Using Congressional Quarterly Researcher

UC MERCED LIBRARY TUTORIALS

Using Congressional Quarterly Researcher

If you are off campus, you will need to connect to the campus network with the VPN before starting this tutorial.

http://library.ucmerced.edu/use/technology/vpn

Use the active web page on your right to complete the tutorial.

Use the right arrow at the bottom of this window to move through the tutorial.

Introduction

This tutorial will show you how to access and search Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Researcher, a great database to use when researching political and social issues.

Access CQ Researcher

• Click on the Databases tab in the search box in the upper right hand corner of the library homepage.
• Type in Congressional Quarterly. 
• Click Go or hit Enter/Return on your keyboard. 

• Scroll down, and click on Congressional Quarterly (CQ) Researcher.

Keyword Searching

This is the CQ Researcher homepage. Notice a variety of options for finding reports:

• Featured Report
• Hot Topics List
• Browse Topics
• Browse Reports
• Search by Keyword box
• Advanced Searching link

Let's try a keyword search for information about internet privacy.

• In the search box at the top of the page, type or copy/paste "internet privacy" (include the "quotation marks").
  

What are keywords?

• Click the search (magnifying glass) icon.
  
• You will see a list of articles that are related to the keywords "internet privacy."
• Your results list will be ranked by relevance.
  

What is relevance?

Resorting Results

You can resort your results so that the most recent articles appear at the top.

• Look for Sort by to the right of the results list.
• Click Newest.
• Your list can also be resorted to show Oldest articles first.

Evaluating Search Results

The next step is to decide which report(s) in the results list are the most useful.

• Use the title and brief quote beneath each result to help you zero in on the best reports
• The Topic of each article (in the right column) helps you evaluate its relevance to your search.
• Click on one of the links listed under a Topic to see additional reports on the same subject.

Report Overviews

Click on the link to any full report that looks interesting to you.

Each full report is divided into sections which are linked in the left hand column on the page. Most reports include these sections:

• Introduction
• Overview
• Background
• Current Situation
• Outlook
• Pro/Con
• Chronology
• Short Features
• Maps/Graphs
• Bibliography
• Comments
• and more...

Click on the Pro/Con link.

• These contrasting opinions by experts can be really useful for argument papers.

Click on the Bibliography link.

• The bibliography links to the sources used to write the article. These sources may inform your own research.

Click on the Comments link.

• Read comments by other readers or add some of your own.

Related Reports

Once you find a report that's relevant, it's easy to find others on the same topic.

• Click on the Full Report link.
• Look at the Issue Tracker for Related Reports box to the right.
  

      

• Related reports are listed by date, with the most recent listed at the top.
  

Cite, Print, Email, & Save

CQ Researcher has tools that allow you to cite, print, email, and save reports. These tools are located just below the main menu at the top right of the page.

Let's practice using one or more of these tools.

• Cite Now! creates a citation for your bibilography in APA, MLA, Chicago, or Blue Book style. You can also export your citation to a citation manager, such as RefWorks, EndNote, etc.
• Print the full report or a section of the report.
• Email yourself a link to either the full report or individual sections of the report.
• Save to your Favorite Documents List within CQ Researcher.
• You will need to create a login to use this feature.

Social Media Options

You can also share CQ Researcher reports through social media accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and more. Social media icons are located to the left.

Click on the + sign to see all of your options.

Remember, the links will only work from on-campus or if you are connected through the VPN when off-campus.

Advanced Search

Advanced searching is also available in CQ Researcher.

• Click on the Advanced Search link just under the simple search box at the top of the page.
• Advanced Search gives you options to narrow your search by date, topic, etc.

Conclusion

This concludes the Using CQ Researcher tutorial.

Now that you've finished:

• Complete the short 3-question quiz on the next page.
• Enter your email and your professor's email when prompted.
• Send the email.
• Print your quiz results if desired.
• Let us know what you think about the tutorial by clicking on the feedback link.

Thank you!

Certificate

Please enter your name and email address to retrieve a copy of your completed quiz.

You can enter multiple email addresses separated by commas, with no spaces (for example, bobcat@email.com,bobcat2@email.com). If you are doing this for a class, you may need to enter your instructor's email address also.
 
Note: It could take up to 10 seconds to generate the certificate. Please do not click the Print/Send button more than once.