IAS 102: Scope and Methods in International and Area Studies

Primary sources are either created during the time period being studied or were created at a later date by a participant in the event.  They reflect the individual viewpoint of a participant or observer.  For more information see the library guide to finding primary resources. The following sources may be used to locate primary source information from Nongovernmental Organizations, InternationalGovernment Organizations, United States Governments, Foreign National Governments, and a selection of News Sources.

For additional sources see the library electronic resources finder news category.

ABYZ News Links. A portal to online news sources from around the world. The database is primarily composed of links to online newspapers, but also includes many broadcast stations, internet services, magazines, and press agencies. ABYZ News Links does not contain actual news content but only links to other news sources.

Access World News.  Global wire services, newspapers, magazines and government documents covering politics, economics, culture, business, science, and technology, worldwide.

allAfrica.com.  Contains over 700,000 articles from 120 news publications throughout Africa. Also includes press releases and documents from 200 governments and non-governmental organizations in and outside of Africa. 30% of articles are in French

California Ethnic Newspapers (New California Media Online). Contains full-text California ethnic newspapers, many with English translations, some in the vernacular, from 2002 to present.

Factiva.  General and business news and information from more than 9,000 sources in 22 languages, including influential local, national and international newspapers, and news wires. Includes the exclusive combination of The Wall Street Journal (1979-present), the Financial Times, Dow Jones and Reuters newswires and the Associated Press, as well as Reuters Fundamentals, and Bureau van Dijk company profiles.

Foreign Language News and Newspapers. A list of freely available newspapers and magazines from Chinese, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian Sources. Compiled by the MIT Libraries.

LADB (Latin America Data Base). An online news service that provides access to three weekly electronic news bulletins about Mexico (SourceMex), Central America and the Caribbean including Cuba (NotiCen) and South America (NotiSur). LADB is also a searchable archive of over 24,000 articles.

Latin American Newspapers.  This growing archive of Latin American newspapers contains more than 150,000 pages of content. New content is being added regularly and will eventually contain more than 1.5 million pages. Included in the collection are: Comercio from Peru; El Dictamen, Mexican Herald and Excelsior from Mexico; Prensa and Razon from Argentina; and more

LexisNexis Academic. Includes over 6,000 individual titles of international, national and local newspapers and wire services; radio and television transcripts; and business, medical, industry, and legislative magazines, journals, and newsletters. Wide geographic coverage and translations from foreign-language sources.

Mideastwire.com.  Brief English translations of Arabic, Kurdish, and Persian news articles from 22 Arab countries, Iran and the Diaspora. Subjects covered are Middle East and North African politics, culture, economy, and opinion pieces appearing in the print, radio, and television media of these countries, with links to the original sources.

People's Daily (Ren Min Ri Bao). Complete archive of the People's Daily, the national newspaper in China, from the birth of the People's Republic to 2002.

South Asian Newspapers.  A growing collection of South Asian newspapers. Contains more than 200,000 pages of digitized content, including material from the Ceylon Observer, Indian People / Leader, Madras Mail, and the Tribune. Part of the World News Archive project from Readex/Newsbank

WiseNews.  Online news service related to greater China. Includes political, regulatory, social, economic and financial news, information on market trends and companies. In Chinese and English.

World News Connection. Full-text translated transcriptions of radio and TV broadcasts, newspaper articles and periodicals from countries worldwide. A successor to reports from the Foreign Broadcasting Information Service and Joint Publications Research Service.

Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) information on the Internet can be located using the following directories (browsable by country and focus area) and the NGO search engine below. Print NGO publications can be found by searching in Oskicat and Melvyl.

NGO Custom Search Engine

Directory of Development Organizations. Over 47,000 organizations of all kinds listed by region and country. One of the most extensive compilation of NGO country directories.

Idealist.Org. Includes a searchable directory of over 52,000 organizations by name, mission, country of focus, and more.

TakingITGlobal. International non-profit organization centered on young people interested in connecting across cultures. Outstanding source of NGO information by country and area of focus. Go to browse organizations.

World Directory of Development Organizations and Programs. Large NGO Internet database. Searchable by name, country of activity, field, and project.

The government documents collections at the UC Berkeley libraries are comprised of collection of primary source documents from all over the world. See the Government Information Pages for more information.

To get started finding International Governmental Organization (IGO) Information you may wish to try the following IGO Custom Search Engine, which was initiated by David Oldenkamp, International Documents Librarian at Indiana University, and searches 392 urls of International Governmental Organizations (IGOs).

The following topical and subject guides may also be of special interest for this class:

Global Issues on the UN Agenda. Excellent UN Ready Reference tool for links to online documents, agencies, and other resources on a wide range of important topics on the UN Agenda.

Global Issues on the UN Agenda. Excellent UN Ready Reference tool for links to online documents, agencies, and other resources on a wide range of important topics on the UN Agenda.

Introduction to Globalization. Research guide to issues surrounding globalization.

International Organizations, Health & HIV/AIDS. Guide to International Organizations working in the field of Public Health.

International Organizations, Women & Gender. Guide to International Organizations working in the area of Women & Gender issues.

Govscan. Google Custom search engine that searches state and  local government websites. Search the entire web site or limit by state.

ProQuest Congressional. One-stop shopping for U.S. congressional publications.  Provides indexing and abstracts of congressional publications back to 1789, including full text of published Congressional Hearings, full text Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports from 1916-present and more.

USA.gov.  Official United States Government web portal, with specialized “gateways” for citizens, business and government employees.

USAID Documents. Online resource for USAID international development, with thousands documents available for download. Database is browseable by country and by subject.

United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs. Standing committee of the US House of Representatives with jurisdiction over related to the foreign affairs of the United States. Occassionally holds congressional hearings relating to poverty and development aid.

U.S. Overseas Loans and Grants (Green Book). Loans and grants from the US government each fiscal year by purpose and country.

The UC Berkeley Libraries are one of the very few libraries in the United States which continue to collect foreign government information on a large scale.  We have particularly strong collections for Africa, Latin America, South Asia, and the Pacific Islands.  Do a search in Oskicat for "poverty" and a country. 

African Governments Custom Search. This is a search engine for web sites from Sub-Saharan African governments. For best results, search using the official language(s) of the country you are interested in.

Africa South of the Sahara. One of the most comprehensive web portals for Sub-saharan Africa. Fully searchable and browseable by topic (e.g. environment, human rights) and by country/region

Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Canadian Aid & International Development Agency.

Department of International Development. United Kingdom International Development Agency.

Foreign/International Governments Custom Search. Collection of Google custom search engines from Carleton University Library, including Asia & the Pacific, Latin America, & the Middle East.  Includes a mix of sites from international agencies, news services, and NGOs.

Foreign Government Information by Country.  Very nicely organized directory of government sites from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Foreign Government Internet Sites.  Links to the official government legislative and agency sites of foreign governments. From Northwestern University Libraries.

Government in Latin America - Provides links to regional organizations and government information by country. Information Includes: constitutions, presidential messages, central bank reports, and other official documents. From the University of Texas Latin American Information Center (UT Lanic).

Swedish International Development Cooperaton Agency (SIDA). Swedish International Aid agency.