Reference Sources:
| Biographical Information | Dictionaries and Encyclopedias |
| Directories | Research Guides and Almanacs |
| Statistical Information | Vocational Guidance |
| Voting Information |
Biographical Sources Biographical sources will offer information on people, their lives and their work. This library also has many biographies. To find if we own any books on the person you are researching, search the library catalog by the person's name as a subject.
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REF 1236.5 U6 M3779 |
The Almanac of Women and Minorities in American Politics by Mart Martin, 2002. This book actually offers only a little biographical information. However, it is a very valuable source for statistics on ethnic groups and names of individuals in American politics. It lists political "firsts" and other milestones for women, African Americans, Hispanics, Asian-Americans, Native Americans and Homosexuals. The focus of the book is national politics but it does include a section on state politics. |
| Online database | Biography and Genealogy Master Index. This Internet index will enable the user to determine which publication to consult for biographical information on an individual. The library will own many of the books listed in this database. |
| Online database | Biography Index. An index to articles and other materials that provides biographical information on a wide variety of people, especially people in the news. |
| REF E 176 W64 |
Who's Who in American Politics, this library owns the years 1967-2000. This annual contains entries on individuals who are currently participating in local, state, or national politics or have been politically active in the recent past. The data is provided by the entrants in response to a publisher's questionnaire or from secondary sources. |
| REF D 21.3 W48 1997 |
Who's Who in Democracy, Seymour Martin Lipset ed. 1997. This book contains biographical articles on 156 historical and contemporary leaders, activists and theorists. Each article includes a short bibliography as well as a picture of the individual. |
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias These dictionaries and encyclopedias contain an alphabetical listing of topics, terms or phrases within Political Science. These books are a good place to start when you are unfamiliar with a topic or need a brief overview. It is a fast way to get started with research and can also be used to give the student ideas for research topics.
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| REF JK 1067 C67 |
Congress A to Z, A Ready Reference Encyclopedia. The entries are arranged alphabetically and offer a non-technical explanation of congressional structure, operations, and the background on the development of the modern Congress. Included are both essays on broad subject areas and brief entries that will provide specific information. The appendix includes information such as: Senate leaders, Committee chairs, minority members, cases of expulsion, censure proceedings, party affiliations, votes, cast by vice-presidents, salaries, organizational charts, the documents used in the law-making process. |
| REF JK 1976 M57 |
Elections A to Z by John L Moore. This reference book contains more than 200 alphabetical entries on running for the House, the Senate, the Presidency and some statewide offices. There are discussions of the stages of the campaign process, the election process, and the roles played by political consultants, the media and political parties. The appendices include: changes in the Democrat's nominating process, election related web sites, presidential nominating campaigns, a list of national party chairs, chief officers and keynote speakers at national conventions, general election debates, distribution of house seats and electoral votes, lists of minorities in congress and the law for counting electoral votes. |
| REF JK 468 P64 J33 |
Encyclopedia of American Public Policy by Byron M. Jackson, 1999. This encyclopedia is divided into key issues, such as agriculture, civil rights, commerce, communications, Crime, economics, education, energy, entitlement programs, Environment, health, housing and labor. Each section contains information on the significant people, legislation and milestones with historical context and current developments. |
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REF F1410 E56 2002 |
Encyclopedia of Latin American Politics edited by Diana Kapiszewski, 2002. This encyclopedia opens with a historical introduction the Latin America. This ten page article would prove to be a useful overview on the region and the development of the political situation. The rest of the encyclopedia is arranged alphabetically by country and contains excellent bibliographies. The appendix contains listings of wars, multilateral agreements, and organizations, |
| REF JK 511 E53 |
Encyclopedia of the American Presidency, Leonard W. Levy editor. The organization of this four volume encyclopedia is unusual in it is divided into five parts; the Presidency, Policies and Issues, Laws and Legal Cases, Historical Events and Politics, and Biographies. There is a complete synoptic outline of contents starting on page 1,719. The appendix includes a table of the president's cabinet members with dates in office, a table of statistics on all presidential elections, and a listing of legal cases. |
| REF HV 8694 G76 |
Encyclopedia of Capital Punishment, ed. by Mark Grossmann, This one volume encyclopedia includes a introduction that is useful for its overview of capital punishment brief articles on a wide range of people and laws. An historical timeline is included. the greatest focus is on issues related to the United States but the encyclopedia does include international information. |
| Ref KF 4557 V555 1986 |
Encyclopedia of Constitutional Amendments, Proposed Amendments, and Amending Issues, 1789-1995 by John R. Vile, 1996. This book deals with the 27 ratified amendments and the approximately 10,900 proposed amendments and the issues surrounding these amendments. Especially helpful is the appendix of a table of the most popular amendments by year and key events. |
| REF HX 830 G39 |
Encyclopedia of Political Anarchy, Kathlyn Gay and Martin K. Gay, 1999. This book offers definitions of all types of anarchy movements, court cases, biographical information on individuals and explanations on organizations and their political goals. Many of the entries contain bibliographies. The appendix contains a listing of internet address related to a wide variety of anarchy movements. |
| Ref JF 1067 E63 1995 |
Encyclopedia of the United States Congress, Donald C. Bacon editor and others, 1995. This four volume set contains entries on issues, legislation and people with the United State's Congress. The articles are fairly detailed and often contains a bibliography. There is copy of the Constitution, a brief glossary and synoptic outline of contents in the back. |
| Ref JK 1991 O63 1994 |
Open Secrets: The Encyclopedia of Congressional Money and Politics by Larry Makinson, 1994. This book was researched by The Center for Responsive Politics, which is a non-profit, non-partisan research group based in Washington, D.C. It specializes in the study of Congress and the role that money plays in Congressional elections and actions. The book documents who is contributing to individual congressmen, committees, profiles of political action committees, and breakdown of contributions by industry. |
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REF JA 61 O95 2001 |
The Oxford Companion to Politics of the World, Joel Krieger, editor, 2001. Arranged in a dictionary fashion, this book provides a comprehensive guide to international relations and national domestic politics throughout the world. It includes biographies, concepts, conventions, treaties, international law, forms of government, historical events, international issues, international organizations, and domestic issues. Especially useful are the articles in individual countries. |
| Ref JK 511 P775 |
The Presidency A to Z: A Ready Reference Encyclopedia, Michael Nelson editor. This concise book covers presidents and the issues surrounding them. Appendix includes backgrounds of presidents, summary of presidential elections, a chart of presidential approval rating from 1938 to 1997, a chart of party affiliations, and presidential cabinets. |
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REF HF 1359 R68 2001 |
Routledge Encyclopedia of International Political Economy, R.J. Bary Jones, editor, 2001. This three volume encyclopedia covers empirical and theoretical issues, concepts and theories related to international political economic community. It is also useful for its explanation of international agencies, funds, economists, popular terms and the like. |
| Ref JK 9 S2 1993 |
Safire's New Political Dictionary: The Definitive Guide to the New Language of Politics by William Safire, 1993. The book includes the political jargon used by insiders, by the media and by politicians when talking to their public. Also included is the historical perspective on political jargon. The definitions are significantly longer and more detailed than most subject dictionaries. |
| REF HN 90 V5 V5474 |
Violence in America, ed. Ronald Gottesman, 1999. The three volume set includes articles on types of violence, criminals, laws, criminologists, the coverage in the mass media, racial issues, and more. There is generally a detailed bibliography included. The appendix includes organizations, publications and recommended web sites that deal with the topic of violence. |
Directories The following is a selected list of current directories that contain contact information for governmental agencies, departments, legislative groups and the individuals who work within these governmental organizations.
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| REF JK 1012 C65 |
Congressional Staff Directory This directory contains contact information on members of congress, their staff, and committees. It also contains congressional staff biographies. The companion book to this directory is the Federal Staff Directory. |
| RefDesk JK 1083 B55 |
Congressional Yellow Book: Who's Who in Congress, Including Committees and Key Staff, updated twice yearly, also contains congressional support agencies such as the Library of Congress, district maps, state delegations, and zip codes by Congressional District. |
| Internet Source | Election Directory This Directory provides names and contact information of election-related federal agencies, congressional committees, national associations, and state election officials. http://www.fec.gov/pdf/eldi9601.pdf |
| REF JK 468 C7 E5 1997 |
Encyclopedia of Governmental Advisory Organizations, Donna Batten editor. This book is useful for its background information on over 6,800 permanent, continuing and Ad Hoc governmental advisory organizations. It contains history, authority, programs, membership, staff, publications and more on each of the organizations. it is arranged by broad category and indexed by alphabet and keyword. |
| REF JK 1991 C662 |
Federal PAC Directory 1998-1999. This source contains contact information for more than 2,400 political action committees along with a detailed chart of the contribution patterns, and description of the the ideology and special interests. The appendix contains statistics on the PAC contributions, listings of the industries they represent and the recipients of the PAC funds. |
| REF JK 723 E9 F44 |
Federal Staff Directory This extensive directory gives names and contact information for the executive office of the President, departments, and agencies. It also contains federal executive biographies. Each department begins with a organizational table. It is updated three times a year. The companion book to this directory is the Congressional Staff Directory. |
| RefDesk JK 6 F425 |
Federal Regional Yellow Book: Who's Who in the Federal Government's Departments, Agencies, Courts, Diplomatic Missions, Military Installations and Service academies outside of Washington, DC, updated twice yearly, companion book to Federal Yellow Book. |
| RefDesk JK 6 F45 |
Federal Yellow Book; Who's Who in Federal Department and Agencies Updated twice yearly. Divided into three sections: Executive Office of the President, office of the Vice President, departments, and independent agencies. |
| Internet Source | Find Your District, California State Assembly This page is designed to tell a citizen who their representative is in the California State Assembly by entering in the address. http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/acsframeset9text.htm |
| Internet Source |
Find Your Reps, United State Congress This page is designed to tell a citizen who their representatives are at the federal level by entering in the individual's address. http://www.congress.org/ |
| REF JK 1118 G65 |
Government Affairs Yellow Book:Who's Who in Government Affairs This is a semiannual directory which lists over 19,000 government affairs experts who represent the interest of leading businesses, professional organizations, interest groups and government institutions before federal, state and local government. |
| REF JS 39 M79 |
Municipal Yellow Book Who's Who in the Leading City and County Governments and Local Authorities, It is updated twice yearly. This directory covered the largest 240 cities in the United States. The book is divided into three sections: cities and towns, counties, and authorities. |
| RefDesk JK 1011 A1 |
Official Congressional Directory This source is available both in paper copy at the Reference Desk and the Documents Desk. It is also available through the Internet. http://www.gpoaccess.gov/cdirectory/ |
| REF JK 2678 S738 2000 |
State Information Directory This annual is published by Congressional Quarterly. It is a state by state listing of directory information, including the governor, key administration officials, and agency information, followed by legislative and judical information. The book contains a name index which combines all fifty states and an index of agencies or functions for all fifty states. |
| RefDesk JK 6 F45 |
State Yellow Book: Who's Who in the Executive and legislation Branches of the 50 State Governments, updated twice yearly, Each entry includes two sections: the first section contains Governors and Lieutenant Governor's office, followed by departments, commissions, boards and other state agencies in alphabetical order. The second section contains the state's legislative branch. |
| REF JK 118 D58 1999 |
Washington Representatives, 1999. This Directory contains a compilation of Washington representatives of the major national associations, labor unions, and U.S. companies: registered foreign agents; lobbyists; lawyers; law firms; and special interest groups, together with their clients and areas of legislative and regulatory concern. |
| RefDesk JK 1010 W48 |
Who's Who in Congress, This concise directory is updated twice. It contain contact information, brief biographical information, committees and scores from CQs vote studies. It also contains a listing of committees, key votes and how the legislators voted and an explanation of the congressional bell system. |
| REF JK6 W46 |
Who's Who in Federal Regulation, 1995. This directory is a concise guide to the names and contact information of the top regulatory officials at more than one hundred federal agencies. The directory is divided into three parts; independent federal agencies, agencies which are found within the cabinet departments, and executive office agencies. |
| Internet Source | California State Senate This page is designed to tell the citizen who their senator is in the California State Senate by entering in the individual's address. |
| REF JF 37 L345 1996 |
Worldwide Government Directory with International Organizations This directory contains contact information on the leadership of 195 countries throughout the world. Also included is over 100 international and regional organizations including contact information for the top-level executive officers. |
Research Guides These books will you get started with political research and explain the process to you. Also included in this list are Internet research books and political almanacs which give overviews, facts and statistical data.
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| RESEARCH GUIDES | |
| REF JA 74 P62 1983 |
Political and Social Science Journals: A Handbook for Writers and Reviewers, 1983. The book "provides prospective authors with specific information on the editorial policies and procedures of journals accepting and publishing articles and reviews in political science, social science and related disciplines." (p.ix) Despite its age, this book is still valuable for the information found inside. |
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REF JN96 A979 B84 |
Political Parties of Easter Europe: A Guide to Politics in the Post-Communist Era , 2002. By Janusz Bugajski. This book is organized by countries in the region. It offers a historical overview, information on the various political parties, and election results. Especially useful is the list of abbreviations and the index to European political party names. |
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REF JF 2051 D39 |
Political Parties of the World, 2002, edited by Alan J. Day. Each country has a explanation of the overall political situation with background information. Also included in the book is the political parties, their addresses and a paragraph of background information. The appendix includes a list of international Party organizations and their countries of affiliation. Personal names are listed in the index. |
| REF H91 C78 1997 |
Short Guide about Writing About Social Science by Lee Cuba, 1997 This book give concise and clear advice to the student who needs direction on how to research and write a college-level research paper. |
| Almanacs | |
| REF JK 1012 A44 |
The Almanac of American Politics The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts. State overviews of the contemporary political situation are the major focus of this very useful compilation of facts and statistics. The state profiles includes essays on current state politics along with data on the federal tax burden, share of federal expenditures and state demographics. Personnel information includes biographical, votes, ratings, campaign contributions and expenditures. The current edition is kept in Reference. |
| REF JK 8701 C341X |
California Political Almanac, A.G. Block This state almanac provides a comprehensive overview of the political landscape. Also included is biographical information on members of the state government along with election results, committees and ratings by six different interest groups. Current edition is kept at the Reference Desk and the library owns the years back to 1989. |
Statistical Sources
Searching the Library
Catalog for Statistics on Your
Topic:
 | A keyword search will search for your words within the title or notes of all entries. » sample search: abortion and statistic* will retrieve all entries that have the word abortion and statistical, statistics, and statistic in the title or notes. |
| Limit your search to all
entries that have the term statistics in the subject » sample search: Seach by subject Education-California, then limit to all entries that have the word statistical in the subject |
Selected Sources of Statistical Data
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| RefDesk HA 261 C3 |
California Statistical Abstract The most current copy is kept at the Reference Desk. Government Documents has issues back to 1961. It is also a internet source produced by the California Department of Finance and is found at: http://www.dof.ca.gov/HTML/FS_DATA/Fs_home.asp |
| Doc/US J 1.14/7 Current year at DocDesk |
Crime in the United States: Uniform Crime Reports Criminal Justice statistics of all types are published in this annual set of books. The library owns this set of books back to 1962. The statistics are based on the Uniform Crime Reports contributed by law enforcement agencies. This source is now also available on the Internet: http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm |
| REF HV 6787 C77 |
Crime State Ranking: Crime in the 50 United States 1997 This source containes crime statistics such as murder, crime rates, change in crime rates, recidivicism, prison and jail populations, executions, arrests by type and many others. All statistics are ranked by all fifty states. |
| RefDesk L11 D48 |
Digest of Educational Statisitics This a an annual source and is available both in paper back throught 1967 and through the Internet http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/AnnualReports/reports.asp?type=digest |
| RefDesk HC 106.5 A272 |
Economic Report of the President This is an especially good source for statisical data on the overall condition of the economy. The most recent copy is kept at the Reference Desk. Government Documents has copies back to 1947. It is also available on the Internet. http://www.access.gpo.gov/eop/index.html |
| Internet | FedStat This is a web site consisting of more than 70 united States agencies which leads to a wide range of full-text statistical data. It is indexed by broad subject catagory. http://www.fedstats.gov |
| RefDesk HD 8051 H36 |
Handbook of U.S. Labor Statistics: Employment, Earnings, Prices, Productivity and Other labor Data, 1999 The book is arranged by subject matter and the data is derived from surveys conducted by the federal government. The library owns this set back to 1967. |
| Doc/US J 29.9/6 Current year at DocDesk |
Sourcebook of Criminal Justice Statistics, Bureau of Justice This statistical book is a collection of statistics from a wide range of organizations, agencies and public opinion polls. Statistics cover topics such as characteristics of the criminal justice system, public attitudes, offences, persons arrested, the the correctional system. The library own back to 19XX. This source is also available on the Internet: http:www.albany.edu/sourcebook |
| DocDesk Y3.SE5:1 |
Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics This book contains descriptive statistics on the application of the federal sentencing guidelines and provides selected district, circuit, and national sentencing data. |
| Doc/US C 3.134: Current year at RefDesk |
Statistical Abstract of the United States This is a statistical source which covers a very wide range of subjects. Because of this wide coverage, it is a good place to start looking for statistics. The sources are listed and can lead the user to further statistics. The library owns this annual book back to 1878. It is also available through the Internet. http://www.census.gov/statab/www/ |
Vocational Guidance Listed here are books that offer advice on career choices as well as direction on the job hunt and writing resumes.
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| Ref HF 5381 F456 |
Best Jobs for the 21st Century by J. Michael Farr, 1999 This book includes information the best job as determined by three criterion; pay, openings, and fastest growth. Also included is advice on choosing a career, and descriptions of a wide range of professions. |
| Ref JK 716 P58 1999 |
Careers in Government by Mary Elizabeth Pitz, 1999. This book offers advice and job hunting strategies. Included are job descriptions, salary ranges, working conditions, required qualifications and an academic major listing of agencies and departments who are interested in individuals with that academic background. |
| Ref HF 5381 E52 |
Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocational Guidance, The 1st volume of this four volume set includes industry profiles. There are a number of sections that might be of interest to political science majors; Politics, Civil Service, Foreign Service, Military Service, and Law. The next three volumes contain descriptions of the careers within these industries. |
| REF JA 88 U6 R68 |
Great Jobs for Political Science Majors by Mark Rowh. This book contains advice for Political Science majors on how to choose a career and techniques on how to effectively carry out the job search. |
| REF HF 5302 .75 U62 W356 2000 |
Insiders Guide to finding a Job in Washington: Contacts and Strategies to Building Your Career In Public Policy by Bruce Maxwell, 2000. The author discusses how job hunting in Washington DC is different from other cities and how to prepare yourself through the creation of resumes, covers, letters, interview techniques, and networking. Included in the book is contact information for congressional committees, agencies, think tanks, political action committees and the media. The appendix includes a list of job hunting web sites. |
| REF HF 5382.5 O23 |
Occupational Outlook Handbook This handbook is published annually and contains advice for people who are investigating all types of careers. Professions are described, along with the outlook, expected earnings, working conditions, required training and the types of advancement. This book is a standard in the field and is a good place to start. |
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| REF JK 1012 A44 |
Almanac of American Politics; The Senators, the Representatives, and the Governors: Their Record and Election Results, their States and Districts. (For a complete annotation see Political Research) The material on members of Congress includes votes on key bills, ratings by about a dozen interest groups with a wide spectrum of political orientations and recent election results. The library owns the most recent edition. |
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REF JK 524 M33 |
America at the Polls. This book offers the election results for each of the states for presidential election back to 1960. the information is broken down by party, county, and records the exact numerical count of votes. The results of primaries are also listed. |
| REF JK 1967 A8 |
America Votes: A Handbook of Contemporary American Election Statistics Election results and statistical analysis are provided for individual states as well as an overview for the entire country. The set is published biannually and the library owns back to 1956. |
| Internet | CQ Library (Congressional Quarterly) This database has a section which provides the results of votes in Congress. When logging on, click on "CQ Weekly" and then "floor votes." It is possible to search for the results of votes by subject, bill number, date, and chamber. |
| REF JK 1051 S555 2000 |
Directory of Congressional Voting Scores and Interest Group Ratings, 2000. The voting record for each member in the United States Congress is included for the years 1947 through 1994. The composite portraits are created by including scores on several voting scales. The record of members of Congress is also rated by 11 interest groups. See Almanac of American Politics for current voting scales and patterns. |
| Internet | Roll Call Votes http://thomas.loc.gov/home/rollcallvotes.html This is a site, maintained by the Library of Congress, links to a number of quality sites which provide voting records. |
| REF JK 8792 S73 |
Statement Of Vote. State of California There are two parts to this set; General Election and Primary election. Together they are the final and official tally of the results of California elections. The library owns the set back to 1950 for the General Elections and 1946 for the Primary Elections. The most current elections are kept in Reference and later years in Government Documents on the third floor. |
