Cathy Michael
Background Information
The following resources are additional places to look for background:
Databases
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CQ Researcher
This database contains reports and analysis with opposing viewpoints on current issues.
Contents: Reports including background information and chronology, assessments, pro/con statements, and bibliographies.
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Opposing Viewpoints (Gale in Context)
Contains a range of perspectives on many important social issues and current events, with pro/con viewpoints in an interdisciplinary resource. Areas of focus include science, environmental studies, politics, business, and social sciences.
Contents: Reference articles, viewpoints, infographics, news, periodical content, multimedia, and more.
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Nexis Uni (LexisNexis)
Contents: Full-text local, national, and international newspaper articles and legal resources.
Need search tips? See our guides for tips on Legal Searching and News Searching.
Note: The terms of use of this database place limits on the length of time that users may keep copies of material accessed from this service. Please review the terms before downloading any content.
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Oyez: Supreme Court MultimediaOyez (pronounced oh-yay), a free law project from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute (LII), Chicago-Kent College of Law and Justia.com, is a multimedia archive devoted to making the Supreme Court of the United States accessible to everyone.
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U.S. Code: Table of Popular NamesIf you have the popular name of an Act but do not know where it is codified in the U.S.C., use this table. Wikipedia is actually helpful with this, too!
Books
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Gale Encyclopedia of American LawDescription: Covers today's leading cases, major statutes, legal terms and concepts, notable persons involved with the law, and important documents.
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Black's Law Dictionary, Standard Ninth Edition
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Call Number: Reference Stacks KF156 .B53 2009ISBN: 0314199497Publication Date: 2009With a reputation for quality and authority that is without peer, Black's Law Dictionary is a must-have reference for attorneys, paralegals, judges, and law students. This ninth edition offers more than 45,000 expertly crafted legal definitions containing an additional 2,000 new terms, nearly 3,000 quotations from legal authorities, and selected terms with their date of origin in American and/or British opinions. -
Media and American Courts
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Call Number: Reference Stacks KF9223.5 .A9154 2004ISBN: 1576079791Publication Date: 2004A unique reference work exploring the interaction of ever more pervasive media and the U.S. judicial system in the 20th century. * Glossary definitions written in clear, layman's language describing the terms necessary for a full understanding of media coverage of the judicial system * Biographical sketches of prominent courtroom journalists, lawyers, and judges such as F. Lee Bailey, Marcia Clark, and Johnny Cochran -
Understanding Crime Statistics
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Call Number: General Stacks HV6787 .U52 2007ISBN: 0521680417Publication Date: 2006In Understanding Crime Statistics, Lynch and Addington draw on the work of leading experts on U.S. crime statistics to provide much-needed research on appropriate use of this data. Specifically, the contributors explore the issues surrounding divergence in the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), which have been the two major indicators of the level and of the change in level of crime in the United States for the past 30 years. This book examines recent changes in the UCR and the NCVS and assesses the effect these have had on divergence. By focusing on divergence, the authors encourage readers to think about how these data systems filter the reality of crime. Understanding Crime Statistics builds on this discussion of divergence to explain how the two data systems can be used as they were intended - in complementary rather than competitive ways.
Statistics
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Statista
Subjects are geared towards business and marketing statistical needs, and include consumer goods, media, politics, sports, travel, and technology.
Contents: Statistical information, data, infographics, and tables.
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data.census.gov
The data.census.gov platform provides access to data and digital content from the US Census Bureau including some data previously available through American FactFinder.
Contents: Census data.
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The Accountability Project (TAP)The Accountability Project gives researchers and journalists a powerful, but simple tool to search across data that would otherwise be siloed. Our collection includes more than 1.4 billion public records. From the Reva & David Logan Foundation & the Investigative Reporting Workshop.