Katel, Peter. "Conspiracy Theories: Do they threaten democracy?" CQ Researcher 23 Oct. 2009.
President Barack Obama is a foreign-born radical plotting to establish a dictatorship. His predecessor, George W. Bush, allowed the Sept. 11 attacks to occur in order to justify sending U.S. troops to Iraq. The federal government has plans to imprison political dissenters in detention camps in the United States. Welcome to the world of conspiracy theories. Since colonial times, conspiracies both far-fetched and plausible have been used to explain trends and events ranging from slavery to why U.S. forces were surprised at Pearl Harbor. In today's world, the communications revolution allows conspiracy theories to be spread more widely and quickly than ever before. But facts that undermine conspiracy theories move less rapidly through the Web, some experts worry. As a result, there may be growing acceptance of the notion that hidden forces control events, leading to eroding confidence in democracy, with repercussions that could lead Americans to large-scale withdrawal from civic life, or even to violence.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.
Books
Ebrary
Search by Subject: Conspiracy OR Conspiracies - 7 titles including:
Fenster, Mark. Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in American Culture. University of Minnesota Press, 2008.
Articles
EBSCOhost
Subject: Conspiracy Theories and (psych* or paranoia or belief) - 25+ full text articles
SU Conspiracy Theories and KW (united states or america*) - 150+ full text articles
ProQuest
(conspiracy theor* or truthers) AND (9/11 or "september 11") - 900+ full text articles
(conspiracy theor* or birthers) AND (obama) - 400+ full text articles
Web
Snopes.com - collects and classifies "urban legends but also common fallacies, misinformation, old wives' tales, strange news stories, rumors, celebrity gossip."
Factcheck.org - "..monitor(s) the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases."
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Conspiracy Theories
Friday, October 2, 2009
Financial Literacy: Consumer Credit and Debt
CBC Foundation Hosts Financial Forums: A Reality Check: Life Happens (Oct. 13 - Nov. 17 2009) - on Tuesdays at 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM for the next six weeks in the HUB Congress room. Learn about budgeting, balancing, credit, investing, identity theft and more (see schedule for individual session descriptions and times). All free thanks to the Foundation and their community sponsors.
Billitteri, Thomas J. "Financial Literacy: Should courses be mandatory in schools?." CQ Researcher September 4, 2009.
Poor understanding of basic personal-finance and economic issues has left millions of students and adults mired in credit-card debt, prey to unscrupulous mortgage brokers and prone to making risky bets with their retirement money. High-school seniors correctly answer only about half the questions on personal-finance surveys, and those who take personal-finance courses tend to score no better than those who don't. Studies show similar deficits among adults. Yet experts disagree on a solution. Only a handful of states require at least a semester course on personal finance, and some advocates want Congress or state legislatures to mandate financial education for all K-12 students. Others question the effectiveness of financial-literacy programs in schools, and some worry that corporations may have too much influence on curriculum and instruction. A better approach to improving financial literacy, some argue, is to tighten government regulation to make credit cards, mortgages and other products easier to understand.
From the CQ Researcher. Reprinted with permission from CQ Press.
Clemmitt, Marcia. "Regulating Credit Cards." CQ Researcher 18.35 (2008): 817-840.
Mantel, Barbara. "Consumer Debt." CQ Researcher 17.9 (2007): 193-216. CQ Researcher Online. CQ Press. 17 Mar. 2007.
Books at CBC Library
Jasper, Margaret C. Consumer rights law. New York : Oceana, c2008.
Main Collection KF1610 .J37 2008
Jasper, Margaret C. Dealing with debt. Dobbs Ferry, N.Y. : Oceana Publications, 2007.
Main Collection KF1501 .Z95J37 2007
Draut, Tamara. Strapped : why America's 20- and 30-somethings can't get ahead. New York : Anchor Books : 2007.
Main Collection HQ799.7 .D73 2007
Jasper, Margaret C. Identity theft and how to protect yourself. New York: Oceana Publications, c2006.
Main Collection HV6691 .J37 2006
Search for other titles on su:credit cards or su:consumer credit in the CBC Library Catalog
Articles:
Search EBSCOhost on:
- Credit Card Regulations - 240+ full text articles
- Credit Cards in general - over 3100 full text articles
- Payday Loans - 60+ full text articles
- Consumer* AND (credit OR debt) AND United States - 690+ full text articles
History 115 - Modern Middle East
Useful Topic of the Week posts:
Issues of the CQ Researcher on other related topics (last 5 years):- Afghanistan Dilemma - August 7, 2009
- Understanding Islam - November 3, 2006
- Middle East Tensions - October 27, 2006
- Global Jihad - October 14, 2005
- Democracy in the Arab World - January 30, 2004
- Or Browse by Topic Regional Political Affairs: Middle East and South Asia
- Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. New York: Macmillan 2004.
- Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. New York: Macmillan 2004.
- Oxford encyclopedia of the Islamic world. Oxford University Press, 2009.
Call Number: DS35.53 .O96 2009
- Atlas of the Middle East. National Geographic Society, 2008.
Call Number: G2205 .N34 2008
- Smith, Dan. The state of the middle east : an atlas of conflict and resolution. University of California Press, 2006.
Call Number: G2205 .S653 2006
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Peer-Reviewed Article Checklist
Other useful postings:
- Video: What is a Peer-Reviewed Article?
- Video: Finding Peer-Reviewed Articles in EBSCOhost
- Parts of a Research/Scholarly Journal Article - APA Style
Checklist - Here are some things to look for when attempting to determine if an article you have found is peer-reviewed:
- If you used EBSCOhost did you limit your search to "Scholarly (Peer-Reviewed) Journals?" If you used ProQuest, did you limit your search to "Scholarly journals, including peer-reviewed?"
- Does it have more than one author listed? Although some peer-reviewed articles may have a single author it is more common for there to be multiple authors - original research takes a lot of workers!
- Are the authors' affiliations provided at the beginning or end of the article? Their affiliation is where they work, typically a University or research institution.
- Is the article more than 2 pages in length? You may find some peer-reviewed articles that are 3-5 pages, but it is not uncommon for them to be much longer.
- Does the article include an abstract written by the authors? This should appear at the beginning.
- Does the abstract include indicator words such as “the present study….examined…measured…identified...results indicated?” All of these tell you that this is a report on original research.
- If you open the article does it have sections for an introduction, methods, results, discussion?
- Are there illustrations? Research results are frequently reported with charts, graphs, tables, drawings and photographs of specimens.
- At the end or the beginning, does it include the dates when the article was submitted and accepted for publication?
- Are there lots of references at the end of the article? It is not uncommon for peer-reviewed articles to have several pages of references.
