News and Opinion
About
This bibliography is a selective guide to sources in the library that can help you locate news and current political commentary. Most sources are located in the Reference Area (Ref), 1st floor, the Periodicals Area (Pers), 2nd floor, Government Publications (Govt), 5th floor, or online.
Some databases listed in this bibliography may only be available in the Library or to SFSU students, faculty and staff outside the Library. For information about the location of, and access, to these databases, go to the Library's home page (http://www.library.sfsu.edu) and select Find Articles & Databases.
This is a guide to current information sources. For historical news sources, consult the Library's research guide on Primary Sources.
Newspapers
To determine if the library has a newspaper, check InvestiGator, the online catalog, and the Library's Electronic Journal List (http://sfx.calstate.edu:9003/sfsu/a-z/default). If you already have a citation to an article from a footnote, bibliography or other source, you can use the Citation Lookup Tool (http://sfx.calstate.edu:9003/sfsu/cgi/core/citation-linker.cgi) to find the article. The Gale's Ready Reference Shelf database is useful for finding the titles of newspapers by place as well as other information about newspapers.
Newspaper Indexes
To access the Library's newspaper index databases, go to the Library Web site (http://www.library.sfsu.edu) and select Find Articles & Databases.
Academic Search Premier (EBSCOHost) database, dates vary.
Indexes the New York Times, Christian Science Monitor (full text available, 1995- ), USA Today (full text, 2002- ) and the Wall Street Journal.
Alt-PressWatch database, dates vary.
Full text articles from selected alternative and independent newspapers.
Ethnic NewsWatch database, dates vary.
Full text articles from American minority and ethnic newspapers and other publications.
FBIS (Foreign Broadcast Information Service) Daily Reports database, 1974-1996.
Transcripts of foreign broadcasts and news, translated into English.
Factiva (Dow Jones & Reuters) databases, dates vary.
Full text articles from national, regional and foreign newspapers. Many articles are same-day. Feature that allows for browsing recent issues of selected papers also available.
ISI Emerging Markets database, dates vary.
Full text articles in English and local languages from Latin American, Eastern European, African and Asian newspapers.
LexisNexis Academic, dates vary.
LexisNexis Academic includes the full text of many regional, national and foreign newspapers. Most articles appear on LexisNexis Academic within 24 hours of their publication, many even more quickly.
New York Times Index, 1851- .
The New York Times is searchable on several of the Library's full text databases (including LexisNexis Academic, 1969-5/80 (abstracts), 6/80- (full-text)). A digitized and searchable electronic version of the New York Times, 1851-3 or so years ago, is available on the ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times database.
ProQuest Newspapers, dates vary.
Includes ProQuest Newsstand, the Tribune publications (for example, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune and Newsday) and the Financial Times. ProQuest Newsstand includes full-text articles from national, regional and foreign newspapers. Many articles are available within 24 hours of publication. Also includes abstracts; some articles (especially older ones) provide abstracts only not full-text. For historical articles in major national papers, search ProQuest Historical Newspapers: the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post.
San Francisco Chronicle Index, 1976- .
Good for local news coverage. The Index is divided into subject and personal name sections. Other indexes are available for historical coverage. The Chronicle is also searchable on LexisNexis Academic, Oct. 1989- , ProQuest Newspapers, 1985- and, Factiva (Dow Jones & Reuters), 1985- . For graphics, search the Chronicle Web site (http://sfgate.com/). A digitized and searchable electronic version of the San Francisco Chronicle, 1865-1922, is available on the ProQuest Historical Newspapers The San Francisco Chronicle database.
San Francisco Examiner.
Searchable on the SFGate.com Web site (http://www.sfgate.com/), Jan. 1995-July 28, 2000. Recent issues searchable on the Examiner Web site (http://www.sfexaminer.com). Index and abstracts searchable on the ProQuest Newspapers database, 1995-Jan. 22, 2003 (with gaps).
Pros & Cons
These sources present perspectives on controversial issues. For information about the location of, and access, to the library's databases, go to the Library's home page (http://www.library.sfsu.edu) and select Find Articles & Databases.
Congressional Digest, Supreme Court Debates and International Debates provide pro and con arguments about national and international issues. These publications are searchable and available full text on the Academic Search Premier database.
The CQ Weekly and the controversial issues oriented CQ Researcher databases are available online, Oct. 1983- and Oct. 25, 1991- , respectively. The Researcher provides pro and con analyses of controversial and timely issues. The Weekly reports on and analyzes Congressional activities, summarizes major legislation, provides voting records.
GalleryWatch CRS Reports
Nonpartisan, objective analysis and research on legislative issues.
Opposing Viewpoints database (Library also has some books in this series).
Provides pro and con arguments on controversial issues and background documents, statistics, articles, NPR broadcasts and links to advocate websites.
Opposing Viewpoints series.
Pro and con analyses of controversial issues. Search InvestiGator by keyword: topic keyword or phrase and opposing viewpoints.
ProCon.org
Pro and con analyses of controversial issues.
Periodicals and Broadcast and other News Transcripts
Indexes provide subject access to articles in magazines and broadcast news reports and other transcripts. The following sources often will identify which indexes cover a particular periodical (the first two also indicate whether online full text is available):
Electronic Journal List (SFSU) (http://sfx.calstate.edu:9003/sfsu/a-z/default)
CUFTS (http://lib-cufts.lib.sfu.ca/CUFTS/sbt.cgi)
Ulrich's International Periodicals Directory. Annual. (database).
The following is a selective list of print indexes, shelved in alphabetical title order in the Reference Indexes and Abstracts Area on the 1st floor of the Library, and online indexes. To access the indexes in electronic (database) format, go to the Library's Web site http://www.library.sfsu.edu and select Find Articles & Databases
The periodicals themselves are located on the 2nd floor of the Library. Check InvestiGator, the online catalog, and the Library's Electronic Journal List (http://sfx.calstate.edu:9003/sfsu/a-z/default) to determine if the Library has a particular periodical and in what format it is available. If you already have a citation to an article from a footnote, bibliography or other source, you can use the Citation Lookup Tool (http://sfx.calstate.edu:9003/sfsu/cgi/core/citation-linker.cgi) to find the article. Many news periodicals are also available online on the databases listed below.
Academic Search Premier (EBSCOHost) database, dates vary. Includes the full-text of articles from over 4,000 periodicals and indexes and abstracts over 8,000 popular and scholarly periodicals. Indexing is very current. Includes some images.
Alt-PressWatch database, dates vary.
Full text articles from selected alternative and independent magazines and journals.
Biography Index, 1946- .
Indexes biographical information from both periodicals and books. The biographies are primarily American. It is arranged alphabetically by the name of the biography with another section organized by profession and occupation.
Congressional Record and Index, 1873- . (Government Publications)
The easiest way to find current transcripts of speeches on the floor of the House and Senate is to search the LexisNexis Congressional database or Thomas (http://thomas.loc.gov) on the Internet.
CountryWire, current year.
Real time newswire on the CountryWatch database.
Ethnic NewsWatch database, dates vary.
Full text articles from American minority and ethnic newspapers and other publications.
Factiva (Dow Jones & Reuters), dates vary.
Full-text articles from news magazines and news wires and broadcast news transcripts. Many articles are same-day.
ISI Emerging Markets database, dates vary.
Full text articles in English and local languages from Latin American, East European, African and Asian news sources.
LexisNexis Academic, dates vary.
LexisNexis Academic includes the full text of newswire services, broadcast (etc.) news transcripts and news magazines. Many articles appear on LexisNexis Academic within 24 hours of their publication, some even more quickly.
LexisNexis Congressional database and Congressional Information Service (CIS) Index, 1970- . (Govt)
Index with accompanying abstract to the publications of Congressional Committees: hearings, reports, and committee prints. LexisNexis Congressional includes the full text of many Congressional and Congress-related publications. Some hearing transcripts are also available on LexisNexis Academic and on Factiva (Dow Jones & Reuters) (Federal News Service and CQ Transcriptions).
ProQuest Newsstand available on the ProQuest Newspapers database, dates vary.
Full-text articles from news wires and news magazines. Many articles are available within 24 hours of publication. Also includes abstracts; some articles (especially older ones) provide abstracts only not full-text.
Internet News Sources
Newspapers and other news sources ranging from local sources (such as the Golden Gate Xpress (http://www.journalism.sfsu.edu), the San Francisco Bay Guardian (http://www.sfbg.com), New America Media (http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/), IndyBay (http://bayarea.indymedia.org/)) to national and international news sources may be available (in whole or in part) on the Internet. The Gale's Ready Reference Shelf database is useful for finding the titles of newspapers by place as well as other information about newspapers. Some links that are useful for locating such sources and for tracking breaking news stories are:
http://library.uncg.edu/news/ (Univ. N. Carolina, Greensboro, Lib. News links)
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/News.html (News and Newspapers)
http://www.newspaperindex.com/ (NewspaperIndex.com - Best newspapers all over)
http://newslink.org/canews.html (Newslink: California newspapers)
http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/ (Yahoo!)
http://dir.yahoo.com/Regional/U_S__States/California/Cities/San_Francisco/News_and_Media/ (Yahoo! San Francisco)
http://dir.yahoo.com/News_and_Media/By_Region/U_S__States/California/Counties_and_Regions/(Yahoo! California Counties and Regions)
Biographical and Background Sources
Biography and Genealogy Master Index. (database)
Index to biographies in major reference sources.
Current Biography, 1940- . Location: Reference Indexes and Abstracts Area.
Contains articles and pictures of people who are prominent in the news. International in scope, it includes people from national and international affairs, the sciences, the arts, labor and industry. It is arranged alphabetically by biography. Cumulative indexes appear in each annual volume.
Encyclopedia yearbooks, for example:
Britannica Book of the Year. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. Annual. (available on Encyclopaedia Britannica Online database).
Includes a month-by-month chronology of major events of the previous year, articles on major news stories, and a review of the year's events by subject. Also includes data about countries.
(Rev AK 9/15/08)
