Surveying the Literature

1. Surveying the Literature “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Sir Isaac Newton

2. Surveying the Literature When you survey the literature on a subject, you are trying to identify the major studies that have been published to date. But more importantly, you are trying to understand what the studies say and how they relate to one another. Surveying the literature is a key component of the research process.

3. Surveying the Literature • Ethridge (1995, 115) observed that before you can “advance the state of knowledge,” you need to know what the state of knowledge is. So when you survey the literature, you are trying to create your own sense of what is known and what is not known about the subject.

4. Popular publications: are addressed to a general audience; are almost always secondary sources of information; articles in Time magazine or the Economist summarizing articles in the American Economic Review (AER). Scholarly Publications: are addressed to a specialized audience, namely, experts in the field; are often primary sources of information; are original publications of research studies; articles in the American Economic Review (AER). Where to Search

5. Examples of Scholarly Journals • National Journals • American Economic Review • Journal of Political Economy • Quarterly Journal of Economics • Econometrica • Review of Economics and Statistics • Review of Economic Studies

6. Examples of Scholarly Journals • Regional Journals • Economic Inquiry • Southern Economic Journal • Eastern Economic Journal • The Journal of Economics • Publications of Federal Reserve Banks

7. Examples of Scholarly Journals • Specialized Journals • Journal of Urban Economics • Journal of Money, Credit and Banking • Journal of Industrial Economics • Journal of Agricultural Economics

8. Developing an Effective Search Strategy • Browsing means manually examining a document for useful information or reference to useful information. • Keyword Searching uses search engines on the World Wide Web or on specialized databases to locate useful information.

9. AEA/JEL/EconLit Subject Descriptors • A – General Economics and Teaching • B – Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology • C – Mathematical and Quantitative Economics • D – Microeconomics • E – Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics • F - International Economics • G – Financial Economics • H – Public Economics • I – Health, Education, and Welfare

10. AEA/JEL/EconLit Subject Descriptors • J – Labor and Demographic Economics • K – Law and Economics • L – Industrial Organization • M – Business Administration and Business • N – Economic History • O – Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth • P – Economic Systems • Q – Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics • R – Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics • Z – Other Special Topics

11. Expanded AEA Subject Descriptors • A00 – General • A1 – General Economics • A10 – General • A11 – Role of Economics; Role of Economists • A12 – Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines • A13 – Relation of Economics to Social Values • A14 – Sociology of Economics • A19 - Other

12. Expanded AEA Subject Descriptors • A00 – General • A2 – Teaching of Economics • A20 – General • A21 – Pre-College • A22 – Undergraduate • A23 – Graduate • A29 - Other

13. AEA/JEL/EconLit Subject Descriptors The complete classification system can be reviewed at: http://www.aeaweb.org/journal/elclasjn.html

14. International Financial Statistics • At long last, E.I.U. now has access to International Financial Statistics Online, an online database from the IMF.  This serial publication is being paid for jointly by the library's Econ and Business funds. More info on IFS Online is available here:  http://www.imfstatistics.org/imf/about.asp <http://www.imfstatistics.org/imf/about.asp> You can find it linked from the library's subject page for Economics, or search it directly through this link: http://proxy.library.eiu.edu:2048/login?url=http://www.imfstatistics.org/ <http://proxy.library.eiu.edu:2048/login?url=http://www.imfstatistics.org/> Our license is for 1-5 simultaneous users.

15. Foreign Currency Data • http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/currencies/fxc.html

16. Government Data • http://www.data.gov

17. Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research • The Department of Sociology and Anthropology has purchased a membership to the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). This database is available for the entire university to use. Given the nature of the data, the College of Sciences will especially be affected by this, offering both faculty and students a chance to download vast datasets for their research. The IP range for the campus has already been established with ICPSR, allowing for users to establish their own accounts for downloading data.  Simply go to the ICPSR website, browse for data, and establish an account. During the establishment of your account, you must be on campus so that the IP address is recognized.  Once completed, you will be able to access the data from other locations. The website is http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ICPSR/access/index.html. There are tutorials available on this site to help with selection and downloads. Dr. Darren Hendrickson, Sociology/Anthropology Dept. will be acting as the Official Representative to the ICPSR.  Dr. Hendrickson can be reached at 581-8364 or dhendrickson@eiu.edu.