Labor Seminar
(220:407) 		 Prof. Leo Troy
Research
resources
compiled by
Ka-Neng Au
(au@rutgers.edu)

Concepts

The topic "International Convergence in Trade Unionism" will require that you consider many possible trends in several countries. Use the following terms or keywords to help sort out your thoughts:
  • labo(u)r force
  • unionization
  • trade unions
  • public vs private
  • manufacturing vs services
  • political influence
  • convergence
  • divergence
  • structure
  • membership
  • funding
  • social impact

You should think of other related concepts to provide more focus to your research. For further research, consider also the existence of pro-labor or worker-friendly legislation or regulations.

Articles

  • To locate articles in general business and economics journals and magazines, use Business Source Premier. Start with "Advanced Search;" enter keywords (e.g. "labor unions") and combine that with a country name (use Great Britain instead of United Kingdom).
  • You can also find general articles with Academic Search Premier. Use the phrase "trade-unions" (with the hyphen) and combine that with a country name.
  • To locate articles in local and national newspapers, use LexisNexis Academic. Start with "Guided News Search" then "General News," and then select "Major Papers."
  • For references to articles in scholarly Economics journals, use EconLit from the American Economic Association. Search with the phrase "j500.cc" for items on Trade Unions. Note that you will only see abstracts of the articles; for the full-text, click on LinkSource, which will lead to IRIS, our online catalog, for locations of the journals.
  • For references to articles in related subjects, e.g. government, politics, public affairs, use PAIS. Note that you will only see abstracts of the articles; for the full-text, click on LinkSource, which will lead to IRIS, our online catalog, for locations of the journals.

Books

Use IRIS, our online catalog, to locate books which may help you. Note that there are several ways to search, including "Contains" and "Begins with." Books that are not at Dana may be requested from other libraries. One series of publications which will not show up on IRIS is Foreign Labor Trends, which is an annual publication of the U.S. Department of Labor (DANA FLT Cabinet).

Consider browsing the Proceedings of the Annual Meetings of the Industrial Relations Research Association for papers that might be relevant. Each of the Proceedings (1997-2004) usually has a section on international affairs.

Web Resources

For background on European countries, consult the glossaries on the EMIRE database, which explain the national industrial relations systems of the EU member states through their terminology. Then, refer to the many resources of the European Industrial Relations Observatory On-Line, including annual reviews, comparative studies, and sector studies.

Information for selected countries:

Citing Your Sources

Follow the guidelines for footnotes (not endnotes) Using American Psychological Association (APA) Format for print materials and for APA Style: Electronic References.

For other resources, consult the Economics research guide. [http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/rr_gateway/research_guides/econ/econ.shtml]
http://newarkwww.rutgers.edu/econ/econ407.htm
This page was last updated 13 October 2004.
Questions? Comments?