HOW TO USE CQ RESEARCHER
ABOUT CQ RESEARCHER
For decades, CQ Researcher has been a respected source of information on important issues of the day. This weekly publication is noted for its in-depth, unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy. Each single-themed, 12,000-word report is researched and written by a seasoned journalist.
Now, CQ Researcher Online gives you access to sixteen years worth of these reports. Not only can you learn all the latest details on a particular topic, you can look back and see how the issue has evolved over time.
ACCESSING CQ RESEARCHER
In order to access CQ Researcher from off-campus, you will need an NCLIVE username and password. You can obtain this by visiting the library in person, calling us at (252) 638-7272, or e-mailing the library at libraryc@cravencc.edu. You must be currently enrolled at CCC and have a valid library card with OUR library. If you call or e-mail, please be prepared to give us your library card number.
USING QUICK SEARCH
Here is what the front page of CQ Researcher Online looks like. From here, there are several ways to find information on your topic. The most common method is to use the Quick Search box on the left-hand side of the front page.
Let's say I'm doing research on drunk driving. I would enter that phrase into the search box and press the go button.
I get back a list of CQ reports that have some information related to my topic. You'll notice that next to each report is a score. The higher the score, the more likely the report is to be relevant to my topic. Not surprisingly, the report called "Drunken Driving" scores 100. You can also see the date that each report was published.
Once you find a report that interests you, click the title to open it.
Above is a snapshot of what the report will look like. There are links at the top to each section, so if you're only interested in reading a particular section, you can jump right to it.
Each report is broken into the following sections:
- ABSTRACT: A short preview of the entire report.
- OVERVIEW: A snapshot of the history and issues surrounding the subject of the report.
- BACKGROUND: A full history of the issue.
- CURRENT SITUATION: A snapshot of where things stand on the issue as of the time the report was written.
- OUTLOOK: This tells you where the issue is headed, and predicts whether it will remain a hot-button issue over time or not.
- SPECIAL FOCUS: Zeroes in on a key component of the issue, and discusses it in great detail.
- CHRONOLOGY: A timeline of every important moment in the issue's history.
- PRO/CON: Two people with opposing views of an issue each give side. (In this case, since it would be hard to find someone for drunk driving, the issue is whether the legal blood alcohol content should be lowered or not.)
- BIBLIOGRAPHY/NEXT STEP: A list of the print and web resources the author used to compose this report. These are useful in helping you identify additional resources for your own report.
- CONTACTS: Contact information for various groups and organizations connected to both sides of the issue. Gives phone number, mailing address, and web address
USING ADVANCED SEARCH
Above is a snapshot of the Advanced Search screen. This option lets you target your search even further. You can search by topic, report title, or full-text of all the reports in the archive.
You can also target your search by date. If, for example, you only wanted to read reports that have been done on your topic within the last five years, you could tell the database to search between May 2002 and May 2007.
You can also choose to search through specific sections. (You can search through more than one section at the same time.)
BROWSE BY DATE
This allows you to see all the reports that were published in a given year.
BROWSE BY TOPIC
This allows you to see all the reports that were published on a given topic. You'll start with a broad list of topics. Each topic has its own sub-set of related topics. If, for example, you were interested in reports dealing with religion, you would click that link…
…which would take you to this list. If you were interested in religion and education, you would click that link…
…which would take you to a series of related reports.
PRINTING & E-MAILING
Once you've found an issue of CQ Researcher that you want to keep, there are various methods of saving it.
All of the options pictured above are found in the upper right-hand corner of every CQ report.
PRINT. The average issue of CQ Researcher runs 40 pages. You can choose to only print certain sections of the report, by clicking the link to that section and then clicking the print icon. If you print from the library's computer lab, the first ten pages are free. After that, it's ten cents per page.
COLOR/B&W PDF: Click these icons to open up the report in a color or black and white PDF format. These PDF formats faithfully reproduce the layout of the print version of the report, and look just as if you were reading the print version. These files are around 1 MB in size. Not all reports are available in color.
E-MAIL SECTION/REPORT: You can e-mail the entire report to yourself or to other people in your group if you are doing a group project. You can also e-mail a specific section.
CITING CQ Researcher
Click the CiteNow! Link at the top of each report.
The default citation is in APA format, but you can change it to MLA or a variety of others. You can save the citation in Word format by clicking the Export citation to: drop down menu, and choosing Word Processor.
These are the basics of using CQ Researcher Online. If you have any questions that were not answered here, call 252-638-7272 or e-mail: libraryc@cravencc.edu. We'll be glad to answer them.
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