Researching Online for Countries' Positions
About
One of the most challenging areas in international relations research is documenting a foreign country's position on key issues. There is no single search strategy that works in all instances. Some suggested search strategies are outlined below. To access databases the Library subscribes to, go to the Library Web site (http://www.library.sfsu.edu) and select "Find...Articles & Databases."
Newspapers
The Library subscribes to a number of databases that lead to newspaper articles that may report on a country's position on a key issue. Some of the most useful full-text databases with which to begin your research are: the LexisNexis Academic, Factiva (Dow Jones & Reuters) and ProQuest Newspapers databases. For a more complete list of relevant databases, go to Library's Database Selector page (http://www.library.sfsu.edu/find/dbs/dbselector.php) and select News as Subject.
News Magazines, News Wires, Broadcast News Transcripts
As well as the databases mentioned above, Academic Search Premier (EBSCOHost) is a good database to search to find news magazine articles. For a more complete list of relevant databases, go to Library's Database Selector page (http://www.library.sfsu.edu/find/dbs/dbselector.php) and select News as Subject.
Internet News Sources
Many newspapers, news magazines, news wires and broadcast news sources are available free on the Internet. A good list of Newspapers is available at http://library.uncg.edu/news/. The BBC Country Profiles (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm) and the Guardian World New Guide (http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldnewsguide/) provide useful links to major Internet news sources arranged by country. Some of the major Internet search engines also have good lists of news sources arranged by country or regions (for example, Yahoo! (http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/) and Google (http://directory.google.com/Top/News ). For more suggestions, go to http://www.library.sfsu.edu/research/guides/news-opinion.html#internet.
Scholarly Journal Articles
The Library subscribes to a number of databases, that lead to scholarly journal articles that may document a country's position on a particular issue or issues. As well as the Academic Search Premier (EBSCOHost) database, CIAO (Columbia International Affairs Online), Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, and Historical Abstracts are good databases with which to begin your research. For more information about Locating Scholarly Periodical Articles, go to http://www.library.sfsu.edu/research/guides/ir-scholarly-journals.html. For more database suggestions, go to the Library's Database Selector page (http://www.library.sfsu.edu/find/dbs/dbselector.php) and select International Relations as Subject and then select Scholarly research.
United Nations Debates
A country's official position on an issues will often be articulated in a U.N. debate. To locate these debates, search the UNBISnet (http://unbisnet.un.org/) and the AccessUN databases. Suggested AccessUN search strategies are available at http://www.library.sfsu.edu/research/guides/united-nations.html#posacc. Often countries post statements and position descriptions on the Web site of their Permanent Mission to the UN (http://www.un.int/index-en/webs.html).
Foreign Government Web Sites
Many foreign governments have Web sites that document their positions on various issues. A couple of good lists with which to begin your search for these sites are Governments on the WWW (http://www.gksoft.com/govt) and Foreign National Governments (GODORT IDTF's links) (http://www.ala.org/ala/godort/taskforces/internationaldocuments/links.htm). For more suggestions go to http://www.library.sfsu.edu/research/guides/foreign-country-info.html#sites.
Topic Specific Web Sites
Many international organizations, ngos and research institutes have Web sites that focus on particular issues and which may document various countries' positions on those issues. Some good indexes to such sites include: Intute: Social Sciences (formerly SOSIG World Resources) (http://www.intute.ac.uk/socialsciences/) and the WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources http://www.etown.edu/vl/). For more suggestions, go to http://www.library.sfsu.edu/research/guides/foreign-country-info.html#sites.
Internet Search Engines
Finally you may wish to search various Internet search engines (such as Google) to see if you can locate Web pages that document a county's position on a particular issue. Many lists of Internet search engines are available such as SFSU Library's http://www.library.sfsu.edu/find/searchtools.html and UC Berkeley Library's http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/SearchEngines.html. CAUTION: anyone can post information on the Internet; find out more about how to evaluate Web sites: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html.
(AK/JPL Library/SFSU/3/27/07
