Interdisciplinary Studies 242: The Arts and Democracy

Slide 1: Policy Paper Bibliographies - - Where'd They Find That?

[Image: St. Olaf Libraries & IT logo]

Slide 2:  Policy Paper Bibliographies

This slideshow reviews some of the bibliographies from the sample policy papers Dr. Epstein provided in your assignment guidelines. The slides explain where you could look to find those materials, to get a sense of where policymakers do their research.

Slide 3: Saving the Liberal Arts

[Image: title page of the report Saving the Liberal Arts, which includes a picture of students raising their hands in a classroom]

This report is about ensuring that a liberal arts education, like the one you’re getting at St. Olaf, will translate into actual employment. It relies heavily on research in higher ed and economics, so the bibliography sources materials from education and econ databases.

Slide 4: Econ Articles in Saving the Liberal Arts

[Image: screenshot of the end notes for the report Saving the Liberal Arts.]

The first end note cites an article from the journal, Economics of Education Review. I annotated the citation to indicate this article can be found in the economics database, EconLit.

Slide 5: News Articles in Saving the Liberal Arts

[Image: screenshot of the end notes for the report Saving the Liberal Arts.]

The second end note cites an article from the Wall Street Journal  and another one from the Atlantic. I annotated this citation to indicate that articles from newspapers and news magazines can be found in the database Nexis Uni. This database is sometimes called by its earlier name, Lexis Nexis.

Slide 6: Surveys and States in Saving the Liberal Arts

[Image: screenshot of the end notes for the report Saving the Liberal Arts.]

The sixth end note cites the American Community Survey. The annotation reads, "I wasn't sure what the American Community Survey was, so I googled it. It is a survey run by the U.S. Census Bureau, and we have direct links to it on our LibGuide for Statistical Information: https://libraryguides.stolaf.edu/stats."

Slide 7: Arts, Health and Well-Being...

[Image: screenshot of the title page for the report Arts, Health, and Well-Being across the Military Continuum. The cover illustration includes icons for for military dogtags, paint palettes, dancers, books, music notes, and a hospital.]

This report is about the role the arts play in maintaining mental and physical health amongst veterans and active servicepeople. It relies heavily on research in medicine and military statistics, so the bibliography sources materials from government, military, and health sciences databases.

Slide 8: Defunct Websites in Arts, Health...

[Image: screenshot of page 47 of the references for this report]

The first two references cite materials accessed from the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center. The first reference is for a webpage. The annotation reads, "The DVBIC still exists; its website does not. I went to the WayBack Machine at archive.org and entered the URL to find this info."

The second reference is for a document that was downloaded from the DVBIC webpage. The annotation reads, "The WayBack Machine did not crawl deep enough to capture this file. I think I found the same data through the Reference Center at health.mil, the government site for military health data."

Slide 9: Psychology Articles in Arts, Health...

[Image: screenshot of page 47 of the references for this report]

The fifth citation in the reference list is for an article about treating depression. The annotation reads, "Since this article is about depression, I searched for and found it in PsycInfo."

Slide 10: Complete Books in Arts, Health...

[Image: screenshot of page 47 of the references for this report]

The 6th and 8th references are to entire books. The annotation reads, "Since these two are complete books, rather than articles or websites, I searched for and found them in Catalyst."

Slide 11: Medical Articles in Arts, Health...

[Image: screenshot of page 47 of the references for this report]

Multiple references point towards articles in medical journals. The annotation reads, "All of these medical articles? Look for them in MEDLINE."

Slide 12: PoliSci Articles in Arts, Health...

[Image: screenshot of page 47 of the references for this report]

One of the articles analyzes U.S. casualty statistics. The annotation reads, "This material is indexed in the Politics Collection, a group of PoliSci databases including PolicyFile."

Slide 13: Government Publications in Arts, Health...

[Image: screenshot of page 47 of the references for this report]

One of the articles is a report from the VA (Veterans' Affairs).The annotation reads, "Publications from government agencies, like the VA, are listed in the Catalog of U.S. Government Publications at https://catalog.gpo.gov/."

Slide 14: Summary

Depending on your topic, you will need to look in lots of places, not just Arts databases, to find support for your proposals. Check out:

• government publications
• census data
• medical and/or psychological research
• political and social science research

If you need research help, be sure to contact Karen Olson (music, fine arts) or Ann Schaenzer (politics, economics, statistics). 

All of the research librarians can be contacted here: https://www.stolaf.edu/library/research/students.cfm