Political Science 199
Prof. Marie Henehan
Spring 2007
 

ESSL = Education and Social Science Library    RL = Reference Library

GDL = Government Documents Library    UIUC = UIUC users only 

When applying for an internship in a congressional office, it is important to express enthusiasm for the work of the senator or representative.  It is impossible to do so without knowledge of the legislator's interests and achievements, as well as familiarity with his or her district.  The following collection of resources is designed to facilitate the process of gathering and evaluating information on any member of Congress.  By drawing on these sources, you not only show interest in the legislator--you demonstrate your ability to conduct research.

Researching Legislators
Researching Congressional Districts
Researching an Issue
Ask a Librarian

Researching Legislators

Databases

LexisNexis Congressional  UIUC

The LexisNexis (LN) Congressional interface is the key to a wide variety of information related to congressmen and women.  Click on Members & Committees in the left menu bar.  Begin by entering the legislator's name and then indicate the type of records you need.  You may choose information on bill sponsorship, campaign contributions and contributors, financial disclosure, and votes.  Floor statements and personal profiles are also available.  Indicate the period you want to consider, beginning with the most recent and working backwards.  WARNING:  How you enter the person's name may affect the search results dramatically.

Opensecrets.org

Click on the Who Gets menu to identify contributors to each of a legislator's campaigns.

Thomas

The Government Resources link leads the user to congressional committee sites, House election statistics, biographies, and detailed district maps.  You can also use Thomas to gain access to the full text of almost any recent congressional document.  (LexisNexis is not the only source of congressional publications.)

Newspapers often print opinion pieces by lawmakers who represent their subscribers.  Search for these first using Access World News, a full-text source providing access to articles at the local, state, national, and international levels.   NEXWorld and the Illinois Newspaper Project Database can help you identify and access newspapers not indexed in Access World News. 

Web Sites

• U.S. House of Representatives

• U.S. Senate

Researching Congressional Districts

Almanac of American Politics  328.73 AL62  ESSL  GDL  RL

Organized by state, this authoritative source describes districts, their voting histories, and their congressional representatives.  Information on senators and their states is also available.  If you cannot access this resource through the Library's Online Research Resources page, click on the I to the left of the title and then click on the URL that appears.

American FactFinder

Use this database to find demographic, social, and economic data on the population of any district.  Follow these steps:

• Hover over Data Sets in the column to the left and select the Decennial Census.

• Cursor down to Congressional District Summary File (Sample) or Congressional District Summary File (100-percent) for the most recent congress.  The sample data is demographic, and the 100-percent data is primarily social and economic.

• Select the sample or 100-percent data and click on Detailed tables.

• Select a state.

• Highlight the district that interests you and click on Add.

• Click on Next.

• Choose a table selection method.  These include By subject, By keyword, and Show all tables.

• Scroll down the list of tables and highlight one.

• Click on Add.

• Click on Show Result.

Researching an Issue

CQ Electronic Library   UIUC 
Includes the searchable text of several public affairs sources.

Periodicals

CQ Weekly

CQ Weekly is a widely respected source of news and analysis among U.S. public policy researchers.  Prominent legislators are mentioned frequently and sometimes quoted.  

Ask a Librarian

Contact us anytime via our UIUC Government Documents Library E-mail Reference service.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Government Documents Library is the largest and most comprehensive federal depository library in East-Central Illinois.  It receives eighty-five percent of the selections currently available through the U.S. government's Federal Depository Library Program.

Reference assistance is available in person Monday through Friday, 9:00am to 5:00pm.  Stop by or call us at (217) 244-6445.