Issue-Oriented Resources: Congressional Research

Service Reports, InfoMine, Internet Public Library, Think

Tanks, and ProCon.orgPaul Barronbarronpb@marshallfoundation.orgDirector of Library and ArchivesGeorge C. Marshall FoundationLexington, VA 24450

Revised November 2011: Copies may be made for educational use only.

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Objective of the Presentation Introduce Congressional Research Service Reports, Internet

Public Library, INFOMINE, ProCon.org, and Think Tanks

IPL and INFOMINE – Evaluated resources

Define nonpartisan

Review the scope of the sources

Demonstrate a Google site-limited search for CRS Reports and

topical issues on think tank sites

Provide access to Portaportal for sources of CRS reports and

think tanks

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What is the Congressional Research Service?

A nonpartisan objective research think tank for the U.S. Congress.

Not partisan; free from party affiliation, bias, or designation

http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/

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Mission of the Congressional Research Service“The unique CRS mission is to provide

comprehensive, authoritative, and

reliable analysis, research, and

information services that are timely,

objective, nonpartisan, and confidential, thereby

contributing to an informed national legislature.”

The Congressional Research Service FY2006 Annual Report

http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/CRS06_AnnRpt.pdf

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CRS Annual Report

5

http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/about/crs10_annrpt.pdf

MAJOR ISSUES OF 2011

1. Health Care Reform

2. Reform of Financial Sector Regulation

3. Offshore Drilling.

(Source of Debate Topics?)

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CRS Analytical Divisions (www.loc.gov/crsinfo/research)

American Law

Legal questions that may emerge from the congressional agenda

Domestic Social Policy

Domestic policy and social program issues Elementary and Secondary Education

Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade

U.S. foreign, defense, trade policy issues, and translations

Government and Finance American government and politics, the structure and administration of Congress, the

economy, public finance, and financial services

Resources, Science and Industry Natural resources and environmental management, science and technology, and

industry and infrastructure

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CRS Products: Reports Purpose of a report - Clearly define the issue

in the legislative context 

Form of reports

policy analysis,

economic studies,

statistical reviews, and

legal analyses

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Example of a CRS Report

Title and Summary Pages

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Example of a CRS Report

Footnoted Sources and Author Contact Information

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There are CRS Report on K-12 Education.

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Question: how would you find …… the CRS Report RL30217, Performance-Based

Pay for Teachers?

Highly Classified Information on Teacher Pay

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CRS Products Distribution Policy

“I have concluded that prior approval should now be required at the

division or office level before products are distributed to members

of the public. This policy is effective immediately."

CRS Director Daniel P. Mullohan

"Distribution of CRS Products to Non-Congressionals"

http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/crs032007.pdf

http://tinyurl.com/3cqjt5

INFOMINE Scholarly Internet Resources

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http://infomine.ucr.edu/

INFOMINE Search Results

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Library of Congress Tracer Bullets

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Library of Congress SCIENCE TRACER BULLETS

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http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/tracer-bullets/

Internet Public Library

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http://www.ipl.org

The Immigration Debate in the Classroom

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University of North Texas Librarieshttp://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/CRSR/

Scroll down to view

19 categories of

“Browse by Subjects”

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Browse by Subject at UNT

This is a partial list of

the subjects.

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Searching the CRS Reports on Immigration

Number of results prior to refining

search.

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Sorted results by Title and Date

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Records and Link to Full Report

Select inside the image

to connect to the

download link.

Federation of American Scientists

Note that FAS has a Google Custom Search engine (CSE) on its site Searches content entered into its custom databases Returns results ONLY from the www.fas.org website Supports Google advanced search syntaxes

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http://www.fas.org

FAS Google Site Search

You must add “congressional research

service” to the query to limit the results to

CRS reports.

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The Query

“immigration policy” AND “congressional research service”

Search Results (124 results)

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NOTE

All the results have the phrases “immigration

policy” AND “congressional research service”

in the results and all results are from

FAS.org.

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Google Site-limited Search FAS.org

NOTE

All the results have the phrase climate change and

are from AEI.org.

intitle:“climate change” AND “congressional research service” AND site:www.fas.org

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CRS Reports on Portaportalhttp://guest.portaportal.com/barroncrsreports

Categories are organized by topic; for example, Agriculture, Foreign Policy, etc

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ProCon.org – 44 Controversial Issues

NOTE

There is a Sex & Gender Category that

may be inappropriate for some students.

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ProCon.org’s Mission Statement "Promoting critical

thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, primarily pro-con format."

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Links to Micro Sites and “Learn More”

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Issue: Human Activity and Global Climate Change

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Background with Names of Advocates

Sources – Government agencies, think tanks, professional organizations

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Pro and Con Arguments with Source Links

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Video Gallery – Pro and Con

Heartland Institute video challenging human causation of global

climate change.

Source: Heartland Institute, "Global Warming: Was It Ever Really A

Crisis?," www.youtube.com (accessed July 13, 2011)

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Readers’ Comments – What do your students think?

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Learn More – Footnotes & Sources

This is only a partial list of the footnotes and

resources on the topic.

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Learn More – Source Biographies: Individuals

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Learn More – Source Biographies: Organizations

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Teachers’ Corner

Lesson Plan Ideas not Plans

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Think Tanks are … … non-profit research organizations which engage

in public policy analysis and research, and often

advocate solutions.

Some are strictly nonpartisan, researching policy issues

without regard to political outcomes, while others main

functions is to providing intellectual support to politicians or

parties.

Not partisan; free from party affiliation, bias, or

designation

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American Enterprise Institute - Conservative

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AEI Papers and Studies

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AEI Education Papers and Studies

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Center for American Progress (CAP) - Liberal

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CAP Publications

Note the range of reports: business, economics, the

environment, domestic policy, education, national security, and

foreign affairs.

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Articles on Teacher Pay

AEI Center for American Progress

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Google Site-limited Searchintitle:”climate change” AND site:www.aei.org

NOTE

All the results have the phrase climate change and

are from AEI.org.

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Google Site-limited Searchintitle:”climate change” AND site:www.americanprogress.org

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Think Tanks on Portaportal

Other Categories

ConservativeDirectory of International Think Tanks

Issue-orientedLiberal and Progressive

Libertarian Lobbying Firms and Individuals

Media Watch and Information VerificationThink Tank Search Engine (Policybot)

http://guest.portaportal.com/barronthinktanks

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Portaportal Online Bookmarks

www.portaportal.com

GUEST ACCESS LOGIN

barroncrsreports

barronthinktanks

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Research Strategy Recommendation Search Topic/Issue-oriented Source

IPL and INFOMINE are evaluated sources.

Use Portaportal – CRS Reports or Think Tanks

http://guest.portaportal.com/barroncrsreports

http://guest.portaportal.com/barronthinktanks

For CRS Reports - Browse the UNT directory and search

the UNT site

Search Google with site-limited query

intitle:”the topic” AND site:think tank web’s address

Bookmark the results53

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Summary CRS Report and Think Tanks provide high quality non-

partisan, but not unbiased, research articles and papers.

The authors and experts might answer your requests e-mail or

phone.

ProCon.org covers both sides of controversial issues.

E-mail Kami Akhavan with your comments and

recommendations. kami@procon.org

Consider setting a Portaportal account for a topic.

Websites Cited

Congressional Research Service

-- http://www.loc.gov/crsinfo/

Library of Congress Science Tracer Bullets

-- http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/tracer-bullets/

Federation of American Scientists

-- http://www.fas.org

INFOMINE

-- http://infomine.ucr.edu/WVPT 2012 NTTI 55

Websites Cited

Internet Public Library

-- http://www.ipl.org

University of North Texas Digital Library

-- http://digital.library.unt.edu/explore/collections/CRSR

Portaportal Accounts

-- http://guest.portaportal.com/barroncrsreports

-- http://guest.portaportal.com/barronthinktanks

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