American University Library
Advanced Reporting COMM-425
Fall 2007-- Professor Chuang

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AP StyleBook--the essential writing guide for journalists.

General News Sources

• Lexis-Nexis Academic --full text of newspapers, both U.S. and international, and news broadcasts.
• Wall Street Journal--online version of the paper.
• Google News -- 4,500 sources, and the capability to set up alerts
• NewsNow -- Claims 19,000 sources, has free access to single word searches.
• Yahoo News -- Good for news photo searching
• Altavista News
• Topix.net -- "Channels" cover many topics including news, sports, hobbies, food, etc
• News Search Engines -- Lists and compares news search engines.

Political and International News

• AllPolitics (CNN)
• American Journalism Review's Newslink -- links to news sources from all over the world.
• BBC World
• National Journal Group's Policy Central--Tracks political and policy news through several publications (National Journal, The Hotline, CongressDaily, Markup Reports, etc.)
• NewspaperDirect PressDisplay-- access to 400 papers on the day they were published, with a 60 day archive.
• Roll Call
• Washington Times Daybook--breaking news and what's going on in Congress today.
• World News Connection -- non-U.S. media, including articles and broadcast transcripts. Foreign language news has been translated into English

Campaign News

Election Center 2008 from CNN
Campaign Tracker from National Journal's Policy Central

Background on Issues

• CQ Researcher and CQ Weekly--The Researcher contains very readable synopses of important issues of the day. A good source not only of background information, but also of contacts organizations involved with the issues. CQ Weekly is a great source on what is happening in Congress week by week.
• CRS Report Search--Provides a variety of in-depth policy analyses and background summaries on every subject of interest to Congress.
• ProQuest Research Library -- Covers a broad range of disciplines, providing everything from scholarly articles to news.
• Academic Search Premier-a similar database to ProQuest, providing scholalarly and general interest articles in all subject areas.
• Polling the Nations -- a searchable database of survey questions and results

Developing Contacts

• Carroll's GovSearch--Look up an agency, a federal staff member, or news about them.
• Political Advocacy Groups--Web directory of lobbyists and other advocacy groups.
• Political Science Resources/Think Tanks--From the University of Michigan Documents Center
• PolicyFile--This database allows you search for topics on think-tank and advocacy group websites. May be useful for identifying organizations interested in a topic, reports and other documents, and contacts.
• Encyclopedia of Associations (REF Desk HS17 .G32)
• Washington Information Directory (REF Desk F 192.5 W34), the Capital Source (REF Desk F 192.3 .C26) and CQ Washington Directory (REF Desk F 192.5 .W3)--three directories on goverment, business, cultural institutions, lobbyists, organizations, etc. for the Washington metropolitan area.
• Public Interest Profiles (REF Desk JK1118 .P79) and Washington Representatives (REF Desk JK1118 .D58)--directories of advocacy groups and lobbyists.

Information about Congress

Hearing Schedules/Capitol Hill Information
CongressMerge
C-SPAN Congress Page
Thomas
Map of Capitol Hill and Visiting Information--from TheCapitol.net
Senate Committee Page
House Committee Page

Library Databases
Lexis-Nexis Congressional-- full text of legislation, testimony, Congressional publications, plus biographical and other information about members of congress.
Thomas -- legislative database produced by the Library of Congress. Has a nice schedule of upcoming hearings.

Political Parties
Republican National Committee
Democratic National Committee
Libertarian Party

Campaign Finance
FECInfo
Federal Election Commission's "Media Guide"
Opensecrets.org

Voting and Elections
CQ Voting and Elections Collection -- Gives analysis and statsistics on congressional elections.
CQ Congress Collection--profiles members of Congress, including their voting behavior and interest group rating

Other Government Information

U.S. Government Manual Online--A good place to start researching a government agency
FirstGov--The government's official Web portal.
Military and Government Collection (EBSCO)
GPO Access
State and Local Governments on the Net
Sailor--Maryland's Online Public Informaton Network
VIPNet--Virginia Information Providers' Network

FOIA--A Citizen's Guide on Using the Freedom of Information Act
National Security Archive
Homeland Security Digital Library

Library's Government Information Subject Guide

Helpful Reference Books (on the first floor of the Library)

• Congressional Districts in the 2000's (REF JK 1341 .C66 2003) and the Almanac of American Politics (REF Desk JK 1341 .A46) -- Sources of information about history and character of districts and issues important to votersCQ's Politics in America 2006 (REF Desk JK1010 .P64)--find out what's going on with a congressperson in DC and at home .Washington Information Directory (REF Desk F 192.5 W34), the Capital Source (REF Desk F 192.3 .C26) and Columbia Book's Washington (REF Desk F 192.5 .W3)--three directories on goverment, business, cultural institutions, lobbyists, organizations, etc. for the Washington metropolitan area.
• Public Interest Profiles (REF Desk JK1118 .P79) and Washington Representatives (REF Desk JK1118 .D58)--directories of advocacy groups and lobbyists.

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