Online Government Information Reference Sources
While many authoritative government information reference sources appear in print–one such example being the CIA World Factbook–many reference sources are increasingly being made accessible in electronic formats. This page features an annotated bibliography of electronically available government information reference sources, including encyclopedias, reader’s companions, dictionaries and glossaries.
Selected Credo Reference Titles
Credo is a commercial content provider subscribed to by the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Access to the following titles is available through computers with an on-campus Internet connection, or off-campus with a valid University NetID and password.
American History and Politics
- Written by contemporary authorities, the volume features many Native American contributors – including eminent writers, tribal elders, scholars, and activists – with voices as distinct as their subjects, offering a nuanced portrait of American Indian life, past and present.
- Focuses on the growth and expansion of banking, securities, and insurance from the colonial period right up to the incredible growth of the stock market during the 1990s and the attack on the World Trade Center in 2001.
- The chronologically arranged biographies examine each first lady’s early years and education, her family life, her presidential years, and her legacy.
- Designed to answer questions about the makeup, purpose, use, and availability of economic indicators in a broad sense of the term, this book includes entries on indicators, many of which are new to this edition. In addition to identifying and describing indicators, the entries show how they are calculated, where they are published, how they are used, where their values are published, and where one can find further information about them.
- Offers entries covering the critical events, issues and individuals that have shaped American History.
- Reference guide to historical events and persons with an impact on the evolution of women’s rights in the United States.
- Contains essays illustrated with time lines, data boxes, and short essays on presidential families.
Comparative Politics
- A comprehensive encyclopedia covering the close ties between Britain and the whole of the Americas, examining Britain’s cultural and political legacy to the nations of the New World.
- Provides in-depth, authoritative discussions of the key concepts, developments, institutions, policies, negotiations, treaties, national interests, personalities, etc., related to European integration.
- A guide to the events, personnel, policies and institutions relevant to the government and politics of the United Kingdom.
- A guide to the apparatus of government in Australia, to Australian political institutions, parties, pressure groups, politicians, electoral systems, and to political theory as it has developed in Australia and affected the Australian system.
- Contains A-Z entries on the history of Britain, from ancient and Roman Britain to the present day. Each entry lists 6-12 of the best-known books on the subject, then discusses those works in an essay of 800 to 1,000 words prepared by an expert in the field.
- Reference guide to world political developments following World War II, continuing through the Cold War era, and extending to the present day.
Cultural Studies
- A guide to the academic discipline of cultural studies. Comprehensive and up-to-date.
Economics and Trade
- A comprehensive collection of entries, essays, and primary source documents emphasizing the importance of economic policy in all aspects of life in the United States.
- Provides reference guidance on the history of trade in all time periods, tracing the historical and contemporary interaction of trade, commerce, and culture.
- A detailed an international guide for students and professionals covering general economic terms, economic theory, applied economics, the history of economics, and economists.
- Guide to the most frequently cited academic economists throughout the world.
Geography
- CIA World Factbook [Freely accessible through CIA.gov]
- Contains extensive information on all the countries of the world. Published by the Central Intelligence Agency.
- The Dictionary includes short definition entries (see, for example, the entries for plantation and dry farming) and longer, interpretative essays on human geography and its major sub-fields (such as geopolitics, development, and spatiality), thereby providing readers with a contextual background to the terms. By directing readers to the major sources for further information, the Dictionary also serves as a companion to geographical literature.
- Features factorial page spreads and full-color photographs providing wide-ranging perspectives on human and physical geography.
Military History
- This illustrated encyclopedia traces the stories of spies, intelligence, and counterintelligence throughout history, both internationally and in the United States.
Political Science
- An introduction to the terminology of political science for students and general readers. The book comprises definitions and explanations of key terms, including short biographies of prominent writers in the discipline – both classical (e.g. Mill) and modern (e.g. Hayek).
- Terms covering world politics, international relations, local and national government and the European Union.
- Captures the aims and scope of nationalism. This volume covers fundamental themes.
- Captures the aims and scope of nationalism. This volume covers leaders, movements, and concepts.
- Covers alphabetically both the major concepts in political theory and the key writers in the field.
- A comprehensive examination of the history and current status of immigrants and refugees—their stories, the events that led to their movement, and the place of these movements in contemporary history and politics.
- Reference source covering topics in international environmental politics.
- Systematic introduction to the critical concepts, structures and professional practices of political communication.
- A–Z guide to five centuries of propaganda, in both wartime and peacetime, which covers key moments, techniques, concepts, and some of the most influential propagandists in history.
- Reference guide to the development and modern usage of public opinion polling mechanisms.
United States Government Information
- Contains a multitude of facts about people, business and geography. Gathered over a period of ten years and compiled by experts, the census is presented here as dynamic tables.
World History
- Facts about historical events, periods, and personalities available under alphabetically arranged headword entries. Coverage extends across every continent and every century of history.
- Contains entries providing clear and authoritative coverage of the most significant people, ideas and events of world history.
- A comprehensive chronology of entries that span the millennia from prehistoric times to the year 2000.