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NEWTON GRESHAM LIBRARY
ASSIGNMENT GUIDE
DR. MAHONEY POL285 -
FALL 2003
In order to successfully complete your assignment for this course, we
encourage you to use a variety of resources. The resources you use might
include books, journals, databases, and Websites. Your Library fees have
enabled the Library to purchase and subscribe to a number of resources.
This guide will provide you with a starting point and suggest resources.
Your assignment requires that, in groups, you select a policy
domain to analyze. Then, individually, each of you will also take a specific
policy within that domain and write a paper. We'll discuss how to find
resources for both your group projects and your individual papers. This
Assignment Guide will cover National Government policy and does not include
information about state policies. What should you do first?
The Group Project
The Individual Paper
Get a good understanding of what a public policy is. Take
a look at your lecture notes and your textbook. Then, if you want clarification
or a different way of looking at it, try one or more of the print resources
listed below:
Bealey, Frank. The Blackwell Dictionary of Political Science: a
Users' Guide to its Terms. 1999. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Located
in Reference, the call number is JA61 .B43 1999.
Utter, Glenn H. American Political Scientists: a Dictionary.
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. 2002. Located in Reference, the call
number is JA61 .A525 2002.
Notice that the first part of the call numbers are the same.
If you browse through the books with that call number, you will find additional
print resources. Or, use the Library's online catalog to look up additional
titles. To access the streaming video Virtual Instruction Series unit
on using the on-line catalog, click
here.
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The Group Project
| Getting Started on your Group Project: |
Which policy domain or umbrella are
you interested in? Example, environment, health care, judicial. |
| |
What type of issues are included within that domain?
For instance, using environment as the public policy domain, water
pollution, emissions control, hazardous waste, natural habitats, etc.
are all parts of the domain. |
| What types of things have been excluded, if any? Sometimes,
what's been excluded is as or more interesting than what types of
things are included. For example, in foreign policy dealing with human
rights violations, if capital punishment |
| Determine the means by which it became a policy(ies).
Most of the policy domains include several types or origins. For example,
are there laws, or regulations, or administrative rules within the
domain? |
In your group project, you will need to address the following:
| Clearly identify the public policy domain, including the underlying
assumptions. For example, for judicial public policy it might be that
the underlying assumption includes such concepts as equal justice
for all and a systematic approach to justice. |
| The types of issues contained within that umbrella domain. Using
the example of judicial public policy, the issues might include things
like protection of constitutional rights, capital punishment, police
procedure, court procedure, etc. |
| What do the issues have in common? |
| Could the issues within the domain also be issues within other domains? |
| What groups of people have an interest in the public policy? This
should include types of people who might be affected as well as organized
interest groups. |
| How are policies made? Legislation? Regulation? Administrative Rules?
|
| What are some of the best known examples of policy within this domain? |
| Who are the activists in this domain? What are their areas of particular
interest? |
| Are there any issues you think should be addressed within the domain
but are not? What are they? Are they addressed in other domains? Why
do you think they aren't addressed within the domain you've picked? |
Let's take a look at some of the Library resources you have
available for the group project part of your assignment.
 You can
locate books using the Library's on-line catalog. Remember that you can
search the catalog by entering your topic or you can do a search using
topic and policy as keywords. To access the streaming video Virtual Instruction
Series unit on using the on-line catalog, click
here.
CQ Researcher. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc.
Current issues are located in Ready Reference (behind the Reference
Desk) and older issues are located in Reference. The call number for
both is H35 .E35.
CQ Weekly Report. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly
Inc. Current issues are located in Ready Reference and older issues
are on microfiche. The call number is JK1 .C15.
Sharfritz, Jay M. International Encyclopedia of Public Policy and
Administration. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press. 1998. Located in
Reference, the call number is H97 .I574 1998.
Zuckerman, Edward. Almanac of Federal PACs. Includes a description
and financial accounting for every political action committee that contributed
$50,000 or more to candidates seeking election. Published every two
years. Located in Reference, the call number is JK 1991 .A744.
 There are also
a number of databases that you will find useful. Databases provide a wide
variety of information. Some contain citations and/or full text of articles,
others contain information about a topic, and still others include statistical
data. All of these will be useful as you work to complete this assignment.
Below is a selected list. If you want to go to that database, click on
the link.
Lexis-Nexis
Academic - Provides access to full-text articles from hundreds of
newspapers, journals and magazines, and financial information for companies,
including: SEC Reports, Standard & Poor's Corporate Descriptions,
Disclosure Reports, NAARS -Annual Reports 84-95 and more.
Lexis-Nexis
Congressional - Federal legislative research database that provides
a searchable electronic version of the CIS/Index for legislative research
from 1970 forward and the full-text of publications from the U.S. Congress,
current Code of Federal Regulations and the current U.S. Code.
Newspaper
Source -Provides full text for 139 regional U.S. newspapers, eighteen
international newspapers, six newswires, and nine newspaper columns,
The Christian Science Monitor and The Los Angeles Times, for a total
of 174 full text newspapers and other sources.
PAIS
(Public Affairs Information Service) - Includes articles, books,
conference proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical
directories about public affairs.
Polling
the nation - is a compilation of more than 14,000 surveys conducted
by more than 700 polling organizations in the United States and more
than 80 other countries
World
Almanac - Offers a fundamental reference source for students, library
patrons, library reference staff, and scholars alike. Includes biographies,
encyclopedia entries, facts, and statistics.
Once you've identified your public policy domain, you can then select
a subject area from the Library's Subject List of Databases and Indexes
and find additional information and articles in the databases listed under
the subject area. For instance, if you're doing education, you'd click
on the subject Education and Library Science to find a list of databases
dealing with that particular subject area.
 In addition to
the databases listed above, there are a number of reputable Websites that
may be useful to you.
http://thomas.loc.gov/ Provides
access to National legislative information, including bills, roll call
votes, the Congressional Record, etc.
http://www.firstgov.gov/ is
the official U.S. gateway to all government information. It includes
links to all departments and agencies within the government as well
as the three branches.
The Individual Paper
Once you've identified the broad public policy domain, you
have to write a paper on a particular policy. Remember that any particular
policy may have several parts. For instance, children's health care is
a particular policy within the domain of health care. Within children's
health care there are a number of even more specific policies, for instance
legislation dealing with vaccination, policy on birth defects, etc.
| Getting started on your individual paper: |
Identify the particular aspect of your public policy
domain that you are interested in. |
| |
What is the concern or issue that underlies that policy
issue. For example, with children's health care, one of the underlying
concerns may be that children have the right to health care. |
| What are the major pieces of legislation within that
specific policy area? |
| What type of information are you trying to find? For
instance, legislation, legislative history, interest groups, agency(ies)
involved, etc. |
You will need to address the following in your individual
papers:
| Define the specific public policy you've chosen,
such as children's health, Clean Water Act, ADA, etc. |
| What was happening in the U.S. or the world
that made this policy important? Or useful? |
| Who are the stakeholders, that is, who has
an interest in this policy? Who is effected? |
| How did this policy come into being? For example,
was it be legislation? Was it an administrative or regulatory decision?
For example, if you were doing OSHA, what decisions have been made
about what inspectors have time to look at? Do those decisions change
the policy? |
| Who was directly involved with it becoming
a policy. For instance, if legislation, who introduced the bill? To
which committees was it assigned? And if administrative or regulatory,
which agency was involved. |
| Why was the policy created? |
| Who or what groups were opposed to the policy?
Why? |
Let's take a look at some of the Library resources you have
available for the individual part of your assignment.
You can
locate books using the Library's on-line catalog. Remember that you can
search the catalog by entering your topic or you can do a search using
topic and policy as keywords.
CCH Congressional Index. This print resource is located in
the Reference Department on the 2nd floor. The call number is J69 .C6
Code of Federal Regulations - This print resource is located
in Government Documents on the 1st floor. Gov. Docs. AE2.106/3:
CQ Researcher. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc.
Current issues are located in Ready Reference (behind the Reference
Desk) and older issues are located in Reference. The call number for
both is H35 .E35.
CQ Weekly Report. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly
Inc. Current issues are located in Ready Reference and older issues
are on microfiche. The call number is JK1 .C15.
Federal Register - Current issues of this print resource is
located in Government Documents on the 1st floor. AE2.106:
Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications - This
print resource is located in Government Documents on the Library's 1st
floor. The call number is GP 3.8/8.
U.S. Code Annotated - This print resource is located in the
Reference Department on the 2nd floor. The call number is KF62 .U5.
United States code congressional and administrative news - This
print resource is located in the Reference Department on the 2nd floor.
K48 .U5.
United States Statutes at Large - This print resource is located
in the Reference Department on the 2nd floor. KF50 .U5.
Zuckerman, Edward. Almanac of Federal PACs. Includes a description
and financial accounting for every political action committee that contributed
$50,000 or more to candidates seeking election. Published every two
years. Located in Reference, the call number is JK 1991 .A744.
You
will find the following databases useful as you research your individual
policy topics.
Lexis-Nexis
Academic - Provides access to full-text articles from hundreds of
newspapers, journals and magazines, and financial information for companies,
including: SEC Reports, Standard & Poor's Corporate Descriptions,
Disclosure Reports, NAARS -Annual Reports 84-95 and more.
Lexis-Nexis
Congressional - Federal legislative research database that provides
a searchable electronic version of the CIS/Index for legislative research
from 1970 forward and the full-text of publications from the U.S. Congress,
current Code of Federal Regulations and the current U.S. Code.
Newspaper
Source -Provides full text for 139 regional U.S. newspapers, eighteen
international newspapers, six newswires, and nine newspaper columns,
The Christian Science Monitor and The Los Angeles Times, for a total
of 174 full text newspapers and other sources.
PAIS
(Public Affairs Information Service) - Includes articles, books, conference
proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical directories
about public affairs.
Polling
the nation - is a compilation of more than 14,000 surveys conducted
by more than 700 polling organizations in the United States and more
than 80 other countries
World
Almanac - Offers a fundamental reference source for students, library
patrons, library reference staff, and scholars alike. Includes biographies,
encyclopedia entries, facts, and statistics.
The following
is a list of selected reputable Webpages you can look at for information
on your policy topic.
http://thomas.loc.gov/ Provides
access to National legislative information, including bills, roll call
votes, the Congressional Record, etc.
http://www.firstgov.gov/ is
the official U.S. gateway to all government information. It includes
links to all departments and agencies within the government as well
as the three branches.
In addition, the Websites of interest groups will provide a great deal
of information. Remember, though, the organizations have an agenda and
so the Webpages have a bias. That doesn't mean the information is not
valuable, it simply means that you have to be aware that the information
they choose to present on the page is directed toward supporting their
position.
As you use these research tools to gather the information you need, remember
that librarians and library staff are available to answer your questions
during the hours the library is open. The telephone number at the Reference
Desk is 936-294-1599. If you'd prefer to contact us by e-mail, click on
Ask a Librarian on the Library's Homepage. You are also welcome to call
me, Linda Meyer, at 936-294-3551 or reach me by e-mail at lib_lsm@shsu.edu
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