Economy

The economy is on everyone’s mind, so here are a few links to get you started.

Understanding the Situation

• CQ Researcher [NYU Only]
  Published weekly, this resource devotes each issue to a hot topic.  A great backgrounding source for understanding our current economic situation and government response.

Banks

• BankTracker
  This project provides financial information about banks based on extracted FDIC data. Allows you to search for banks that have received TARP money, and more. Created by the Investigative Writing Workshop at American University.
• Beige Book – Current Economic Conditions by Federal Reserve District
  These are published 8 times per year and provide a summary of economic conditions in each Federal Reserve District.

Statistics about the Economy

• Bureau of Economic Analysis: Department of Commerce
  Provides timely economic data.
• US Census Bureau: Economic Indicators
  Provides latest economic indicators (statistics).

Religion

Getting Started

• Encyclopedia of Religion via Gale Virtual Reference Library
  
• NYU Libraries Religion Subject Guide
• Oxford Reference Online (click on Religion)

Statistics

• Association of Religion Data Archives
• Pew Forum on Religion and Life
• North American Jewish Databank
• Pluralism Project (Harvard University)

Finding Scholarly Articles and Experts

• ATLA Religion Database
• SocIndex

Presidential Election 2008

What is a specific state saying about a candidate?

• Search state sources in LexisNexis. Here’s how:
  Go to Sources > Search for “<state name> news”; ex. “new york news” > you’ll see a file that comes up called New York News > Checkmark it > click OK > You’ll now be searching this category.
  LexisNexis Tips for finding info on the Presidential Election

What issues are important to a state?

• Stateline.org
  Includes state issues, blogs, and state speeches

Finding polling places

• Search Google for “board of elections” and <the state name>

Biographical Info

Questions to ask yourself

1. How well-known is this person? If a person is well-known, s/he is more likely to have an entry in a reference book or standard source.
2. What is the ethnicity of this person? There are many sources that provide bio info for individuals of a specific ethnicity.
3. Is this person alive or dead?
4. What field does this person work in(business, the arts, etc.)?
   

Basic Info

• Ancestry Library
  Use this source to identify D.O.B., family members, and addresses of individuals.
• QuickRef Biographical Sources
  Click on the Biographies category and you’ll get a list of resources useful for finding biographical info. Note: People usually have to be somewhat important to be listed in these sources.
• Subject-specific biographical sources
  If the individual is associated with a specific field, you should try locating a subject encyclopedia. For example, the Grove Dictionary of Art would be a useful source if you were covering an artist.
• International Who’s Who [NYU-Only]
  brings together current and hard-to-find biographical information on almost 60,000 of the most gifted, famous and influential men and women in all fields
• Who’s Who
  Who’s Who publishes a variety of directories in different areas (Who’s Who in Advertising, Who’s Who in Science), etc. Some of these are available in print in Bobst Library. To find them search Bobcat for “who’s who.”

Finding Articles

• LexisNexis
  • How to find an Obituary on LexisNexis
• Factiva
• Proquest
  To find an obituary, go to Advanced Search; select Document Type from the pulldown menu; click on “look up document types”; select Obituaries.
• Subject-specific database
  Can be useful if your person was well-known and/or a scholar in a certain field.

Generation Y

Statistics

• FedStats
• Statistical Universe [NYU-Only]
  Search by keyword; includes statistics from government agencies, as well as associations.
• Virtual Business Library [NYU-Only]
  Provides links to marketing databases which may provide lifestyle statistics.
• The Millennials :Americans born 1977 to 1994 [BOOK: 1st Floor Reference HQ796.M4797 2006]
  

Determining who may have already written about your topic

• LexisNexis [NYU-Only]

Finding experts and scholarly material

• Find an association
  • Encyclopedia of Associations [NYU-Only]
• Search a scholarly database to find an expert
  • Find Databases By Subject
    Examples:
    • PsycINFO[NYU-Only]
    • SocIndex with Full Text[NYU-Only]
    • Proquest[NYU-Only]

• Try searching Google to see if there has been a conference on your topic. Conference speakers can be a useful source.
  
• Search to see if there are any experts at NYU

Other Resources

• USC Marshall Demographics Resources for Youth (includes Gen Y)
  Links to freely available reports on Gen Y.
• Ypulse.com
  Marketing publication for Gen Y

Health and Medical Reporting

Keeping up/Generating ideas

• Scienceblogs.com
• eDrugSearch.com’s World’s Top Blogs on Health and Medicine
• Postgenomic.com
  “keep up to date with hot papers”

Find Articles and Research Studies

• PubMed FREE!
  “PubMed is a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine that includes over 18 million citations from MEDLINE and other life science journals for biomedical articles back to the 1950s. PubMed includes links to full text articles and other related resources.”
• PsycINFO
  For scholarly psychology articles

Statistics

• Centers for Disease Control
• World Health Organization

Real Estate

Zillow
Real estate info for the US

StreetEasy
Real estate info for New Jersey and New York.

WalkScore
Allows you to type in an address and get a “walkscore” (measures walkability of neighborhood). Includes a list of the most walkable neighborhoods in the US.

NYU Jack Brause Real Estate Library Research Guides
These are guides to resources for specific real estate topics. The Jack Brause Library is located at 11 West 42nd Street in Room 510; NYU students have access to this library.