WRIT 125-19: Wealth and Poverty in America
These are only some of the sources that may be useful to you. Please contact me for help with any of your research, Betty Febo X3426.
Contents:
New!
- Maximum of two $300 awards for a paper or project of any length from a 100 or 200 level Wellesley College course
- One $750 award for a paper or project of any length from a 300 level Wellesley College course, excluding 360s, and 370s
Deadline: April 1, 2008
Reference Sources for Background Information
American Generations: Who They Are and How They Live. Clapp Ref HC 110 C6 M545 2005
American Incomes: Demographics of Who Has Money. Clapp Ref HC 110 I5 A68 2005
An Atlas of Poverty in America: One Nation, Pulling Apart 1960-2003. Clapp Ref HC 110 P6 G543 2006
Digest of Social Experiments. Clapp Ref HN 59.2 G74 2004
Encyclopedia of American Social History . Clapp Ref HN 57 E58 1993. Volume II has essays on "The Culture of Consumption", "Wealth and Income Distribution", and "The Aristocracy of Inherited Wealth".
Work in America: An Encyclopedia of History, Policy, and Society. Clapp Ref HD 8066 W637 2003
Wellesley College Catalog - Use the Library catalog to find books and other materials (journal titles, NOT journal articles) we have here at Wellesley. Remember to start with "keyword" if you are beginning to research a topic then, when you find a useful title, see what subject headings are listed in that record. You can click on these subject headings to find more. Some subject headings to try are:
WorldCat - Use WorldCat to find books and other materials not at Wellesley. Use the suggestions listed above. If you find a book you want that Wellesley does not own, use the ILL link within WorldCat to request the book.
The Wellesley College Library subscribes to many databases that contain information
on thousands of articles and other sources of information on a topic. Some
of these databases link to the full article online while others are simply
an index or contain only abstracts. If the database you are using does not
contain the full-text of the article you need, use Find
It! @ Wellesley
to
connect to the full-text in another Wellesley database. Or, once you have a
citation for an article, do a title search in the Wellesley College Library
catalog using the name of the journal as the title. Look for a reference
to the journal online, or see if we have it in print. Make sure we have the
date you need. If Wellesley does not have the journal or issue, you can request
it via Interlibrary
Loan (ILL)
Suggested databases for this class:
-
For the following databases start with a keyword search
and see what the subject terms are for any relevant articles you find.
Look for an option to mark records and email records to yourself.
CQ Researcher - in-depth, unbiased background and analysis on timely political topics. Has timeline, pro/con, bibliography.
Academic Search Premier - start here for articles in any subject area. Some full text. Mostly 1980s onward.
EconLit is the electronic bibliographic database of the American Economic Association. This database indexes books over 60 pages, articles in journals (1969+), chapters in books, conference proceedings, dissertations (1987+), book reviews (9/1994+) and selected working papers (1984+). Contains some full text.
Sociological Abstracts - Citations from an international selection of sociological journals, serials, conference papers, books, and dissertations from 1952-present. Abstracts available from 1974.
PolicyFile - public policy topics, linking to reports and papers from think tanks, NGOs, and research organizations, 1990 to present. Caution: These organizations may have a bias or particular point of view they are promoting. Use Yahoo's Political Organizations' lists to see how they have categorized organizations. You can also use The Right Guide Clapp Ref HS 2321 .R54 and The Left Guide Clapp Ref HS 2321 L44.
Expanded Academic ASAP - general all purpose database. Index and abstracts from 1980; selected full text from about 1995-
LexisNexis Academic News - great for major, worldwide, and state newspapers, but coverage varies and is mostly from the 1990s onward.
Try the statistics subject page for links to statistics by topic or country. These statistics come from United States government agencies, non -profits, and intergovernmental organizations. Icons denote statistics downloadable to Excel.
NOTE: Use the following criteria to evaluate any websites:
- Who is the author of the information?
- Can you find information about the author? What are his/her credentials?
- How current is the information? Is there a "last updated" date?
- Who is the intended audience for the information?
- Is the content objective or is it coming from a certain viewpoint?
- Is the information advocating a cause?
For more information on how to evaluate web pages see our search the web page.
Congressional Research Service Reports (CRS) - a publicly funded "think tank" that provides unbiased and carefully researched reports to members of Congress on a variety of topics relevant to current political events.
The Minimum Wage - This U.S. Dept. of Labor site provides information about the minimum wage, tracks the history of changes in the minimum wage, and compares the actual wage and its relative value over time. Scroll down the main page to see minimum wage laws by state.
Smart Library on Urban Poverty - Online library of summaries and analyses of selected research on urban poverty and joblessness. Sponsored by the National Institute of Social Science Information.
**Look for information within our Wellesley databases, or electronic books, on how to cite what you find.**
MLA handbook for writers of research papers. Clapp Ref LB2369 .G53 2003 and at the Clapp Reference Desk. online
Wellesley Citation Style Guides page.
Return to the Resources by Subject: Economics page