Research Guides: U.S. Elections &amp; Foreign Policy POLS 3550: Home

Libary Scavenger Hunt

Library Scavenger Hunt Research Prep 2023 – Upload to Canvas by the end of Tuesday. (9/5)

For Academic sources:

Use Google Scholar, JSTOR, or Academic Search Complete to find a recent (in the last 10 years!) academic article in a political science journal or by a political scientist on U.S. public opinion and the foreign policy issue of your choice. (Make sure that it is something that you will want to read for the Article Analysis assignment in week 3!)

1. Provide citation using author/date Chicago Style (see link at the start of the module)
2. Save the article for next week (if you have time, you might start reading)

For News sources:

Research on news sources using the database Nexis Uni on the Temple library website at: https://library.temple.edu" (note: use author/date Chicago style citation for references)

How many op-ed pieces (opinion or editorial) pieces appeared in the New York Times stories on trade policy ran during the first 100 days of
1. the Bush Administration?
2. the Obama Administration?
3. the Trump Administration?
4. The Biden Administration?
Pick a comparison (regional/national news, U.S./foreign news, conservative-leaning/liberal-leaning news outlet, or t.v. news transcript/print article) and for each side of the pair, find an op-ed article on the U.S. rejoining the Paris Agreement (2021). Print out and/or save to disk for later class use.
1. Provide citations for both articles using author/date Chicago Style:
2. Is it pro-rejoining, anti-rejoining, or mixed?
3. What led you to this determination? (Among other answers, you might think about terms used and the placement of those terms in the title and text.)
Pick a comparison (regional/national news, U.S./foreign news, conservative-leaning/liberal-leaning news outlet, or TV. news transcript/print article) and for each side of the pair, find a news article (not op-ed) on the same foreign policy decision (of your choice) from each of the paired sources. Print out and/or save to disk for later class use.
1. Provide citations for both articles using author/date Chicago Style
2. Describe how you determined a “match.” Same exact date? Within the same time period? Same subject title?
Find access to your local newspaper and search for the most recent article on the foreign policy of your choice (trade policy, participation in the WHO, North Korea…).
1. Provide citation (author/date Chicago style) and briefly summarize the point of the article:
2. Was it a reprint from the AP or from one of the paper’s own journalists?
Use the Census to characterize politically relevant geographical entities

My congressional district: https://www.census.gov/mycd/
State-level international trade:
https://www.trade.gov/data-visualization/state-economy-and-trade-factsheets

For the following political geographies, find the proportion of bachelor’s degree (and higher) holders to non-bachelor degree holders. Make sure to note the state and district below.
1. Nation: _______________
2. State (_____________): _______________
3. Congressional District (_____________): _______________
For the following political geographies, find the median household income:
1. National: _______________
2. State (enter state name here_____________): _______________
3. Congressional District (enter CD # here _____________): _______________
Bonus questions: Roughly what percentage of your state and congressional district earns less than the median national household income?
1. State (enter state name here _____________): ____________%___
2. Congressional District (enter CD # here _____________): ____________%___
For the following, list the top 3 industries for employment (by #s employed, not payroll).
1. For your congressional district: _________________________________________
2. For your state: ______________________________________________________
For your state (_____________) list the following:
1. Top 3 exports
2. Top 3 imports
3. Top 3 export destinations (outside of the U.S., don’t look at state-to-state exports)
4. Top 3 import countries
Using official government sources such as Congress.Gov or those directly drawing from them.
Find your representatives’ (H.R. and both Senators) vote on the Trade Promotion Authority of 2015 and the USMCA.
1. Senator 1 name and vote _____________________________________
2. Senator 2 name and vote _____________________________________
3. HR (district) name and vote _____________________________________
Find the number of “Foreign Trade and International Finance” bills that were introduced and how many became law during the: (https://www.congress.gov/search)