Geography 207: Economic Geography

Geography 207: Economic Geography

Resources for Study and Research

Table of Contents

Evaluating Web Material
Using Statistics
News Sources
Magazine & Journal Articles
Books
Economic & Demographic Data
Searching the Web
Citing Electronic Resources


Evaluating Web Material

Why do you need to evaluate sources? Is the Internet more or less reliable than print materials?
Examples
  1. Tobacco Use
  2. Welfare Reform
  3. Child Labor


Using Statistics
Consider source and context

  1. Deficit Grows $4.1 Billion. The New York Times, January 25, 1995
  2. US Budget Deficit Narrowed Last Month. Wall Street Journal, January 25, 1995


News Sources: Local, National, & International

Local Newspapers
Washington State Newsstand
available on the web (on campus or remotely using your UW computer account). Indexing and full text of 18 newspapers from around the state including:
Spare Change
Seattle's Homeless newspaper

Seattle Times
1985-present full text available on CD-ROM in Suzzallo Reference
1990-present full text available via Lexis-Nexis (link below)
earlier years available on microfilm in Microforms/Newspapers. Use the Pacific Northwest Regional Index, located in Special Collections, for subject access to articles prior to 1985.

National Newspapers
National Newspapers
Indexing and full text from 9 U.S. Newspapers, including the New York Times and Wall Street
Journal. A Lynx-friendly version is also available.

Lexis-Nexis UNIVerse.
Available via the web on campus or remotely if using your UW account.
http://www.lib.washington.edu/databases/LexisNexis/
Full text of newspapers from around the U.S. and the world. Is Seattle the only city dealing with
your issue? How are other cities approaching the problem?

News Resources on the Internet
A comprehensive listing which includes web sites from CNN, individual newspapers
worldwide (in the original language), and more, provided by the UW Libraries'
Microforms-Newspapers staff.

Opposing Views: Pro & Con on Current Topics in the News


Magazine & Journal Articles: Current Events & Scholarly Analysis

GeoBASE
1990-present. Articles in scholarly and professional journals, written by geographers.
[Willow and telnet options available through June 1999.]

PAIS
1972-present. Articles on a wide range of public policy issues, local, regional, national,
and international. [Willow and telnet options available through June 1999.]

Research Library Periodicals, 1986+
Indexing and full text for a basic collection of general-interest, humanities, social
science and science periodicals. A Lynx-friendly version is also available.

Expanded Academic Index (Willow option)
1989 to present. Accesses articles in popular magazines, e.g. Time, Business Week, as
well as scholarly journals in a wide variety of subjects. [telnet option]

EconLIT
1969-present. Access the international literature on economics including journal articles, books,
dissertations, as well as articles in collective works such as conference proceedings and essay
volumes. [Willow and telnet options available through June 1999.]

Library Databases
A complete list of the databases available on the campus network. Individual libraries may have subject
specific databases on CD-ROM which can be used when you visit.


Books

UW Online Catalog
Scholarly books provide a synthesis of research findings. Books (and journals, videotapes, musical recordings,
etc.) in any of the UW Libraries are included. Although journals are listed, journal articles are not included.
Please refer to Magazines & Journal Articles.

OCLC WorldCat
Over 30 million catalog records and holdings information for material owned by libraries around the world,
including books, journals, maps, sound recordings and other media, etc. Use if you cannot locate a specific
book, or books on your topic in the UW Libraries Catalog. Willow and telnet versions available through June 1999.
Items not available in the UW Libraries can be requested through the Interlibrary Borrowing Service. Use these
forms to request articles and books.


Economic & Demographic Data

Worldwide DataUnited States Data

Worldwide
Area Handbooks
A continuing series of books prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the Department of the Army. This online series presently contains studies of 85 countries.

CIA World Factbook
Provides data and maps for nations worldwide. Topics covered include geography, demography, government, economy, transportation, communications, and defense.

InfoNation
Allows you to display selected data on up to seven countries simultaneously.

UNICEF Statistics
Either browse data by country or map indicators worldwide. Infant and maternal mortality, education, literacy, sanitation, and immunization are among the data elements presented. Links to other UNICEF publications online provided, e.g. State of the World's Children.

Foreign Labor Statistics
Compare rates of employment, compensation, productivity, unemployment, consumer prices, and more in countries worldwide.

International Data Base
Provides demographic and socioeconomic data for nations worldwide. Maintained by the U.S. Census Bureau.

State of World Population 1997
Reproductive rights are the focus of the 1997 edition of this annual report. A summary is online. The full text of the 1996 edition is available online, with a discussion of world urbanization and population issues.

FAOSTAT
Country data on land use, crop production, means of production, trade, food aid, as well as fishery and forestry data.

Trends in Developing Countries
Topical and country reports available through an experimental web interface.

World Development Report
Selected indicators about social and economic development from this annual volume are provided online. The complete volume and statistical appendix is available in Government Publications, 1st floor, Suzzallo Library.

Social Indicators of Development
"The World Bank's most detailed data collection for assessing human welfare to provide a picture of the social effects of economic development. Data are presented for over 170 economies, omitting only those for which data are inadequate . . . Up to 94 indicators are reported for each country including: size, growth, and structure of population; determinants of population growth (including data on fertility and infant mortality); labor force; education and illiteracy; natural resources; income and poverty; expenditure on food, housing, fuel and power, transport and communication; and investment in medical care and education. Each of these indicators is broken into several subcategories."

International Organizations
A compilation of web sites for intergovernmental organizations, foreign national governments, and non-governmental activist organizations maintained by the UW Libraries' Government Publications staff. Excellent guides available, including the UN Scholar's workstation compiled at Yale.

United States
U.S. Census Bureau
Provides a wealth of demographic and economic data. The1990 Census Lookup allows you to get social and economic data about the population for geographic areas ranging from the U.S. as a whole, to states, counties, cities, and census tracts. Step-by-step instructions are available (this link will open a second window of the browser. Resize the window to read the instructions as you work through the data lookup process.)

County Business Patterns
Provides an annual economic profile of counties, states, and the United States. Data include employment, payroll, and number of establishments by industry.

STAT-USA
The U.S. Dept. of Commerce's central resource for economic news and trade data. Daily press releases of economic indicators, data series for some pre-1998 time periods, and research about product markets in other countries. [available to UW users only]

Fedstats
Provides access to data from more than 70 federal agencies. Easy to navigate to find regional data or data by topic.

Government Information Sharing Project
Provided by Oregon State University provides acces to several data sets including USA Counties, Regional Economic Information System, Economic Censuses, and more. The Bureau of Economic Analysis' REIS is also available in a searchable format from the University of Virginia.

Statistical Universe is very helpful if you are not sure where the data you need might be published. An index to statistical publications published by state and federal government agencies, international governmental organizations, and private research organizations.


Searching the Web

Yahoo
A subject guide to the Web
Dogpile
A meta-engine, which searches several individual web search tools simultaneously.
Alta Vista
Very big.
UW List of Web Tools
Several additional options.


Citing Electronic Resources

Electronic Styles: a handbook for citing electronic information
Uncle Sam - Brief guide to citing govenment publications, from University of Memphis library
Guide to citing government information sources - MLA style, from University Nevada, Reno Library.


Compiled by Anne Zald, Geography/UWired Librarian
University of Washington Libraries
updated 1/18/99