Government 435: Voting, Participation, and Public Opinion
Guides to the Literature
Titles are listed here by call number
A Research Guide to Congress: How To Make Congress Work for You.
Provides useful information linking the legislative process to government publications reporting on each step.
Ref. KF4950 .M36 1991
How to Research Elections.
Provides basic information on sources and a bibliography of readings on the topics represented.
Ref. Z7164.R4 M37 2000
CQ's Resource Guide to Modern Elections: An Annotated Bibliography, 1960-1996.
Arranged by topic; includes an index.
Ref. Z7165.U5 M2844 2000
Tapping the Government Grapevine: The User Friendly Guide to U.S. Government Information Sources.
Brief information on many kinds of government publications, including historical publications.
Ref. [q.] ZA5055.U6 R63 1998
Online:
Election Administration and Voting.
A bibliography produced by Robert Paolino and provided by the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. Includes information on national and Wisconsin elections.
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Encyclopedias and Dictionaries
Dictionary of American History. 10 vols.
Ref. [q.] E174 .D52 2003
Encyclopedia Of Presidential Campaigns, Slogans, Issues, and Platforms.
Ref. [q.] E176.1 .R6 2004
The Encyclopedia of American Political History.
Ref. [q.] E183 .E48 2001
Encyclopedia of American Political History: Studies of the Principal Movements and Ideas. 3 vols.
Ref. [q.] E183 .E5 1984
Encyclopedia of Minorities in American Politics. 2 vols.
Ref. [q.] E184.A1 E574 2000
Encyclopedia of American Social History. 3 vols.
Ref. HN57 .E58 1993
Encyclopedia of Women in American Politics.
Ref. [q.] HQ1236.5.U6 E53 1999
Encyclopedia of Associations. Multiple volumes and parts.
RRef. [q.] HS17 .G33
International Encyclopedia of Elections.
Ref. [q.] JF1001 .I57 2000
A Historical Guide to the U.S. Government.
Ref. JK9 .H57 1998
Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections. 2 vols.
Ref. [q.] JK1967 .C662 2001
Elections A to Z.
Ref. JK1976 .M57 1999
National Party Conventions, 1831-2004.
Ref. [q.] JK2255 .N373 2005
Historical Dictionary of United States Political Parties.
Ref. JK2261 .B345 2000
Verbis Non Factis: Words Meant To Influence Political Choices in the United States, 1800-1980.
Ref. JK2261 .B618 1984
Political Parties and Elections in the United States: An Encyclopedia. 2 vols.
Ref. JK2261 .P633 1991
Online:
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Statistics and Opinion
An American Profile: Opinions and Behavior, 1972-1989.
Ref. [q.] HN90.P8 A53 1990
The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion, 1935-1971. 3 vols.
Ref. HN90.P8 G3
The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion, 1972-1977. 2 vols.
Ref. HN90.P8 G32
Elections in the Americas: A Data Handbook. 2 vols.
Ref. JF1001 .E363 2005
America at the Polls, 1960-2000 John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush: A Handbook of American Presidential Election Statistics.
Ref. [q.] JK524 .M33 2001
America Votes. 1956- .
Ref. JK1967 .A8 [year]
State Legislative Elections: Voting Patterns and Demographics.
Ref. [q.] JK1967 .B36 1998
A Statistical History of the American Electorate.
Ref. [q.] JK1967 .R87 2001
Periodicals:
Gallup Opinion Index. 1974-1981
Gallup Report. 1981-1989
Gallup Poll Monthly. 1989-2002
Gallup Poll Tuesday Briefing. 2002-2005
Gallup Poll Briefing. 2006-
Databases:
ICPSR: Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research
The world's largest archive of digital social science data. Lawrence has access to this resource with the guidance of Kathy Isaacson, one of the reference librarians. See her ICPSR page for more information, and for access to other useful data sources.
Public Opinion Library or Public Opinion Online
Public opinion from 1935 to current. From LexisNexis.
Statistical Universe
From LexisNexis. Many searchable statistics and sources.
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Finding Books
To find items owned by the library, search LUCIA. Try Title begins with, Author, Subject begins with or Keyword Anywhere searching.
Title begins with
These searches will let you see if we own an item whose title you already know. This search works for titles of books, titles of scores, titles of movies, titles of journals (but not individual journal articles) and more.
Author
Use this search to find works created by the person named. Be sure to enter the last name first. Author searches work for individual writers, composers, directors, and for groups or entities like organizations or government agencies.
Subject begins with
Try a Subject begins with search for an idea or concept like voting or elections or public opinion. LUCIA will list other subject headings (and subheadings) which may be of interest. For advanced research you should consult the Library of Congress Subject Headings, or LCSH, a guide to the terms commonly used in catalogs like ours. The LCSH can be found on top of the Ready Reference shelves behind the reference desk on the first floor of the library.
Keyword Anywhere
In this type of search, LUCIA will look for the terms you specify anywhere in the important areas of the cataloging records, and display a list of those records. Try a search for a phrase using quotation marks, as in "public opinion". You can perform Boolean searches in LUCIA like class and vot*. In this search, LUCIA will look for all records containing the word class. The asterisk acts as a truncation symbol and tells LUCIA to search all its records for all words starting with vot: vote, voters, voting, etc. Then LUCIA returns a list of all the records that contain the word class and all forms of the word vot. You might want to try searching for some of the terms you find in the LCSH, or try targeting your keyword search by telling LUCIA to look for the terms in the subject area of the records, by using the Subject Keyword option. For example, compare a Keyword Anywhere search with a Subject Keyword search for united states and insurance.
Books are arranged on the library's shelves by Library of Congress Classification. This is a system which organizes materials by general subjects. Once you have a call number from searching LUCIA, see this guide to call number locations at Mudd and the library floor maps to find out where a book might be on the shelves.
Search LUCIA for materials in our library; try WorldCat to find materials beyond the Mudd. Make sure you've thoroughly searched our library before going to WorldCat. Materials not owned by the Mudd library or the Appleton Public Library can be requested through Interlibrary Loan. See a reference librarian if you need help.
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Biographical Information
The sources listed here are in alphabetical order by title, as both paper and electronic sources will be helpful. These will be useful for finding out about historians and other authors of secondary materials as well as historical figures. Be alert when searching non-western names or names of rulers, as you may need to use varying forms of these names.
American National Biography. 1999. 24 vols.
The major national biography covering persons important in the history of the United States.
Ref. CT213 .A68 1999
The American National Biography is also available on the web.
Biography and Genealogy Master Index.
An electronic version of the printed index, containing citations to useful information
in standard biographical sources. It is a great place to begin
searching for biographical information about anyone.
Who's Who on the Web
An online version of Who's Who in America as well as several other versions, including Who’s Who in American Politics and Who’s Who in the World. Be sure to click the Log Off button when you finish with this resource.
Be sure to consult the library's guide on Biographical Information for further ideas and information.
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Government Documents
Most United States Government Documents are not cataloged in LUCIA. There are several ways to search for government documents, but the two listed below will be the most direct. You might also want to take a look at the library's Guide to Understanding the Government Document Numbering System before you head to the Documents shelves on the second floor. Many sources for government information are on the Web; be sure to look at the library's United States Government Documents page.
Google U.S Government Search
The popular and helpful Google search applied specifically to finding government information. Searches local, state, military, and national government Web pages.
GPO Monthly Catalog
Catalog of US government publications, covering 1976 - current. Searchable in many ways, via FirstSearch.
Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications.
An annual index is included at the end of each yearly volume, or you can search the Cumulative Subject Index to
the Monthly Catalog of United States Government Publications, 1900-197l.
Reference Indexes
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Finding Articles
The best periodical index to use will depend on your topic. Be sure to check the Electronic Resources page for other options. Two of our resources, JSTOR and Project MUSE provide complete full text. Some of our indexes include the following:
Essential: this should be among your starting points for finding advanced secondary materials.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts 1975-
Contains the merged backfiles of Political Science Abstracts, 1975-2000, and ABC POL SCI, 1984-2000. Provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy.
ABC POL SCI dating back to 1969 is available in the Reference Indexes.
General and Multidisciplinary Indexes: include citations and some full text of materials from a broad variety of fields including history.
Academic OneFile
Broad coverage of academic periodicals going back to 1980. Includes full text of many articles.
EBSCOhost.
Follow the link for EBSCOhost Web. EBSCOhost provides a single Web source for multiple databases; you might want to select the Academic Search Elite. Contains broad and specialized coverage of academic and general periodicals.
ISI Web of Science
Provides access to the Social Sciences Citation Index, which includes indexing for over 1700 important titles in the social sciences over the past ten years. Author abstracts are provided for more than half of the articles included. Often used for citation searching.
Newspapers:
Lexis/Nexis Academic
Provides newswires, citations, abstracts, and more.
New York Times. 1851-current.
Considered to be the American paper of record.
New York Times (1851-2004)
Current issues of the New York Times are available from many sources: see BESS or ProQuest Newspapers below.
ProQuest Newspapers
Provides access to over 300 local, national, and international newspapers, most in full-text. Dates for backfiles vary by title.
Once you have a citation for an article on your topic, try the 
button to see if that particular article is available. If you don't find it, you can double check by looking in LUCIA for the title of the journal or newspaper to see if the library owns it. You can also search BESS, an automated search of the library's full text databases, for electronic copies of articles. Materials not owned by the Mudd library or the Appleton Public Library can be requested through Interlibrary Loan. You may find Ulrich's Periodicals Directory Online helpful when you evaluate your sources. See a reference librarian if you need help.
Specific titles of interest
Electoral Studies.
International Journal of Public Opinion Research.
National Journal.
Public Opinion Quarterly.
Some of these titles are available electronically; follow the links from LUCIA.
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Internet Resources
Finding Statistics and Datasets
Links from the library.
The Gallup Poll
The Gallup site offers some material for free; they charge for archived materials.
Harris Poll
Columns from 1998- . Browse by date or search for keywords.
INFOMINE
Scholarly Internet Resource Collections: Social Sciences and Humanities
From librarians at all nine of the University of California campuses and
Stanford University. INFOMINE provides "organized access to important
university level research and educational tools on the Internet."
Internet Resources for Government and Internet
Resources for History
Sources chosen by the librarians here as starting points for your research.
NORC
The National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. A number of their reports are available for free.
The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press
An independent opinion research group that studies attitudes toward the press, politics and public policy issues. Offers extensive, fulltext survey results, from 1989- . A project of the Pew Research Center.
PollingReport.com
An independent, nonpartisan resource on trends in American public opinion. Collects poll results from a wide array of sources.
Public Agenda
A "nonpartisan opinion research organization."
Odum Institute Public Opinion Poll Database
This site can be searched for items related to current issues and the marginal percentages, with the option to display the full text of questions.
Washington Post Polls
Allows searching of WP polls since 1998. Gives raw results and you have to register.
Of course, there are many more web resources available that might be useful in your research. You might want to try looking at sources that select the best of the Web, like these:
It's important to think carefully about any information you find in any format, and to evaluate resources for their accuracy, applicability, and so forth. Evaluation of web resources is especially important. You may want to consult this guide to Evaluating Internet Resources. The library's Web Wise Guide to Searching give some helpful inside tips. You can often learn a lot about a page (and a site) by parsing the URL.
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Style Manuals
Academic Citation and Writing
Style manuals of the humanities, physical sciences, and the social sciences in the Seeley G. Mudd Library.
The Chicago Manual of Style.
A standard source for bibliographic format.
RRef. Z253 .U69 2003
Citing Electronic Documents
This page provides guidance on citing electronic documents and links to
other guides, some on specific styles of documentation.
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As always, if you have any questions be sure to ask a Reference Librarian.
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Definitions of terms and abbreviations:
Ref. = Reference collection, first floor
RRef.= Ready Reference, shelves behind the reference desk
Periodicals = Level A
GovDoc = U.S. Government Documents, second floor
Reference Indexes = Alphabetically arranged at the end of the reference collection
Microform Area = Reading room east of the reference desk, near microform drawers
q. = Oversized books: interfiled in reference and scores; at end of classes in other collections
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