Congressional Quarterly Researcher, or CQ Researcher, is an excellent resource for libraries to have on hand, especially if they serve an undergraduate population and a campus with a law, politics, and/or society programme. Its academic nature provides a strong bedrock upon which students can base their work; it is not focused like a journal article and thus more readily understood and absorbed by the student. It is also an excellent resource for students who have just begun their research or are exploring topics before settling on a particular path.
The database covers social and political issues primarily from a United States perspective. The international topics are discussed through an international lens. Each article is a report written by journalists with appropriate academic backgrounds and experiences and reviewed prior to publication. The reports are somewhat sporadic and tend to follow trends in news media for new research. If one looks at the Civil Rights Movement report set, there is a gap between 1978 and 2008. However, there are other articles that would fill that gap if you looked at Race and Ethnicity instead. In other instances, there will be quick updates showcasing how a topic may have changed recently.
Searching requires the usual research skills and tricks. There is an advanced search menu available that allows for basic Boolean searching. Limiting by date is highly encouraged. You can search full text in the reports but that has all the usual issues. Results are given based on how often terms appear. Topic and Report title searching are recommended to cut to the chase. The user can also browse through topics with the browse tabs at the top of the page. These are very effective for drilling through broad topics to find reports on more specific issues.
The articles are based around an overarching topic but the report will focus on one specific element. For example, the broad topic could be U.S.-Iran Relations with the specific question “Will the nuclear deal ease tensions?” Each report is made up several sections. These sections are one of the reasons this resource tends to work well for students who are learning about a new topic or perhaps not yet ready for fine-tuned focus of academic journals.
The sections begin with an introduction and overview; these are easy to read and provide a solid background to understand the topic. The overview can be lengthy, providing recent history, knowledge of key figures, and so forth. Following this is the Background section which provides an in-depth historical perspective of the issue at hand. This leads to Current Situation which digs into the issue as it stands followed close by the Outlook section discussing what is likely to happen in the near future. This handy breakdown allows researchers to pick what they need. If they already have working background knowledge of topic, they can skip the early sections and focus on the current and prospective sections.
As a researcher works their way through the sections citation links, provided as number tags that will display a citation with a simple mouse-over so one does not need to click back and forth, are available. Sidebars are often employed to explain extra but pertinent information without obstructing the flow of the report. Images are used to illustrate people or places of import or to drive home an example in a concrete manner.
Following these primary sections are a several valuable pieces that can help further the student's research needs. The Pro/Con section offers two perspectives around a particular question related to the topic. Continuing with the previous example, the Pro/Con question for U.S.-Iran Relations is “Should the United States seek Closer Ties with Iran?” Each side answers this question through two individuals, usually not the author of the main report, whose experience or authority is given in a short overview under their name. While not typically used as an ‘academic’ source, these perspectives can offer alternative views and arguments that the report does not explore and can supply alternative paths of inquiry for the user.
Further sections continue in this vein. Chronology provides historical context in the form of a timeline of events that have had an effect upon the discussed topic. Short Features discusses some of the major news surrounding the topic. A Bibliography is provided for additional reading. This is broken into sections for books, reports, studies and articles. Links are provided when possible. Contacts provide a list of pertinent organizations that might have additional information or interest in the topic. Footnotes provide a list of citations used in the report and About the Author provides information about the author. Finally, The Next Step offers news articles pointing to changes or people to watch as the issue continues to be researched, watched, etc. Each section creates the full report, which can be downloaded as printable PDF document that appears as the report would in print with necessary pagination.
The report helps a researcher begin to grasp and parse out a new social or political topic and then provides paths to further research materials. This is a major asset to undergraduate students who are still honing their research skills. As a user of this database, both as a student, researcher and librarian, I would highly recommend it for any undergraduate university that has law, politics, and/or society programmes.
