Birmingham-Southern
College
Charles Andrew Rush Learning Center/N.E. Miles Library
SPEECH
A guide to sources in
the BSC Library
GETTING IDEAS FOR SPEECHES
CQ RESEARCHER
(Online from 1991 forward; Bound Periodicals, 1992-2002 )
Insightful weekly reports on current issues, with a different topic every
week. Includes background, statistics, different viewpoints and a bibliography.
CQ
WEEKLY (Online from 1983 forward; Microfilm, 1999-2005)
Non-partisan news of legislative issues and acts of congress.
CONGRESSIONAL DIGEST
(Online in Academic
Search Premier 1921 - present; Microfilm, 1921-61, Bound,1962- forward and
in Current
Periodicals)
An independent monthly publication that argues both sides of public issues
addressed by Congress.
OPPOSING
VIEWPOINTS RESOURCE CENTER
Provides viewpoint articles, topic overviews, statistics, primary documents,
links to websites, and full-text articles on many social issues.
VITAL SPEECHES OF THE DAY (Online in EbscoHost from 1934 forward; Microfilm and bound, 1984-2004.) Contains the full-text of selected recent speeches on current national issues.
Other Ideas: Read news magazines; check news websites (ex.: http://www.cnn.com/, http://www.msnbc.com/, http://www.nytimes.com/); watch the evening news; listen to National Public Radio (online at http://www.npr.org/).
DOING RESEARCH
Reference Sources
Reference sources can help you find background information on various speech topics, and also help you pin down crucial facts, dates, statistics, etc. The BSC Library has a print reference collection of over 4,000 titles. Many reference titles are also available online; see Oxford Reference Online and BSC Library's list of Internet Sources for links to some basic sources. A sampling of handy reference sources (print and online) appear below:
World Almanac and Book of Facts
Ref. AY 67 .N5 W7
(Latest ed. in Ready Ref.); also in Lexis Nexis Academic, under "Reference"
An
annual compendium of facts of all sorts, from the literacy rate in Romania to
who won the World Series last year.
Facts on File
Ref. D 410 .F3 1961-present
Well-indexed weekly summaries of national and international news; useful for
pinning down exact dates of events.
Statistical Abstract of the United States
Ref. HA
202 .A2 (Latest ed. in Ready Ref.); also available online.
A publication of the U.S. government which contains tables of statistics on
anything you can think of. Published annually. For historical statistics, try
Historical Statistics of the United States (Ref. HA 202 .B87 1976). For
more statistical sources, try searching the Lexis
Nexis Statistical database or explore some of the freely available resources
listed under BSC's Internet
Sources.
Encyclopedia of Associations
Ref. HS 17 .G32 (3
vols.) (annual, latest ed. is in Ready Ref.; online as Associations
Unlimited)
Provides detailed information on over 22,000 American
organizations.
The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion (1972-83, 1991-present )
Ref. HN 90 .P8 G36
Presents
statistical data from thousands of surveys of the American people. More recent
poll information is in
Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing (available in
Business Source Premier). Additional survey information is
available in the Roper Center's Polls & Surveys (available in Lexis Nexis Academic, under
"Reference")
Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics
Ref BJ 63 .E44 1998
(4 vols.)
Contains lengthy articles on current and historical ethical
issues.
Encyclopedia of Ethics
Ref. BJ 63 .E45 2001 (2
vols.)
Contains articles on perennial moral problems as well as ethical,
political, and social theory.
Encyclopedia of Bioethics 3rd. ed.
Ref. QH 332
.E52 2004 (5 vols.)
Summarizes and analyzes positions taken on bioethical
issues, in the past and in the present.
Encyclopedia of Sociology 2nd ed.
Ref. HM425 .E5 2000 (5 vols.)
Brief scholarly articles on numerous issues and topics of social interest, with bibliographies for further reading.
Encyclopedia of
Violence, Peace and Conflict
Ref HM886 .E53 1999 (3 vols)
Nearly 200
articles on practical and theoretical matters relating to violence, conflict,
and peace.
Macmillan Encyclopedia of the Environment
Ref
GE 10
.M33 1997 (6 vols.)
Non-scholarly dictionary of environmental issues and
endangered species; illustrated.
Reference Sources about the Government
A list of interesting government reference sources
follows. Tons of government information is available online. See the
BSC
Government Information pages for links to federal, state and local
information; use FirstGov.gov to search government websites.
Congressional Directory
Ref. JK 1011 .A3203
(Latest ed. in Ready Ref.); search the latest version online
or view an online pictorial directory.
This contains useful information about the U.S. Congress, its members,
committees, staff, history and traditions. For historical information through
the 104th Congress, see Biographical Directory of the American
Congress (Ref. JK 1010 .A5 1997; also available online).
United States Government Manual
Ref. JK 421 .A3
(Latest ed. in Ready Ref.); also available online.
A guide to U.S. government agencies and their functions, as well as the people in charge of each function.
Lexis Nexis Congressional
Available
online
(under BSC
Indexes and Databases).
Includes the full text of congressional documents, bill tracking reports, public
laws, the Federal Register, etc.
Congressional Quarterly Almanac
Ref. JK 1 .C66
(Library has 1967- present)
This annual publication chronicles the course of major
legislation during each session of Congress. It is updated by the CQ Weekly
(Periodicals). For historical coverage, see Congress and the Nation.
Congress and the Nation
Ref. JK 261 .C5 (multiple
vols.)
These volumes cover the period from 1945 to 1992; they cover
Congressional legislation on major topics. Continued by the Congressional
Quarterly Almanac.
Alabama.gov
Your
one-stop guide to Alabama government information: agencies, officials,
legislation, and more. For Alabama legislation, see the Alabama
Legislature's legislative resources at http://www.legislature.state.al.us/ALISHome.html.
Statistics
Economic
Abstract of Alabama 2000. (Ref HC 107 .A4 E36 2000)
Check other
American
FactFinder contains U.S. Census Bureau demographic
and economic data.
FedStats
is the “gateway to statistics from over 100 federal agencies.”
The site contains links to data as well as press releases.
Historical
Statistics of the
Lexis-Nexis
Statistical allows users to search summaries of
statistical publications, then link to the full-text of selected publications
and government Web sites.
Statistical
Abstract of the United States (also
in print: Ref. HA
202 .A2) contains a collection of statistics on social
and economic conditions in the
International
Brief
statistics arranged by country are available from CIA
World Factbook which is also available in print CIA
World Factbook 2004.(Ref J 85 .W611 2004)
United Nations Statistical Yearbook 2001. (Ref HA 12.5 .U63 2001) Published in 2004. It takes a couple of years to gather data from all the reporting countries. For more information try the U.N. Statistics Division. For other statistical data from the European Union try Eurostat.
Books about Your Topic
Use the online catalog WebCat to find books. Type in your topic and click on SUBJECT. If this does not work, type in your topic and click on SEARCH EVERYTHING. If BSC does not own the book you need, you may request it through Interlibrary Loan.
Magazine and Newspaper Articles
All of the following indexes to newspaper and magazine articles are accessible from the library's Indexes and Databases page. Many contain the full text of articles for recent years. If you're logging in from off-campus, use your BSC email ID and password to access the databases.
LexisNexis Academic.
Full text of news from numerous national and
international newspapers, magazines, and journals, going back over 25 years in
some cases.
LexisNexis Congressional
Full text of congressional reports, documents,
prints, bills, and the Congressional Record.
EbscoHost's Academic Search Premier (1984 - present) Covers articles in 8000+ magazines and journals, nearly 5000 of them full text.
Newspaper Source Selected Full text from over 100 regional newspapers, 14 international newspapers, and 6 newswires; indexes USA Today, New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal
ProQuest Research Library (1984- present)
Includes journal and newspaper indexing; full text is available for some articles.
Reader's
Guide to Periodical Literature (Print and also online through WilsonWeb)
(1890- )
A general index; selected full text articles available on
WilsonWeb.
Expanded
Academic ASAP
(1980- ) Includes citations for articles in over 1500
scholarly journals with some full text.
Monthly Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (1774- ; 1976-present online as GPO)
Look here to find books and documents the government may have published on your topic. BSC receives less than 15% of government publications (they are on the ground floor); the downtown public library has about 80% of the documents. Documents that our library has received since 1994 are also listed in the Library Catalog. Many documents are now available online-- check GPO Access.
New York Times Index (1851 - present)
Your guide
to articles published in the New York Times . It is
also available online in LexisNexis Academic.
Birmingham News Index (1978 - 1993 on microfiche -
ground floor; 1993-present online
in LexisNexis Academic.)
The full-text of news stories from
1993 forward is available in LexisNexis; for this week's stories, see http://www.al.com/birmingham
Hint: to see where you can locate the full text of
specific magazines and newspapers, check the list of Periodicals
@ BSC.
Please feel free to ask the library staff for help at any point!