Subject encyclopedias provide overviews and background information on broad topics. Use them at the beginning of the research process when you need to know more about a topic, narrow a topic, and identify some recommended resources that will provide in-depth information on your topic.
Drugs in Society: Causes, Concepts, and Control
- This ebook covers topics related to the drug problem in the United States
- Table of Contents:
- Part I: Understanding the Problem - 1. The Nature of the Drug Problem 2. The History of Drug Abuse 3. Understanding Drugs of Abuse 4. The Illicit Drug Trade 5. Domestic Drug Production 6. Drugs and Crime
- Part II: Gangs and Drugs - 7. Organized Crime and the Drug Trade 8. Domestic Drug-Trafficking Organizations 9. Foreign Drug-Trafficking Organizations
- Part III: Fighting Back - 10. The Drug Control Initiative 11. Critical Issues in Drug Control 12. The Issue of Legalizing Drugs 13. Understanding Drug Control Policy 14. Control through Treatment and Prevention
Gale Virtual Reference Library -Consists of a selection of encyclopedias in many disciplines including history, politics, law, and health, which have relevant articles on drugs and their use.
- Once in the research database, type your search words into the search box
- Use the Advanced Search feature if you want to search for your search terms in the title of an article
- Since these are encyclopedias, the most effective way to search for information is to use broad topics like you would when searching for books
Search for your topics in the entire collection or try some of the following subject encyclopedias indivifually:
- Dictionary of American History
- Social History of the United States
- Encyclopedia of Drugs, Alcohol & Addictive Behavior
- Encyclopedia of Addictive Drugs
- Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Social Issues
- International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
Sage Reference Online - Indexes mostly encyclopedias on topics in the social sciences which have relevant articles on drug use, abuse, and policy.
- Search the entire set of encyclopedias in Sage Reference Online for topics such as prescription drug abuse, drug addiction, drug trafficking, marijuana, methadone, needle exchange programs, prohibition
- Or try individual encyclopedias:
- Encyclopedia of Drug Policy
- Encyclopedia of Social Problems - See Readers Guide > under topic of Substance Abuse
- Encyclopedia of Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment, & Recovery -See Readers Guide > under topics such as Models of Addiction, Public Policy, Sociocultural and Historical Perspectives on Drug Use, Treatment Theories
CQ Researcher is a magazine-type publication that provides background information on topics of wide interest
- Check for the following reports: Alcohol Abuse, Combatting Addiction, Drug Policy Debate, Legalizing Marijuana, Marijuana Laws, Medical Marijuana, Medication Abuse, Methamphetamine, Mexico's Drug War, Prozac, Regulating Tobacco, War on Drugs
Drug use and abuse is often included in the study of popular culture. There are some encyclopedias that provide good background on drugs in the context of popular culture or by a particular time period.
- The Sixties in America
- The Seventies in America
- Postwar America - Ref E169.12 S447 2006 (in print only)
An encyclopedia in the Reference stacks that provides historical information on people, organizations, places, and events is Alcohol and Temperance in Modern Hisory: An International Encyclopedia, located in the 3rd floor Reference stacks: Ref HV5017 A43 2003. It also contains some important primary source documents.
Encyclopedia articles on politics and policy regarding drugs can be found in various sources. Some examples:
- Europa World Plus -"The War on Drugs in Mexico"
- Also check for reports in Homeland Security Digital Library - type the words - mexico drug war
- Open CRS
- Search for reports created by the Congressional Research Service to keep members of Congress up-to-date on legislative issues
- Some issues include cocaine sentencing, marijuana, methamphetamines, drug trafficking, War on Drugs/ drug control, Mexico drugs
Films on Demand is a research database that provides streaming video of films on many academic topics, including drugs and their use and abuse. For example, try searching cocaine, crack, heroin, marijuana, drug abuse, prescription drugs, war on drugs, mafia and prohibition, etc.
You can use either Cook OneSearch or the Library/USMAI Catalog to find books.
Check the Library Catalog for books available at Cook Library. If you want a larger selection of books available in all of the University System of Maryland libraries, check the USMAI Catalog.
- A good way to see what types of book the library has on drug abuse, is to change word/s anywhere to subject beginning with... and type drug abuse, drug addiction, drug traffic, prohibition united states, or a particular drug - cocaine, heroin, marijuana, crack, methadone
- Or try a subject word/s search such as organized crime and drug*, organized crime and prohibition, mexico and drug*, indians and alcohol*, drug and sentences, women and drug use and history
U. S. Office of National Drug Control Policy
- Includes issues highlighted by the Office, policy and research related to drug control, prevention measures, and treatment and recovery strategies
DEA: Drug Enforcement Administration [ U.S. Department of Justice]
- Focus on the U.S. domestic drug enforcement activities
- Section on Drug Information includes Drug Fact Sheets and the full text of the Controlled Substances Act
- Also includes information on prevention
Warning: Organizational websites dealing with controversial topics may demonstrate bias. Look for information that explains the purpose/mission of an organization. Look carefully for the source of statistics presented.
- "....dedicated to reforming drug policy and expanding harm reduction. CSDP disseminates factual information and comments on existing laws, policies and practices." - from the website
- Drug War Facts includes statistics on topics including International Policies & Trends, Crime, Corruption, Drug Use Estimates, all with original sources noted. Continuously updated.
DRCNet Online Library on Drug Policy [Drug Reform Coordination Network]
- PROlegalization site.
- Check out the Schaffer Library , which includes Major Studies of Drugs and Drug Policy, History of the Drugs and Drug Laws, Medical Marijuana Research, Government Publications on Drugs and Drug Policy, Charts and Graphs of Drug War Statistics, and Information on Specific Drugs.
- Also try The Media Awareness Project [MAP], which links to articles arranged by topic.
You can use Cook OneSearch or go directly to research databases such as Academic Search (and choose others) to find articles on your topic. The advanced search features of both are similar, but the research database search allows additional options for refining a search.
Research databases often use the same subject words that are used in the Library Catalog. Articles focus on specific topics, so databases that index articles are usually the best place to look for information to answer a research question and/or support a thesis.
- Go into Academic Search > click on Choose Databases > select America: History and Life, Social Sciences Abstracts, and SocIndex.
- Click on Advanced Search > enter your keywords in the boxes
Diana Hacker: Research and Documentation Online
- Click on Chicago Guide (History)
- Click on MLA Style (Humanities)
- Provides about 50 examples for citing sources in various formats, showing note and bibliographic style side-by-side
- Use pop-up menu in middle of screen to locate specific examples
Chicago Manual of Style: Footnotes/Endnotes & Bibliography Style
- Cook Library short guide
- Cook Library short guides on citing books, encyclopedias, articles, and miscellaneous sources and how to do in-text (parenthetical) citations
- Full-blown version, which requires login w/ TU NetID
MLA
