest periodicals in social sciences, humanities and sciences. About 60% in full text. Dates of coverage vary.
- Access World News
Online in Library Indexes & Databases
- Full text database of articles from domestic and international newspapers.
- J-Stor
Online in Library Indexes & Databases
- Archiving service providing full text articles from several scholarly journals in several disciplines.
- LexisNexis Academic
Online in Library Indexes & Databases
- Full text database of news and legal information. Includes national and regional newspaper articles, transcripts of television and radio interviews, among other sources. Dates of coverage vary back to 1980. Searching the Washington Post as a single title will be useful for this class; also ranking search results by relevance.
- PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service)
Online in Library Indexes & Databases
- Index to articles, documents and reports which “bear on the making of public policy.” 1972—present.
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
Online in Library Indexes & Databases
- Indexes scholarly journals of U.S. and international political science. 1975--present.
Political Journals
To locate specific articles in the journals below, use the indexes in the previous section.
American Journal of Political Science
American Political Science Review
Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report
Journal of Politics
National Journal
Political Science Quarterly
Public Opinion Quarterly
Western Political Quarterly or Political Research Quarterly
Catalogs for Books
- Bowdoin College Library Catalog
- Access to Bowdoin Library's holdings of books, videos, government documents, etc.
- Maine InfoNet
- Includes the holdings of most Maine libraries. It has an online request button—requests from Colby and Bates take 1-2 days.
- NExpress
- Combines access to the library holdings of Bowdoin, Bates, Colby, Wellesley, Williams and Northeastern; requests usually arrive in 2 days.
- WorldCat
- Combined database of library catalogs nationwide.
In the catalogs above, you can begin looking for your topic with a keyword search or a subject search. For a subject search, here are examples of subject headings for interest groups:
Pressure Groups
Political Action Committees--United States
Campaign Funds--United States
Specific Books:
Risky Business: PAC Decision Making in Congressional Elections/ edited by Robert Biersack, Paul S. Herrnson, Clyde Wilcox
Main Lib JK1991 .R57 1994
After the revolution : PACs, lobbies, and the Republican Congress / Robert Biersack, Paul S. Herrnson, Clyde Wilcox. 1999.
The interest group connection : electioneering, lobbying, and policymaking in Washington / edited by Paul S. Herrnson, Ronald G. Shaiko, Clyde Wilcox. 2005.
Request through Maine InfoNet
