POL 201
American Federal Government

Professor Hardy
Spring 2007

Information on polls--what they are, how they are written, how they are taken

Reference Sources:

Britannica Online ~ search for poll, polling, public opinion poll
xreferplus ~ search through multiple sources for entries

Use I-Share (the library catalog) to find books to learn more about polls.

• For more efficient searching, use Subject terms: Public Opinion Polls, Questionnaires, etc

Here is a small sample of resources that the library has that may be useful:

Polling America : An Encyclopedia of Public Opinion R 303.38097303 P774 ~ of special interest are entries on question formats and data analysis
Polling and the public : what every citizen should know 303.38 A825p 2004
The superpollsters : how they measure and manipulate public opinion in America This book is available as an e-book through Netlibrary--just click the link.

Sources for articles on polls and polling: Several of the library's databases have articles on aspects of polls and polling. Try using some of the same search terms as you used in the catalog.

Academic Search Premier ~ contains articles from popular press and academic journals
Communication and Mass Media Complete (CMMC) ~ scholarly and popular journal articles from comunications media professionals

You can also try searching multiple databases with WebFeat .

Examples of polls, poll data and poll analysis

ANES ~ American National Election Studies--collecting and analyzing data on the American voting public.
American Factfinder ~ US Census website with data from 2000 Census and most current American Community Survey. Look here for data to compare your results with.
Gallup Brain ~ Repository of the Gallup organization's survey results. Try searching under Questionnaires with a topic to see sample questions.
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research: There's a tutorial on the fundamentals of polling here, also look at Analyzing Polls for info on question design
The Pew Research Center ~ Look under Survey Reports for lots of examples of surveys and analyses
Eagleton Poll Archive ~ another good set of surveys and data.
Field Poll Archives ~ Polls and surveys--mostly from California--on a variety of topics--good examples of questions and analysis
Harris Interactive Poll Library ~ Harris polls on a wide variety of topics, from politics to spending habit to Internet use. This is their search interface--you cans earch for polls on any topic.
National Council on Public Polls ~ very interesting site with lots of information on polls and polling. Also links to polling organizations.
General Social Survey ~ long-standing survey, asking attitudinal and demographic questions.

Writing and Citing Resources

For help with writing your outlines and bibliographies, try the Elmhurst College Writing Center online help page.

You can also try these online resources

Developing an Outline From OWL at Purdue University
College Writing and Citing
Citing Electronic Resources
ONLINE! Citation Styles
Citing Sources from the Duke University Libraries

If you need any help finding articles or writing, you can also contact the Reference Desk any time the library is open:

Reference: 630-617-3173
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