IFS: Poverty in the United States
1. Getting Started
Poverty in America: An Encyclopedia. Edited by Russell M. Lawson and Benjamin A. Lawson. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 2008.
→Reference Reading Room: HV110 .P6 L375 2008
Poverty in the United States: an encyclopedia of history, politics, and policy / edited by Gwendolyn Mink and Alice O'Connor. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, 2004.
→Reference Reading Room: HC110.P6 P598 2004
Encyclopedia of Social Welfare Policy / edited by John M. Herrick and Paul H. Stewart. (Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage, 2005
→ Reference Reading Room: HV12 .E497 2005
2. Find Articles
Good idea: browse relevant journals--see selections under "Useful Electronic Journals" below.
Better: search Social Work Abstracts or Social Services Abstracts. (Find links to both under "Recommended Resources, top left.)
Here are some sample searches to get you started:
"poverty" as a keyword anywhere = 6629 results
"poverty and health" = 1924 results
every time you ADD a search term, your result set gets smaller and more relevant:
"poverty children and health" = 641 results
As you enter keywords, the database suggests search strings to select:
"health of children and poverty and united states" = 343 results
Use the options on the right-hand menu to refine results by source type, subject, date, etc.
Click "Find a copy" to instruct IULink to locate the article you want. If we have it online, the link will appear in a new window. If we don't have it online, IULink will give you an IUCAT option which takes you to our library catalog to find out if we have the journal in print.
Request article delivery: If you don't want to take the time to search the shelves yourself, the library will scan articles for you for free (up to 25 per month). This is a FREE service, but it will take a few days. Go to this site, login, and fill out the form as completely as possible: https://www.dds.iub.edu/logon.html .
Save, Print, Email: Mark the records you want to print, email, or cite.
Print records, download them to a file, or email them to your friends and relations.
Use "Cite" option to automagically create a bibliography! Copy and paste into your paper.
4. Searching for books in IUCAT:
Try: "poverty" and click on SUBJECT. (2920 hits found)
Combine with keywords for your topic.
5. Useful Websites
http://www.npc.umich.edu/ (the National Poverty Center)
http://www.nccp.org/ (the National Center for Children in Poverty)
http://www.jcpr.org/ (the Joint Center for Poverty Research)
http://www.urban.org/ (The Urban Institute)
http://www.brookings.edu/ (The Brookings Institution)
6. Useful Electronic Journals
Poverty & public policy
Poverty & race
Poverty In Focus
Journal of poverty
Journal of children & poverty
Gender, Growth and Poverty Reduction
Georgetown journal on poverty law & policy
Hastings race and poverty law journal
Teaching Children of Poverty
Esurio: Journal of Hunger and Poverty
Research Briefs / Oregon State University, Rural Poverty Research Center (RUPRI)
Need More Help?
Moira Marsh: molsmith@indiana.edu
Ask a Librarian: contact our reference department by email, chat, or phone.
Revised 7/11/11 Moira Marsh
