Social Sciences Library

CQ Researcher
A weekly publication that covers current policy issues and gives you references to key resources. This is a terrific resource to use when you are beginning to research a "hot topic" or key issue.

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center
Provides research and background information on a wide range of social issues. This database contains informative essays from the Opposing Viewpoints books, supplemented by statistics, primary documents, links to websites, and full-text magazine and newspaper articles.

Congressional Research Service Reports
Research papers written by staff of the Congressional Research Service, a "legislative branch agency within the Library of Congress", for use by members of Congress. Provide objective, non-partisan analysis of public policy issues before the legislature. Full text PDF of reports are available.

Search The CAT
For books and other materials in the Penn State University Libraries on your topic.

Browse the Contemporary World Issues, Current Controversies, At Issue, and Opposing Viewpoints series in The CAT.
These books provide background information, biographies, statistics, timelines, and other important information on a variety of current social topics.

ProQuest
Provides access to articles from over 5,000 publications, including many periodicals and business sources. Many articles are available in full text.

LexisNexis Academic
A full-text database containing newspaper and magazine articles, transcripts, and case law materials.

Find Articles By Subject
The Libraries subscribe to hundreds of databases covering a wide variety of subject areas. Browse this list to find additional databases that are relevant to your speech topic.

Access World News
The electronic editions of record for local, regional, and national U.S. newspapers as well as full-text content of key international sources.

New York Times Historical [Digital Archive]
Provides the full-text of The New York Times from 1851 through 2005.

LexisNexis Academic
Provides full-text access to a wide variety of national and international newspapers.

News & Microforms Library
Located in Ground Floor Pattee Library West [University Park], the News & Microforms Library houses filmed copies of many international and national newspapers, including every issue of the New York Times, 1851-Present. You must visit the News & Microforms Library to view, print, or scan articles.

For news photographs, use the AccuNet/AP Multimedia Archive, which contains over 50 million photographs from the Associated Press. The Multimedia Archives feature Associated Press graphics, text, and audio.

Daily Collegian Online
Search back issues of the Daily Collegian, full-text, 1989 to the present.

Daily Collegian Digital Archive [1887-1987]
Full-text articles from the Penn State Collegian and its predecessors.

Centre Daily Times
Can be found online via Access World News [NewsBank] by researchers with a Penn State Access Account.

Centre Daily Times Index
Provides access to article citations from the CDT, 1981-2002.

Access World News (NewsBank)
Provides full-text access to a variety of Pennsylvania newspapers, including The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Brookings Institution Editorial Archives
Editorials written by scholars at the Brookings Institution, an independent organization devoted to analyzing public policy.

The New York Times Opinion page
Browse current opinion pieces (published less than one week ago) on this page. Older New York Times editorials can be found via ProQuest or New York Times Historical.

Opinions / Editorials from Newspapers [refdesk.com]
A huge list of newspapers, by state, with links to editorial and opinion pages. A comprehensive list of links to individual editorial columnists is also provided.

American National Biography Online
Offers portraits of more than 17,000 prominent men and women.

Dictionary of Literary Biography
Search by author or title to find biographical information on a specific author.

Biography and Genealogy Master Index
Use this index to search for biographical sources on influential people from the past and present.

Biography.com
Maintained by the Arts and Entertainment Television Network, this site features a searchable index of over 25,000 biographies.

Yahoo! Society and Culture — People
Browse Yahoo!'s listings to find Web sites about society's influential people.

LexisNexis Statistical
Indexes and provides access to statistics and data contained in Federal government, international agency, and some state publications.

Social Explorer
Provides easy access to demographic information about the United States, from 1790 to present.

Social Sciences Library Statistics and Data web page.
A gateway to statistical information from a wide variety of sources — national, international, local.

Best Information on the Net — Hot Paper Topics
Maintained by St. Ambrose University, this is an index to a variety of controversial topics that are of current interest. Each topic is accompanied by a list of relevant Web sites.

Documents in the News [University of Michigan Library Documents Center]
This site provides access to a wide variety of Federal government documents relevant to current events research.

USA.gov
A gigantic clearinghouse of government information, organized by topic.

Issue Organizations [Project Vote Smart]
Trying to find the official organization associated with your topic? This page will help you find the official group or organization that you are looking for.

Public Agenda Online
This site analyzes public opinion and details policies related to many issues impacting society today.

SpeakOut.com
SpeakOut.com provides an annotated directory of resources that detail the intricacies of many current political and social issues. Take a look at the Issues Library.

Google's Directory of Societal Issues
A directory of web sites focused on a wide variety of controversial issues and hot topics.

Yahoo!'s List of Issues and Causes
Browse Yahoo!'s comprehensive list of hot topics and social issues.