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   SUBJECT RESEARCH GUIDE |
To start your research, use the resources below or begin with the the CSUDH Library web page found at : http://library.csudh.edu . The resources for this class will require recently published articles and statistics. The library's internet-based databases, as well as the databases of various countries and international organizations can be used to find materials on countries, the United Nations, environmental programs, and human rights.
The resources listed under the categories of "Electronic Databases" and "Journal and Newspaper Articles"are available from on-campus computers or by remote access CSUDH students who have registered for access. Registered students should already be in the Library's databases. Log-in to the databases found at http://library.csudh.edu/ElectDB.php by using the following ID information:
Last Name
20550_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ . In the blank spaces, insert your student ID number. Always begin with 20550 when using subscription databases..
University Library
Europa World Year Book [Ref JN1 .E85]
EIU Country Commerce series: In looseleaf binders, one for every country [Ref HG4538 C68]
Electronic Databases
CountryWatch provides country information, including social data such as ethnic breakdowns and religious affiliation. The page for each country contains a link to Human Rights and Environment information.
CountryWire, a file within CountryWatch, provides daily news coverage for 192 countries and features up-to-date articles from regional news wire services across the globe.
Internet Resources:
CIA World Factbook contains statistical summary on countries. Two links on this web site of interest for this course are: "Guide to Country Profiles" and "Guide to Rank Order Pages". This resource has a listing by country of International Agreements on the Environment.
Country Studies includes background information on the social, economic, of over 100 countries. . Use the Browse button to search for country files.
Human Development Reports from the United Nations Development Programme are reports whose goal is to go beyond income to assess the level of people's long-term well-being. There are reports for over 120 countries. There are lengthy reports and publications available, so try to get them by clicking on the front cover image. Themes found in the reports include environment, survival and health, and human rights.
International Monetary Fund Country Reports provides extensive reports on varous countries. After selecting a report, click on the electronic access link to see the free .pdf version.
International Religious Freedom from the U.S. State Department provides annual reports on the status of religious freedom in individual countries of the world.
Portals to the World provides links to various web sites about countries. The links were selected by Area Specialists and other Library staff using Library of Congress selection criteria http://www.loc.gov/rr/international/portals.html
Eurostat from the European Union provides a wealth of statistics on member nations. These include statistics on the populations, social condititions, industries, environment, transport, environment, and science and technology.For example, click on the links for Sustainable Development Indicators at the bottom of the page. Inequality of Income Distribution is a category under Monetary and Social Exclusion/Monetary Poverty. Explore all of the tabs to find tables and full publications.
General Assembly of the United Nations has its own separate web page with detailed information about its operations and resources.
Human Development Reports provides information on topics such as environment and human rights. It is also a resource for statistics.
Millennium Development Goal Indicators Database shows progress of countries toward meeting 8 goals, 18 targets and 48 indicators to free the human race from want, which were adopted by a consensus of experts from the United Nations Secretariat and IMF, OECD and the World Bank.
Model UN Issues and Nongovernmental Organizations Resources lists internet resources that can be used to learn more about issues for debate and discussion. Also use the Research and Links page for additional resources.
National Statistical Offices from the United Nations provides links to statistical offices of the countries of the world.
OECD Social Indicators provides comparative information for member OECD countries. Click on the link for topics or country.
Social Indicators from the United Nations provides provides tables of statistics for easy comparison of country data. Click on the highlighted categories to access the data. Another way of access is to click here, and look for the small "Statistics" link.
UNICEF Statistics provides various basic indicators on demographics, health, education, women, HIV AIDS, child proctection, and progress in these areas.
United Nations has a main web page that can be used to find general information on the United Nations and its activities.
United Nations Documentation Centre provides the text of official UN documents, including Resolutions.
United Nations Environment Programme provides both free and documents for sale. Explore the the various links to access information on environmental topics.
United Nations Human Rights provides a searchable resource for information on various human rights issues and human rights by country.
United Nations Resolutions is another point of access for resolutions of the various bodies of the UN.
United Nations Statistical Databases. Use this main page to access the various databases offered by the United Nations Statistics Division. Here is another link that provides a list and links to the United Nations free, unrestricted access Databases. Use these links to see information on Main Environmental Indicators and Environmental Statistics of individual countries.
United Nations Security Council contains documents, including resolutions, Secretary General report, and mission reports, as well as various news items. There are also links to selected subsidiary bodies of the Security Council.
World Bank Data & Statistics provides official source development data on the people, environment, economy, technology and infrastructure, and trade and finance. Click on Key Development & Data Statistics to access a page for individual country searches.
To find journal articles when you do not have a specific citation or reference to an article, try one of the article indexes. Click on a link below to access the database of your choice or use our comprehensive list of Article Indexes to see all available CSUDH databases.
For a review of how to use the databases to find journal articles, click here. To limit your results to peer reviewed articles, look for the words "scholarly" and/or "peer reviewed ' and place a check in the box beside these words. Although many of the databases have direct links for the full text or .pdf copy of the article included with the citation or abstract of the article, look for this button 
to find out if the library has the article available in another database.
ABI/INFORM Global can be used to search a broad range of business topics, including topics of a global nature. This database includes political issues.
Academic Search Premier. This is a multi-disciplinary database with full text for more than 4,650 publications, many of which are peer-reviewed journals. This database is often used as a starting point since it covers a wide range of subject areas.
EIU Viewswire is a ProQuest database that includes reports from The Economist Intelligence Unit. To use this database, remember to use the drop-down menu to change the database to be searched to Business -- EIU Viewwire. Input in the search boxes the name of your country and "social indicators". You will get a table with statistics on social indicators and living standards.
Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) is a part of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. It provides access to a vast archive of social science data for research and instruction. Register for access to the material.
JSTOR has full-text articles from academic journals in many subject areas, including the social sciences and biological sciences. Note that this collection does not include the latest issues.
LEXIS/NEXIS has a newsfile which provides major newspapers in the United States, as well as from around the world.
Opposing Viewpoints is a good resource for finding out about current and controversial topics with links to a variety of sources. This brings together valuable resources that pinpoint key issues.
OxResearch provides succinct analytical articles covering world and regional economic and political developments of major significance. It is compiled by an extensive international network of over 1,000 faculty members at Oxford and other leading universities around the world, as well as think-tanks and institutes of international standing.
PAIS is a database that is worth looking at for this particular class because it goes beyond journal articles. All citations will require you to click on the button which may not show an article link. However, make sure to go below the abstract and look for the "Resource Location" line which often includes a url for a link to a document or article, or sometimes a website, not included in the CSUDH journal holdings but most easily found using PAIS.
Proquest Newspapers is a database of over 300 national and international news sources.
SocINDEX. This is a comprehensive sociology research database that offers coverage from all subdisciplines of sociology, including criminology, cultural sociology, demography, economic development, ethnic & racial studies, gender studies, politics, social psychology, social structure, urban studies, welfare, and others. It includes full text for 235 "core" journals, as well as full text for books and conference papers.
Social Sciences Full Text includes indexing and some full-text articles in sociology, political science, public administration, and other areas of the social sciences. This is a major database for locating scholarly articles in political science.
Locating a Specific Journal Title
If you have a reference or citation to a specific journal article, use the CSUDH Journals List to find out if subscribes to the needed journal. This list includes both print and online journals. The Library currently subscribes to over 27,000 journals online. When you click on the title, you will usually find a page that has separate links for the year of available volumes. Click on the year and then you will next be able to click on specific issues. CSUDH's list also includes links to the ToroFind catalog record for print subscription information.
When using information from the web for projects and research papers, you should evaluate the quality and reliability of the information. Here's a link to one of many websites which give you evaluation criteria: Five Criteria for Evaluating Web Pages. An outstanding search engine to use is Google. In addition, Google Scholar would enable you to search the scholarly literature, including peer reviewed articles, but note that you may not be able to access the full text of the article. For the scholarly literature, the databases listed above in the "Journal Articles & Newspapers" section will usually be a better option for beginning your research.
When writing a paper or completing a project for a class, you will usually be asked to provide a bibliography of the materials that you used. There are several standard guides available in the Library to help you. Please come to the Reference Desk for assistance. In addition, the CSUDH Library has a summary of the formats most commonly used posted on the Library website. Take a look at this guide in advance so you'll know what information you need to jot down before you begin your research. It may be more difficult to retrace your steps than to make bibliographic note cards as you are working on your project.
Citing Your Sources. This web page on How to Cite Your Sources in a Research Paper has two links. The first link takes you to a download page for the Adobe Acrobat Reader, which you will need to access the actual instruction page. The second link leads to a document that shows you how to cite books, articles, and web resources in APA, MLA, and Turabian formats. Always check with your professor to find out which citation format is preferred.