Pols 339 Legislative Politics

Profile and Analysis Resources

As described in the course requirements section of the course syllabus, you must complete three separate, but related research and writing assignments: the State and District Profiles, the Legislator Profiles, and the Comparative Legislative Analysis.  Numerous sources of useful information are available either at the McIntyre Library or on the web to help you complete these assignments.  

State and District Profiles

The best place to start searching for information about your assigned states or districts is in the reference section on the first floor of the McIntyre Library.  Three sources in particular will be of tremendous help to you: the National Journal's Almanac of American Politics (JK 271.B343), the Congressional Quarterly's Politics in America (JK 1012.C63), and Congressional Districts in the 1990's (JK 1341.C64).  State data is available from a variety of sources: The Almanac of the 50 States (HA 203.A5), State Rankings: A Statistical View of the 50 States (HA 203.U17), CQ's State Fact Finder (HN 60.C68), The Rating Guide to Life in America's Fifty States by G. Scott Thomas (HN 60.T49 1994), and Statistical Abstract of the United States (C 3.134--the most recent edition is available at the Reference Desk).  The U.S. Census Bureau publishes the State and County QuickFacts (including congressional district profiles as well), the American FactFinder Community Profiles (data by state and congressional district), State Rankings, and State Rankings List. The Statistical Universe Power Tables allows you to search for data from a variety of sources on the fifty states.  Finally, the web site of your assigned members of the House and/or Senate may include some information about the district or state they represent. 

Legislator Profiles

Once again, the most fruitful place to begin researching your assigned legislators is in the reference section on the first floor of the McIntyre Library.  The National Journal's Almanac of American Politics (JK 271.B343) and the Congressional Quarterly's Politics in America (JK 1012.C63) provide thorough snapshots of members of Congress.   Additional information about your legislators is available at the following on-line sites:  C-SPAN, Congress.org, and CongressLink.  The Legislative Branch site of the Library of Congress is a useful gateway to many congressional websites.  The web pages of your assigned members of the House and/or Senate are helpful sources, too.  Project Vote Smart is an interesting site for data on voting records, issue positions, interest group ratings, and campaign finance.  The Voter Information Services publishes Report Cards issued to members of Congress by key interest groups (but now charges an annual $3.65 fee for access to this information).  The Center for Responsive Politics and Political Money Line report a wealth of data on campaign contributions to members of Congress.   Congressional Universe promises a wide range of information on members' legislative records and campaign finance.

Comparative Legislative Analysis     

Your Comparative Legislative Analysis builds on the information gathered for the State and District Profiles and Legislator Profiles.  For this paper, however, you will want to incorporate material from press coverage of your legislators.   So, if you have not done so for the Legislator Profile already, you need to research articles from journals, newspapers, and newmagazines.  The National Journal (JK1.N28) and Congressional Quarterly Weekly Reports (JK1.C15), both great sources for coverage of Congress and legislative action, are available in the McIntyre Library's Reference Collection for recent issues and the stacks for older issues, with a semi-annual index to help you locate articles by topic.  Congressional Universe Inside Washington allows you to search for articles appearing in the The Washington Post, Roll Call, and The Hill, the newspapers covering congressional actions most closely.  For articles from much larger databases, you can search News through Academic Universe, newspaper articles through ProQuest, journals through Academic Search Elite, or the Readers' Guide and Social Science Abstracts on the WilsonWeb.     

Professor Rodd Freitag Schneider 200E Phone: (715) 836-5044                                    Fax: (715) 836-2944 Updated: January 14, 2003