Grant Writing: Dorothy Cotton Institute

      

Human Rights: Concept and Practice:

Human rights  [where you'll find the bulk of our resources on this topic]
Human rights--Health aspects
Human rights--History
Human rights--Moral and ethical aspects
Human rights--Philosophy
Human rights--Religious aspects
Human rights--Religious aspects--Catholic Church
Human rights--Religious aspects--Islam

Race discrimination
Ethnic relations

Regional Human Rights:
(Human Rights can take any geographic subheading, of which these are a small sample)

Human rights--Africa
Human rights--Argentina
Human rights--Asia
Human rights--Burma
Human rights--China
Human rights--Europe
Human rights--Latin America
Human rights--South Africa
Human rights--United States
Human rights--United States--History
Human rights--Government policy--United States

(Places can also be subdivided by subheadings such as --Race relations)
United States--Race relations
United States--Ethnic relations
South Africa--Race relations
Middle East--Ethnic relations
Iraq--Ethnic relations
Russia--Ethnic relations

Issues may often be subdivided by Place:

Caste--India
Racism--Great Britain
Sex discrimination against women--China

Political persecution--Argentina
Political persecution--Soviet Union

Dissenters--China
Dissenters--Soviet Union

Social justice  
Social justice--United States

Liberty
Liberty--History
Equality  
Equality--Health aspects
Equality--United States

Democratization
Democratization--Africa
Democratization--Europe, Eastern
Democratization--Latin America
Democratization--Middle East

Freedom of speech
Freedom of the press
Freedom of religion

Discrimination Against Particular Groups:

African Americans--Civil rights
Women's rights
Gay rights
Children's rights
Hispanic Americans--Civil rights
Minorities--Civil rights
Antisemitism
Palestinian Arabs--Civil rights
Arab Americans--Civil rights

Human Rights Advocacy:

Human rights workers
Human rights workers--Interviews

Most of these Headings may be subdivided by place.

Leadership
Leadership--Congresses
Leadership--Philosophy
Leadership--Psychological aspects
Leadership--Study and teaching
Leadership--United States

Community leadership
Community leadership--United States
Community power
Community power--United States
Community development
Community organization
Community education--United States

Civics--Study and teaching
Civics--Study and teaching--United States
Civics--Study and teaching (Elementary)--United States
Citizenship--Study and teaching
Citizenship--Study and teaching--United States

Political participation
Political participation--United States
Political activists

Social action
Social change
Social change--Case studies
Social change--Citizen participation
Social change--Congresses
Social change--Psychological aspects

     Academic Search Premier  Comprehensive subject coverage with considerable full text.  Note that there is a “Subject Terms” link just above the search boxes, allowing you to search the index of Subject Headings--often a good first stop for more efficient Subject searching whereby you are guaranteed that your topic is indeed a main subject of the articles retrieved.     User Advisory: For any retrieved set of articles, there will be a box displayed on the left that will limit the articles to “Scholarly” journals—just check the box and click the “Update Results” button below.

     General OneFile : is the most user-friendly of our comprehensive databases, covering almost any topic from a wide range of disciplinary angles and offering lots of full text.  Use the default Subject search to find the best subject heading for your topic (and when you find a good one be sure to look at the "Related Subjects" to see if there's something even better).
     When you settle on a subject heading, open the "Subdivisions" link below it.  Most General OneFile subject searches produce very large retrievals and the "subdivisions" help you narrow your search to a particular aspect: "Economic aspects," "Ethical aspects," "Forecasts and Trends," "History," "Media Coverage," "Political aspects," "Psychological aspects,"  "Social aspects," and "Statistics," to name only a few.
      If the best available subdivision is still too broad, open it and add your own Keywords in the "Search within these results" slot at the upper left.
     User Advisory: When first viewing your retrievals in General OneFile, note that you are seeing only the "Magazines" (popular articles) and must click on the tabs for "Academic Journals" (scholarly articles) or "News" (newspaper articles) to see those results.

     ProQuest Research Library : is another comprehensive database with substantial full text.  Use the "Thesaurus" (above the search slots) to preview what Subject Headings are available.  Subect searching can be a more efficient way to search than with only Keywords, since it guarantees that the articles retrieved actually be about the Subject--not just use a particular word. 
     Note that to the right of your search results you can limit your retrieval by "Source Type" (including Magazines, Newspapers, Scholarly Journals),  "Document Type," (including Cover Story, Editorial, or Interview), "Document Feature" (including Photographs, Illustrations), and "Location."
     Above each set of articles you retrieve ProQuest will display related Subject searches to help either broaden or narrow your focus.
     User Advisory: ProQuest is fussy about entering Subject searches in the designated search slot. If your subject is a person, enter the name--last name first--in the "Person" slot; if a named group of any kind--Microsoft, the Catholic Church, Radiohead, the New York Mets--enter it in "Co/Org"; if a place enter it in "Location."

     LexisNexis Academic  News: Our best national, international, and local newspaper coverage--100% full text.  Don't settle for the default "Easy Search"--choose "News" at the lower left and then "All News."  Then change the default "Everywhere" search to "Headline & Lead" (otherwise a keyword searche of full text will retrieve too many irrelevant hits). Even more effective at targeting articles where your topic is discussed, not simply mentioned, is to use the "At Least 5 Occurences" option--but first ask yourself if the articles you want would in fact be likely to use your search terms at least 5 times.
     Use  "Specify date" to select a time range also helps narrow your results.  Also be aware that by clicking on the "Sources" at the bottom left, then choosing "Browse Sources"  and opening the "News" folder, you can access an alphabetical list of individual news sources that includes every state.  By checking boxes you can compare how an issue is covered in, say, Vermont versus Alabama.

     LexisNexis Academic :Legal: Law Reviews: Most issues have legal ramifications and result in court cases.  In reviewing these cases, legal scholars provide analysis and discussion of a wide range of topics. Click on the "US Legal" button at the lower left and then choose "Law Reviews."
     As in the "News" section, this is a Keyword search of full text, so use the "At Least 5 Occurences" search option to focus on sustained discussion.  With lengthy law review articles, this is generally a very safe limit to set.

      delivers full text of the policy briefs, case studies, and working papers issued by government groups, research institutes, and think tanks. These often provide very substantial analysis of issues. And although the emphasis is on "international affairs," there is plenty of coverage of particular national stories as they play out on the world stage.
     Do not settle for the single search slot on the home page--open the "Advanced Search" just below.
     Also on the home page note the "CIAO Focus" for the month. Each month CIAO selects the best materials on a single issue and provides the links as a Focus feature. At the bottom of the Focus column is a link to the "Archive," where you will find nine years of these topical resources.
     User Advisory: Even the" Advanced" search recommended above is a blunt instrument. Only Keyword searching is available, and of the search fields only "in the body" is effective. The "All Subjects" and "All Regions" menus may prove helpful for your search, but sometimes seem to function best by themselves: for example, select "Environment" and "United States" and run that search--without any Keywords.

     CQ Researcher  is a weekly publication from Congressional Quarterly. Each report (approx. 20 pages) examines a single issue relevant to American public policy, including health, criminal justice, internaional affairs, education, the environment, technology, and the economy. The non-partisan analysis always includes a "Background," "Current Situation," "Outlook," and "Pro/Con" section, as well as numerous charts and graphs of statistical data, maps, and a bibliography for further reading.
Note the "Issue Tracker" and "Pro/Con" browsers on the left of the home page: these provide an excellent way to find or brainstorm a topic.
     User Advisory: The archives here extend back to 1991, and since many of these topics are time-sensitive, keep an eye on dates as you scan the reports.

The universe of Human Rights resources online is vast and potentially overwhelming. Below I have selected sites that are authoritative but undergraduate-friendly.

• Amnesty International: Research: Reports: This seems like a good entry point to AI's considerable information. Notice that you can search by Issue, Country, and Campaign.  Also check out the State of the World 2012 (400 pages, but alphabetical by country, so easy to use), the free, down-loadable Teaching Guides, including a Service Learning Projects guide that might provide ideas for local applications, and  Human Rights Basics. Also see the Ithaca Amnesty Internaional Group.

• Human Rights Watch: Another highly regarded organization, with ample resources under Publications.

• United Nations: Human Rights: The Thematic Isues here are particularly useful. Also of interest are particular U.N. programs like WomenWatch (reporting on gender equality--look under Topics) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

• U.S. Department of State: Human Rights: Use the linked categories in the upper left-hand margin.  Be sure to look at Related LInks, which provides a good gateway to other online resouces, especially the NGOs linked at the left.

• Freedom House: International watchdog group championing all forms of freedom.  Use the Regions or Issues menus to target a place or type of persecution.

• National Democratic Institute: Concerned with political freedom outside the U.S. and Western Europe.  This map provides effficient access to their reports.

• International Labor Organization: "Protecting Jobs, protecting people."  See especially Topics, Publications and Research.

• Index on Censorship: One of the leading organizations promoting free expression and reporting globally on its suppression.

• Article 19: A "global campaigne for free expression."  There is a wealth of information in the Library, where you can search by country, region, or theme.
• Human Rights Education Association: This group provides a handy gateway to the full range of human rights issues addressed on the Web.

• Bringing Human Rights Home: How State and Local Governments Can Use Human Rights to Advance Local Policy: Recent publication from the Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School, with plenty of case studies of how to frame local concerns in terms of global rights.

• American Civil Liberties Union: Excellent array of resources here.  Be sure to scroll down to the long list of particular issue links at the bottom of the home page--or click on Key Issues.

• National Urban League: Programs and Initiatives: A wide array of possibilities for local programs targeting African Americans

• Circle (Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement): Funded by Pew Research and Carnegie and operating out of the Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts, this is probably the single best source of information on the education and involvement of American youth in political/civic/community activities.  Explore all the resources here under "Research Topics," Quick Facts," "Research Products," and "Tools for Practice."  And note: Circle is itself a grant-giver for youth-led community research projects.  Read all about it and learn about some winning ideas in the "Youth-Led Research Resources" page under "Tools for Practice."

• America's Promise Alliance: Founded by Colin Powell and others in 1997, this organization is a partner of Cricle (see above).  Over 400 corporations, non-profits, faith-based organizations, and advocacy groups contribute to the mission of "improving outcomes" for children and youth.  There's not as much content here as in Cricle, but you still might check the information under "Our Work:"  and "Resources" and see in particular "Youth Engagement" where you'll find details on "My Idea Grants."

• Innovation Center for Community & Youth Development:  This group provides training and tool kits and support for community and youth development projects--for a fee.  But their Web site provides plenty of free information and many examples of actual community-based youth development projects.  Go to "What We Do" on the left and look at the resources for "Youth Leadership," "Youth Development," and "Youth and Civic Engagement" and in each check out the free resources under "Activities" and the examples of actual youth development projects under "Our Stories."

• SparkAction--Youth Service & Leadership: Part of the National Youth Development Information Center, check here for news, information, and project ideas.

• Ready by 21: America's Youth Councils Network: Several pages of linked news and publications here.

• Mobilize.org: News: The site itself is mostly about marketing their own youth-engagment resources, but this fee News seciton  and the Millennials Civic Health Report might be of interest.

• Rock the Vote: This group obviously focuses on youth who are of voting age (18-24), but these "How to Mobilize Young Voters" resources might have applicable lessons for getting a younger demographic politically involved.
• Also be aware of the International Human Rights Clinic at the Cornell Law School and, although there's no content there, you might find the contact information useful for the Tompkins County Human Rights Commission.