issue-oriented resources: congressional research service reports, infomine, internet public library,...
Post on 30-Dec-2015
224 Views
Preview:
TRANSCRIPT
Issue-Oriented Resources: Congressional Research
Service Reports, InfoMine, Internet Public Library, Think
Tanks, and ProCon.orgPaul Barronbarronpb@marshallfoundation.orgDirector of Library and ArchivesGeorge C. Marshall FoundationLexington, VA 24450
Revised November 2011: Copies may be made for educational use only.
WVPT 2012 NTTI 22
Objective of the Presentation Introduce Congressional Research Service Reports, Internet
Public Library, INFOMINE, ProCon.org, and Think Tanks
IPL and INFOMINE – Evaluated resources
Define nonpartisan
Review the scope of the sources
Demonstrate a Google site-limited search for CRS Reports and
topical issues on think tank sites
Provide access to Portaportal for sources of CRS reports and
think tanks
WVPT 2012 NTTI 33
What is the Congressional Research Service?
A nonpartisan objective research think tank for the U.S. Congress.
Not partisan; free from party affiliation, bias, or designation
http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/
WVPT 2012 NTTI 44
Mission of the Congressional Research Service“The unique CRS mission is to provide
comprehensive, authoritative, and
reliable analysis, research, and
information services that are timely,
objective, nonpartisan, and confidential, thereby
contributing to an informed national legislature.”
The Congressional Research Service FY2006 Annual Report
http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/CRS06_AnnRpt.pdf
WVPT 2012 NTTI 5
CRS Annual Report
5
http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/about/crs10_annrpt.pdf
MAJOR ISSUES OF 2011
1. Health Care Reform
2. Reform of Financial Sector Regulation
3. Offshore Drilling.
(Source of Debate Topics?)
WVPT 2012 NTTI 66
CRS Analytical Divisions (www.loc.gov/crsinfo/research)
American Law
Legal questions that may emerge from the congressional agenda
Domestic Social Policy
Domestic policy and social program issues Elementary and Secondary Education
Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade
U.S. foreign, defense, trade policy issues, and translations
Government and Finance American government and politics, the structure and administration of Congress, the
economy, public finance, and financial services
Resources, Science and Industry Natural resources and environmental management, science and technology, and
industry and infrastructure
WVPT 2012 NTTI 77
CRS Products: Reports Purpose of a report - Clearly define the issue
in the legislative context
Form of reports
policy analysis,
economic studies,
statistical reviews, and
legal analyses
WVPT 2012 NTTI 11
Question: how would you find …… the CRS Report RL30217, Performance-Based
Pay for Teachers?
WVPT 2012 NTTI 1313
CRS Products Distribution Policy
“I have concluded that prior approval should now be required at the
division or office level before products are distributed to members
of the public. This policy is effective immediately."
CRS Director Daniel P. Mullohan
"Distribution of CRS Products to Non-Congressionals"
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/crs032007.pdf
http://tinyurl.com/3cqjt5
Library of Congress SCIENCE TRACER BULLETS
WVPT 2012 NTTI 17
http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/tracer-bullets/
WVPT 2012 NTTI 2020
University of North Texas Librarieshttp://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/CRSR/
Scroll down to view
19 categories of
“Browse by Subjects”
WVPT 2012 NTTI 22
Searching the CRS Reports on Immigration
Number of results prior to refining
search.
WVPT 2012 NTTI 24
Records and Link to Full Report
Select inside the image
to connect to the
download link.
Federation of American Scientists
Note that FAS has a Google Custom Search engine (CSE) on its site Searches content entered into its custom databases Returns results ONLY from the www.fas.org website Supports Google advanced search syntaxes
WVPT 2012 NTTI 25
http://www.fas.org
FAS Google Site Search
You must add “congressional research
service” to the query to limit the results to
CRS reports.
WVPT 2012 NTTI 26
The Query
“immigration policy” AND “congressional research service”
Search Results (124 results)
WVPT 2012 NTTI 27
NOTE
All the results have the phrases “immigration
policy” AND “congressional research service”
in the results and all results are from
FAS.org.
WVPT 2012 NTTI 28
Google Site-limited Search FAS.org
NOTE
All the results have the phrase climate change and
are from AEI.org.
intitle:“climate change” AND “congressional research service” AND site:www.fas.org
WVPT 2012 NTTI 2929
CRS Reports on Portaportalhttp://guest.portaportal.com/barroncrsreports
Categories are organized by topic; for example, Agriculture, Foreign Policy, etc
WVPT 2012 NTTI 30
ProCon.org – 44 Controversial Issues
NOTE
There is a Sex & Gender Category that
may be inappropriate for some students.
WVPT 2012 NTTI 31
ProCon.org’s Mission Statement "Promoting critical
thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, primarily pro-con format."
WVPT 2012 NTTI 34
Background with Names of Advocates
Sources – Government agencies, think tanks, professional organizations
WVPT 2012 NTTI 36
Video Gallery – Pro and Con
Heartland Institute video challenging human causation of global
climate change.
Source: Heartland Institute, "Global Warming: Was It Ever Really A
Crisis?," www.youtube.com (accessed July 13, 2011)
WVPT 2012 NTTI 38
Learn More – Footnotes & Sources
This is only a partial list of the footnotes and
resources on the topic.
WVPT 2012 NTTI 42
Think Tanks are … … non-profit research organizations which engage
in public policy analysis and research, and often
advocate solutions.
Some are strictly nonpartisan, researching policy issues
without regard to political outcomes, while others main
functions is to providing intellectual support to politicians or
parties.
Not partisan; free from party affiliation, bias, or
designation
WVPT 2012 NTTI 47
CAP Publications
Note the range of reports: business, economics, the
environment, domestic policy, education, national security, and
foreign affairs.
WVPT 2012 NTTI 49
Google Site-limited Searchintitle:”climate change” AND site:www.aei.org
NOTE
All the results have the phrase climate change and
are from AEI.org.
WVPT 2012 NTTI 50
Google Site-limited Searchintitle:”climate change” AND site:www.americanprogress.org
WVPT 2012 NTTI 5151
Think Tanks on Portaportal
Other Categories
ConservativeDirectory of International Think Tanks
Issue-orientedLiberal and Progressive
Libertarian Lobbying Firms and Individuals
Media Watch and Information VerificationThink Tank Search Engine (Policybot)
http://guest.portaportal.com/barronthinktanks
WVPT 2012 NTTI 5252
Portaportal Online Bookmarks
www.portaportal.com
GUEST ACCESS LOGIN
barroncrsreports
barronthinktanks
WVPT 2012 NTTI 53
Research Strategy Recommendation Search Topic/Issue-oriented Source
IPL and INFOMINE are evaluated sources.
Use Portaportal – CRS Reports or Think Tanks
http://guest.portaportal.com/barroncrsreports
http://guest.portaportal.com/barronthinktanks
For CRS Reports - Browse the UNT directory and search
the UNT site
Search Google with site-limited query
intitle:”the topic” AND site:think tank web’s address
Bookmark the results53
WVPT 2012 NTTI 54
Summary CRS Report and Think Tanks provide high quality non-
partisan, but not unbiased, research articles and papers.
The authors and experts might answer your requests e-mail or
phone.
ProCon.org covers both sides of controversial issues.
E-mail Kami Akhavan with your comments and
recommendations. kami@procon.org
Consider setting a Portaportal account for a topic.
Websites Cited
Congressional Research Service
-- http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/
Library of Congress Science Tracer Bullets
-- http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/tracer-bullets/
Federation of American Scientists
-- http://www.fas.org
INFOMINE
-- http://infomine.ucr.edu/WVPT 2012 NTTI 55
top related