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Do you need to know more about a foreign country? Having trouble finding statistics or specific data dealing with countries around the world? Look no further. The librarians have compiled this list of resources that will direct you to all kinds of print and electronic resources for looking up other countries.
Books
- The Europa world year book. 2006. Ref. 341.184 Eu74
This is a very useful source for contemporary history regarding a country. (See a sample page from the entry on Botswana.)
- Statesman's year-book. 2007. Ref. 310 St1 2007
- Political handbook of the world. 2007. Ref. 320.2 P757
- World bank country studies. (These are located at various call numbers.)
This is a series of publications on various economic aspects of a single country. To discover if there is a title in this series on the country you are researching, search in the Online Catalog under "world bank country study x" -- where x is the name of the country for which you're searching-- and select Keyword search. You can do this through the Basic OR Advanced Search Screens in the Online Catalog. (Note the World Development Indicators Database as a source for country data from World Bank research and other sources.)
- World economic outlook: a survey by the staff of the International Monetary Fund. 1992-2007. Main Collection 330.9 W89e
- United Nations Statistical Yearbook. Latest edition (2006) at Reference 310.58Un3.
Some, if not all, of this data is available online at: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic/social/default.htm
Starting Points for Online Country Information
- CountryWatch
CountryWatch is a great place to get started with research on foreign countries. The Library pays for access to this database which provides an up-to-date series of publications for each country including demographic, political, economic, business, cultural and environmental information, as well as daily news coverage for every country in the world and a significant news archive made up of the compendium of regional news carriers. A new feature includes a five-year macroeconomic forecast for each country and a 20-year forecast of energy demand, supply, and pricing for every country. You can find images, data, reports, and all sorts of other useful sets of information here at CountryWatch.
- Portals to the World (The Library of Congress)
Portals to the World contains selective links providing authoritative, in-depth information about the nations and other areas of the world. They are arranged by country or area with the links for each sorted into a wide range of broad categories. The links were selected by Area Specialists and other Library staff using Library of Congress selection criteria.
- Internet Public Library
A rich clearinghouse for web sites on many topics. See especially the page that directs to
Regional and Country Information
- Country data from several sources is available through Business Source Premier
- Go to the
 link
- Select the option to
- Type the name of the country for which you are searching and click Browse
Finding Articles
These databases are available through the Zondervan Library's web site. If prompted, you may need to log in to the ezproxy server, which allows for access in non-networked computers to users with a valid ID and password (use your TU login).
- Business Source Premier
Contains indexing and full-text to over 3,200 business periodicals of which more than 1,100 are scholarly, peer-reviewed journals. These periodicals cover fields such as management, economics, finance, accounting, international business. It also includes country economic reports from the EIU, Global Insight, ICON Group and CountryWatch, especially useful resources for development economics research.
- JSTOR
A collection of peer-reviewed journals, digitized and indexed usually back to the inception of the periodical title. In some cases this is the only basis for electronic indexing to those older volumes. To browse the list of journals in JSTOR by subject click here. Everything in JSTOR is full-text. One way to find successful results is to search Google Scholar. In the Google Scholar search box, type your desired search terms adding "JSTOR" after.
- Columbia International Affairs Online
CIAO bills itself as "the most comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs." It lists materials from a wide variety of sources, such as think tanks and NGOs, in addition to coverage of selected books and periodicals.
- Library PressDisplay
With more than 500 newspapers from Algeria to Zimbabwe available the day they are published, PressDisplay offers current world news coverage like no other service out there. There are more than thirty newspapers from the UK alone. Not only can you read the latest edition of these papers online, you can print, email, or even blog an article. "Smart navigating" is available for select newspapers, a feature which allows you to activate an audio version of an article and create an English (or other) translation. (The title list indicates these options through an icon.) You can also search for keywords across the newspapers available through PressDisplay. For example, a search on "Putin and Iran" returns over 500 articles. The up-to-date coverage goes back 60 days, thus providing only the most current news.
- Academic Search Premier
Provides indexing and abstracts to over 8,100 periodicals with full-text to nearly 4,500 periodicals.
More Online Resources
- Country Studies (Library of Congress)
Presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world. The series examines the interrelationships of those systems and the ways they are shaped by cultural factors.
- The World Factbook (CIA)
A vast collection of country information from around the world, the CIA World Factbook is a credible web source for statistical, geographic, political, and a plethora of other details on specific nations around the world. It is updated every two weeks.
- Development Gateway
A portal or "gateway" searchable by country under which you are directed to a variety of economic and development resources.
- World Development Indicators Database
The data presented here are the most widely-used, official-source development data from the World Bank and other international agencies. The site also provides country profiles, which are drawn from the World Development Indicators (WDI) database-the World Bank's primary database for cross-country comparable development data.
- International Data Base (IDB)
Provides demographic and socioeconomic data from various countries of the world.
- International Monetary Fund (IMF)
See especially Financial Data by Country and also the country index. The IMF was "established to promote international monetary cooperation, exchange stability, and orderly exchange arrangements; to foster economic growth and high levels of employment; and to provide temporary financial assistance to countries to help ease balance of payments adjustment." It provides data to meet those ends.
Citation Help
- The Chicago manual of style. 2003. Ref 808.042 Un3c
- WorldCat.org
"Cite this item" within individual item record lists the citation in APA, MLA, Chicago and more.
- RefWorks
A citation management program that allows you to collect and organize citations, create bibliographies and works cited pages, and format papers and bibliographies to a specific citation style.
- Also, contact the Writing Center at writingctr@taylor.edu or visit them on the Portal under the Academics tab.
Product descriptions on this page are incorporated from book reviews and product descriptions from various sources.
Ask-A-Librarian for more information
Created by Lana Gottschalk, Reference Librarian
Last revised May 1, 2008
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