Government 500: Senior Seminar--Roots of American Education Policy
Background Information
United States Government Manual.
The organization manual of the United States government.
Also available on the
Web.
RRef. JK 421 .A3 [current ed.]
Older editions: Gov Docs GS4.109 and AE2.108/2:
Washington Information Directory.
A very helpful guide to thousands of Washington agencies,
both of the federal government and the private sector.
RRef. JK 1012 .W3 [current ed.]
Older editions in the stacks.
Dictionary of American History. 10 vols.
Ref. [q.] E174 .D52 2003
Encyclopedia of American Political History. 3 vols.
Ref. [q.] E183 .E5 1984
U.S. Educational Policy Interest Groups: Institutional Profiles.
Ref. L901 .B88 1994
Patterson's American Education.
Ref. [q.] L901 .P3
A Critical Dictionary of Educational Concepts: An Appraisal of Selected Ideas and Issues in Educational Theory and Practice.
Ref. LB15 .B29 1990
Encyclopedia of Education. 8 vols.
Ref. [q.] LB15 .E47 2003
The Greenwood Dictionary of Education.
Ref. [q.] LB15 .G68 2003
Learning Theories, A to Z.
Ref. LB15 .L4695 2002
The Language of Learning: A Guide to Education Terms.
Ref. LB15 .M32 1997
Dictionary of Multicultural Education.
Ref. LC1099 .D53 1997
Handbook of Research on Multicultural Education.
Ref. [q.] LC1099.3 .H35 2004
Sources for statistics
Be sure to look at the the Web Resources listed below on this guide as well.
Digest of Education Statistics.
Ref. L111 .A6
Statistical Universe
Searchable through Lexis/Nexis.
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Finding Books
To find items owned by the library, search LUCIA. Try a Subject begins with search, for example, education united states. 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.
To combine terms for a different kind of search, try a Keyword Anywhere 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, like United States, by searching with quotation marks around the phrase, as in "united states". You can search for individual terms connected by logical operators like AND or OR. You might want to try searching for some of the terms you find in the LCSH. Try a search like "united states" and educat* and elect* The asterisk acts as a truncation symbol and tells LUCIA to search for all words starting with the letters you type before the asterisk, so a search for elect* would find records with the terms elect, election, elections, electorate, etc. You can target your keyword search even more by using the Subject Keyword option. This tells LUCIA to look for the terms in the subject area of the records only.
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. See a reference librarian if you need help.
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Finding Articles
The best 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.
Academic OneFile
Broad coverage of academic periodicals, magazines, and news sources. Includes full text of some 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, and will include articles from major newspapers.
ERIC
Journal articles and reports in education.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
Covers over 1000 journals from 1975- .
Lexis/Nexis Academic
Various dates; the Christian Science Monitor and the New York
Times have indexing back to 1980, with full text added at later dates.
Other papers are added dating mostly from the mid 1990's.
New York Times. 1851-current.
The New York Times is on microfilm and on the web.
New York Times Index--Reference Indexes/Microform Area
New York Times (1851-2004)
Current issues available from many sources: see BESS
Newspapers from ProQuest
Indexing and some full text for international English-language, national, and regional newspapers.
Once you have a citation for an article on your topic, try the 
button to see if that particular article is available. You can also try Citation Linker, LUCIA, and
BESS, an
automated search of the library's full text databases, for electronic copies of articles.
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Finding U.S. Government Documents
Although documents from the state government of Wisconsin are listed in LUCIA, most United States Government Documents are not. There are several ways to search for government documents, but those 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.
Congressional Universe
CIS: Congressional Information Service.
Contains the CIS Index, legislative histories, Congressional publications,
Congressional Record [from 1985 to present], testimony transcripts, bills,
US Code [laws], and the CFR: Code of Federal Regulations
[from 1981 to present]. Also includes information on committees and committee
members, links to hot topics, the National Journal [from January 1, 1977 to present],
Congress Daily [from January 1, 1991 to present], help links, committee
markups and votes, and more.
Google for Government
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.
Specific documents of interest: see the Office of the Federal Register for more.
Code of Federal Regulations.
U.S. Office of the Federal Register. Annual.
A codification of the rules published in the Federal Register
by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government.
The Code is divided into 50 titles representing broad areas
subject to federal regulation. Updated by the daily Federal
Register.
Sample Citation: 30 CFR 256 [30 is the volume and 256 is the section/part].
GovDoc. AE2.106/3
Congressional Record.
The official daily record of the House and Senate. Includes words, actions, and debates
of Congress, although not verbatim transcripts.
Earlier issues of the Congressional Record are available in print on the second floor.
Use the indexes published with the Record in order to locate specific
material. Ask a librarian if you have difficultly finding it.
GovDoc X/ Published daily.
Federal Register.
The most extensive source for regulatory information. Contains
new and proposed regulations, notices of upcoming meetings, legal
notices from federal agencies and the president, and other announcements.
Includes a table entitled, "Code of Federal Regulations affected by new
or proposed regulations." Updates the Code of Federal Regulations.
Arranged by agency. The
Federal Register
is available on the Internet via the National Archives and Research Administration.
GovDoc AE 2.106
Statutes at Large, The United States
Compilation in book form of all the laws passed during a given session
of Congress. Includes lists of acts by bill
number and by public law number, a popular name index, and a subject index.
Sample Citation: 84 Stat.1590 (84 is the volume and 1590 is the page.) New
acts are published within a few weeks of enactment as "slip laws." Public and private slip laws
are available via the Web.
GovDoc GS4.111: V. 18 (1873) - V. 97 (1983) with most dates available
and GovDoc AE 2.111: V.98 (1984) - current volume and date
United States Code.
The federal laws of the United States.
Contains a consolidation and codification of all the laws of the United
States which are in force. Arranged by subject. Sample Citation: 15 USC 1392
(15 is the volume and 1392 is the section/part.) Available through
GPO Access and
Cornell Law School's
Legal Information Institute. Both sites are based
on the 1994 version of the Code and include updates.
GovDoc Y1.2/5 (1976 - current) and GovDoc Y4.J89/i:UN3/3 (1946-1970)
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Web Resources
Internet Resources for Education
Internet Resources for Government
Selected links from the librarians of Seeley G. Mudd.
Lawrence University Government Documents
From the librarians at the Seeley G. Mudd Library, Lawrence University. Includes information on documents in the Seeley G. Mudd Library and on the World Wide Web.
GODORT Frequently Used Sites Related to U.S. Federal Government Information
From the Government Documents Roundtable (GODORT) of the American Library Association. See the section on Education.
GPO Access Resources by Topic: Education
A variety of resources from the Government Printing Office.
KIDS COUNT Census Data Online
Online census data related to children. An initiative of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. You may also want to look at the KIDS COUNT Data Center.
National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)
" . . . the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education." Publications include the Digest of Education Statistics.
Statistical Resources on the Web
From the University of Michigan Documents Center, one of the best resources for government information on the web. They even have a separate section of Education statistics.
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction
Includes topical links, links to data, and licensing information.
Wisconsin: Education
Links for agencies, educational levels (schools), and resources. The Frequently Asked Questions link may be helpful.
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.
Citing Electronic Documents
This page provides guidance on citing electronic documents and links to
other guides, some on specific styles of documentation.
The Chicago Manual of Style.
A standard source for bibliographic format.
RRef. Z253 .U69 2003
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About Research in American Education Policy
In addition to consulting library catalogs and indexes, be sure to look at bibliographies supplied at the end of relevant articles, chapters, and books, and to search library catalogs for book-length bibliographies.
Your sources must be fully documented in any written work you produce. It may help to look at the information on style before you start your research, so that you will have all the required documentation at hand when you need it. Then as you write, go back to the resources on style for details on the exact format of your citations.
The sources listed in this guide were chosen for the broad coverage they provide. Direct links are provided to Web resources and searchable databases, as well as links to LUCIA, the library's online catalog. Be sure to check the library's Electronic Resources page regularly to see new databases and indexes; some of these will only be available to users on the Lawrence campus. Also, you may want to take a look at guides on related topics from the Library Research Guides page.
Evaluating the resources you find is an essential part of the research process. See this guide to hints on evaluation of books and articles and this guide to evaluating Internet resources.
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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