INTRODUCTION

This research guide is designed for students who are taking the "Economic Justice Seminar" course and the "Economic Justice First Year Elective" course. The Poverty Law Research Guide and Organizing for Social Change Research Guide also offer excellent selections of resources that would be of use to students researching in the area of economic justice.

If you are researching for your seminar paper, our "Research Strategies for Seminar Papers" guide will be very helpful to you. It will guide you through the different steps of research from choosing a topic to preemption check to focusing your research.

BOOKS

When you begin a research project, it is often helpful to have an overview of the topic, to familiarize yourself with the issues, and to learn what words are commonly used to describe them. This will aid greatly when searching for more specific information later.

• Teresa L. Amott & Julie A. Matthei, Race Gender & Work: A Multicultural Economic History of Women in the United States (1991).
  HQ1410 .A46 1991
  
  
• Emma Coleman Jordan & Angela P. Harris, Economic Justice: Race, Gender, Identity and Economics (2005). KF385 .A4 J67 2005
  
  
• Stephen Nathanson, Economic Justice (1998). HB72 .N382 1998
  
  
• Thomas M. Shapiro, The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality (2004). E185.8 S53 2004
  
  
• David K. Shipler, The Working Poor: Invisible in America (2004). HC110 .P6 S48 2004
  
  
• Ross Zucker, Democratic Distributive Justice (2001). INTL, JC423 .Z83 2001
  
  
• Suggested Reading List from United For A Fair Economy (UFE)

For other titles on the subject, search GULLiver for the following subject headings:

• economics - moral and ethical aspects
• distributive justice
• women - United States - economic conditions
• African Americans - economic conditions
• working poor - United States - economic conditions

JOURNALS

1. Selected Journals

• Colorlines: Race, Action, Culture K3 .O3585 (1988-present)
  • indexed on Alternative Press Index, and PAIS
    
    
• Crime, Law and Social Change INTL, K3 .R425 (v. 17-26, 1992-2001)
  • Indexed on PAIS , Social Sciences Index
    
    
• Dissent K4 .I88 (2001-present)
  • Indexed on PAIS , Social Sciences Index
    
    
• Dollars and Sense: the Magazine of Economic Justice [http://www.dollarsandsense.org]
  • indexed on Alternative Press Index, and PAIS
    
    
• Journal of Law and Social Change (continues Hybrid: a Journal of Law and Social Change) [3rd Floor, K10 .O5185] (1993-present)
  
  
• Poverty and Race K16 .O9 (v.5, 1996-present)
  • Indexed on Alternative Press Index (Georgetown Law on campus only)
  • Table of Contents and some full text available at http://www.prrac.org/news.php
    (March 1992-present)
    
• The Progressive Populist [http://www.populist.com] is "an independent newspaper that reports from the Heartland of America on issues of interest to workers, small business people and family farmers and ranchers."
  • also indexed on Alternative Press Index (Georgetown Law on campus only)
    
    
• Social Forces, available on:
  • Hein Online (1992-present, 3-year embargo period)
  • JSTOR (1922-present)
  • Indexed on PAIS , Social Sciences Index
    
    
• Social Justice K23 .O1905 (v. 15, 1988-present)
  • Indexed on PAIS , Social Sciences Index

To find out whether a journal is available in full text on any of the databases you have access to through the Law Library or the Main Campus Libraries, open E-Journal Finder. Choose "All" in the "Choose to view per Library" drop-down box and type the title of your journal. The result will be a list of databases that include your journal. Tutorial

2. Databases/Indexes

A more efficient way of searching for relevant articles on your topic than browsing journals is to search in journal databases or indexes. For instructions on how to search journal indexes and full-text databases efficiently and explanations on why searching journal indexes is a more effective method for articles research than full-text searching, consult "Using Articles for Legal and Non-Legal Research" research guide. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of this course, we are including many different types of databases.

Legal Journal Full Text Databases:

Westlaw and Lexis each cover about 400+ full-text journals back to the late 1980's (much overlap between the two systems)

• Westlaw's JLR database
• Lexis: Legal > Secondary Legal > Law Reviews & Journals > US Law Reviews and Journals, Combined

Legal Journal Indexes:

• Legal Periodicals and Books (formerly Index to Legal Periodicals)Tutorial
  Citations to articles from over 700 legal publications, plus monographs published in 1993 or later. Periodical coverage begins in August 1981. Legal Periodicals and Books Retro covers 1918-1981 Tutorial
  Available at:
  • Library subscription http://www.law.georgetown.edu/connect/ilp.cfm (Georgetown Law only)
  • Westlaw: ILP
  • Lexis: Legal > Secondary Legal > Annotations & Indexes > Index to Legal Periodicals
    
• LegalTrac (also known as Legal Resource Index) Tutorial
  Cumulative indexing of approximately 800 legal publications. Also includes law related articles from more than 1,000 additional business and general interest periodicals. Coverage begins in 1980. Available at:
  • Library subscription http://www.law.georgetown.edu/connect/legaltrac.cfm
  • Westlaw: LRI
  • Lexis > Legal > Secondary Legal > Annotations & Indexes > Legal Resource Index

Political Science Databases

• International Political Science Abstracts indexes and abstracts articles from major political science journals. Covers theory, government, political process, international relations, and national and area studies.
  
  
• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts indexes and abstracts articles from over 1,400 political science and international relations journals. (1975-present)

Race, Ethnic/Gender Studies Databases

• Contemporary Women's Issues (Georgetown Law only) Focuses on the critical issues and events that influence women‰s lives in more than 190 countries. 98% of the 2000 available sources published by over 250 organizations around the world are available full-text.
  
  
• Gender Watch (Georgetown Law only) Full text database of diverse publications (including scholarly journals, magazines, newspapers, government and NGO reports, etc.) that focus on the impact of gender across a broad spectrum of subject areas. (1970-present)
  
  
• Hispanic American Periodical Index (Hapi Online) (Georgetown Law only) Bibliographic citations to articles, book reviews, documents, original literary works, and other materials appearing in more than 400 key social science and humanities journals published throughout the world. Covers Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Hispanics in the U.S. (1970-present)

Broader Social Science Databases

• Alt-Press Watch (Georgetown Law only) Full text database of newspapers, magazines and journals from alternative and independent presses.
  
  
• Social Sciences Index (Georgetown Law only) Indexes articles in all areas of the social sciences, from 350 English-language journals. Covers anthropology, ethnic studies, economics, environment, geography, health, law and criminology, public administration, political science, psychology, sociology, urban studies and women's studies. 1983 - present.
  
  
• Sociological Abstracts (Georgetown Law on campus only) A primary resource for accessing the latest research in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences.
  
  
• SSRN: Social Science Research Network (Georgetown Law only) includes 10 research networks. It is a good source for journal articles that have yet to be published and working papers. Many articles and papers are available for full-text download. The following networks are more relevant to this topic, but you can search across all networks.
  • Legal Scholarship Network (LSN)
  • Social Insurance Research Network (SIRN)

Broader Academic Journal Databases

• Academic Search Premier (Georgetown Law only) Provides full text for 3,467 publications covering academic areas of study including social sciences, humanities, education, and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies. A total of 4,425 titles are abstracted and indexed, of which 2,591 are peer-reviewed.Tutorial
  
  
• ProQuest Research Library (Georgetown Law only) Indexes and abstracts to articles in more than 1800 general publications, with varying coverage dates, most beginning in the late 1980's. Also, complete articles for approximately 200 popular periodicals.Tutorial

GOVERNMENT REPORTS AND THINK TANK REPORTS

The following databases are excellent sources of government reports and think tank reports:

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the investigative arm of Congress. "Its mission is to support Congress in meeting its Constitutional responsibilities (e.g. oversight, policy, and funding decision) and to help improve the performance and accountability of the Federal Government for the American People." Most GAO reports are done at the request of members of Congress.

• GAO Reports
  The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is the investigative arm of Congress. "Its mission is to support Congres in meeting its Constitutional responsibilities (e.g. oversight, policy, and funding decision) and to help improve the performance and accountability of the Federal Government for the American People." Most GAO reports are done at the request of members of Congress.
  
  
• PolicyFile (1990-) (Georgetown Law only) Indexes and abstracts public policy research and analyses originating from think tanks, university research programs, research organizations, and publishers (includes GAO Reports, but not CRS Reports). Where available, access to home pages and full text are made available within individual abstracts.
  
  
• PAIS International (1972-) Indexes public policy and public affairs literature.
  
  
• CQ Researcher (Georgetown Law only) Weekly publication covers the most current and controversial issues of the day with complete summaries, insight into all sides of the issues, bibliographies and more.
  
  
• Congressional Research Service Reports (CRS Reports) These are non-partisan and in-depth reports produced by the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of the Library of Congress, on a variety of topics for Congress. They are not widely available, but a few libraries have been collecting and making them accessible:
  • Thurgood Marshall Library, University of Maryland
  • University of North Texas Library
  • Open CRS: Congressional Research Reports for the People
    A project of the Center for Democracy & Technology that serves as a centralized location to learn about the Congressional Research Service and search for CRS reports that have been released to the public by members of Congress. Provides report summaries.
  • The Law Library also has a collection of CRS Reports on microfiche. Check the index to this collection to find out if the CRS report you are looking for is in the collection. The index is called: A Guide to Major Studies and Issue Briefs of the Congressional Research Service [Media, JK1108 .M34 Index/Guide]

NEWSPAPERS AND TRANSCRIPTS OF TV/RADIO PROGRAMS

• ProQuest (Georgetown Law only) provides access to full-text or abstracts of newspaper or magazine articles .Tutorial
  
  
• Lexis: News & Business > Combined Sources > Transcripts provides access to full-text transcripts of TV programs such as the Charlie Rose Show, and TV/radio programs from ABC, Al-Jazeera, CBS News, CNBC, CNN, Fox News Network, MSNBC, National Public Radio, etc.
  
  
• Lexis's News & Business tab and Westlaw's Business & News folder include many different databases with different coverage.
  

ORGANIZATIONS

There are many "economic justice" organizations in the nation. The following list is very selective. The list also includes links to more organizations. For a more comprehensive list of "economic justice" organizations, check Social Inequality and Class - a project based at the University of Amsterdam.

• Alliance for Economic Justice was "formed by 19 labor unions to heighten visibility and focus attention on the three key economic areas of job creation, health care, and trade. This Web site is designed to highlight the effects these issues have on the livelihoods of working men and women. It will provide current information, links to other news sources including the labor movement, legislative developments and reports, and the opportunity for AEJ members to offer comments and viewpoints on job-related and economic matters."
  
  
• Center for Economic and Policy Research
  Established to "promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives," "CEPR conducts both professional research and public education" with an aim to fill important gaps in the understanding of particular economic and social problems, or the impact of specific policies. The Web site provides access to the Center's publications, such as columns and op-eds and economic reporting reviews by publication type and by issues.
  
  
• Equal Justice Society
  It is "a national organization of scholars, advocates and concerned individuals advancing creative legal strategies and public policy for enduring social change." The Web site includes information about their strategic research initiatives.
  
  
• National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
  "The mission of the Law Center is to prevent and end homelessness by serving as the legal arm of the nationwide movement to end homelessness."
  
  
• United For a Fair Economy (UFE) is a nonprofit organization raising awareness that "concentrated wealth and power undermine the economy, corrupt democracy, deepen the racial divide, and tear communities apart." It has three program areas: Tax Education Program, Racial Wealth Divide Education Program, and Global Economy Program. The Web site provides general information about the organizations and its projects (such as the Responsible Wealth project and the Racial Wealth Divide Project), and gives access to UFE publications.
  

WAL-MART SPECIFIC RESOURCES

• Wikipedia's entry on Wal-Mart
  
• Wal-Mart's 2006 Annual Report (PDF)

• Global Insight's study, Measuring the Economic Impact of Wal-Mart on the U.S. Economy. Global Insight is a privately owned, economic, political, and financial forecasting company.

• The Economic Policy Institute's working paper, The Wal-Mart Debate: A false choice between prices and wages.

Revised February 5, 2007 (AT)