I. BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON A COUNTRY:
Library of Congress Country Studies (online):
On-line versions of Country Studies/Area Handbooks previously published in hard copy by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Army. Because the original intent of the Series was to focus primarily on lesser known areas of the world or regions in which U.S. forces might be deployed, the series is not all-inclusive. At present, 101 countries and regions are covered. Notable omissions include Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and other Western nations, as well as a number of African nations. The date of information for each country appears on the title page of each country and at the end of each section of text. Note: Lamson Library owns about 100 of the print editions. Search on series title: area handbook series, then scroll down list for country name.
Department of State Background Notes (online):
Each country study is updated periodically.
The world factbook
REFERENCE (MAIN) G122 .U56 2006
Profiles include information about the geography, demographics, government, and economy of countries, territories, and regions of interest.
Worldmark encyclopedia of the nations.
REFERENCE (MAIN) G103 .W67 2004 v.1-5
A practical guide to the geographic, historical, political, social & economic status of all nations, their international relationships, and the United Nations system.
NOTE: v. 1. United Nations — v. 2. Africa — v. 3. Americas — v. 4. Asia & Oceania — v. 5. Europe.
II. INFORMATION TO ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS CAN BE FOUND IN SPECIFIC BOOKS AND PERIODICAL ARTICLES ABOUT THE COUNTRY.
• What Are the Objectives of U.S. Policy Makers?
• What Tools or Instruments Have Been Used By Policy Makers?
• What Could be Done to Improve U.S. Policy?
A. Search the Online Catalogfor books, using the following patterns of Subject Headings:
[country name] i.e., afghanistan.
For some countries for which there is not a huge number of published books, just search on the country name itself. For other countries, there may be hundreds of books, in which case, look for the following sub-divisions (*most relevant) after the country name:
- Commerce United States
- Commercial policy
- Defenses
- Description and travel
- Diplomatic and consular service
- Economic assistance American
- Economic conditions
- Economic policy
- Foreign economic relations United States
- Foreign public opinion American
- Foreign relations*
- Foreign relations United States*
- Handbooks, manuals
- History
- International status
- Investments American
- Investments foreign
- Politics and government
- Presidents biography
- Generals, heads of state, etc.
- Relations*
- Relations United States*
- Statesmen
- United Nations
Also:
Foreign relations [country name]
Foreign relations [country name] United States
Foreign relations United States [country name]
B. Search Periodical Databases to find articles published in journals and newspapers. The
following are a selection from the Databases link on the Library homepage whose content is most relevant for the area of foreign policy:
• ACADEMIC SEARCH PREMIER [INFO]
Note: In addition to numerous political science journals, the following journals of particularly relevant content are available in full text from the Academic Search Premier database:
Foreign Policy
Foreign Affairs
European Foreign Affairs Review
World Policy Journal
Middle East Policy
American Foreign Policy Interests
• WORLD HISTORY COLLECTION [INFO]
• J-STOR ARTS & SCIENCES [INFO]
• NEW YORK TIMES DIGITAL ARCHIVE [INFO]
• OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS RESOURCE CENTER [INFO]
III. OTHER USEFUL REFERENCE SOURCES ON AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY
Encyclopedia of American foreign policy
Taking sides. Clashing views on controversial issues in American foreign policy.
Taking sides. Clashing views on controversial issues in world politics.
Taking sides. Clashing views in world politics
Historical dictionary of U.S.-Latin American relations
Does the world hate the United States?
U.S. policy toward rogue nations.
Researching national security and intelligence policy
IV. WEBSITES
The following website links have been selected and evaluated by librarians for quality and authority:
• Index of websites related to International Governments (with links to specific categories: Foreign Relations, Politics by Place, United Nations, and others):
Other websites of interest:
• Foreign Policy Association
• American Foreign Policy Council
• Foreign Policy In Focus
• Institute for Policy Studies
• International Relations Center
• Foreign Policy Studies (The Brookings Institution)
V. DOCUMENTATION STYLE & INTERLIBRARY LOAN.
Use these sources for guidance on preparing a bibliography in the correct format, including citing online sources:
• DocumentDelivery/Interlibrary Loan
It is easy to obtain books or articles from journals that the Library does not own (and which are not available full-text through our online resources), by using the Library’s Document Delivery/Interlibrary Loan system. ILL requests are made online from the Library’s Home Page, via the my.Plymouth.
September 2006
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