Chicago Region Research Guide
The Chicago Metropolitan Region is a huge and ethnically area.
This guide will provide resources for doing research for both
the Northeastern Illinois region, and Chicago itself.
The City of Chicago has long been divided into many diverse neighborhoods,
which are officially known as Chicago Community Areas (CCA). These
all have numbers assigned to them by the city government, although
they are not mentioned in journal or news articles. So you need
to know the number of the community area in order to do effective
research in many databases and reference publications. To find
out where ethnic groups are concentrated, look in The Ethnic
Handbook, located in the Reference Collection at F 548.9 .A
1 E 87 1996.
Chicago
Community Areas by CCA number, with map. Many types of information are organized by the official Chicago Community Area name or number.
Library Catalogs
Look in the following catalogs for government publications, books,
videos, Internet sites, maps, and other types of audiovisual items:
Outline of the Library of Congress Classification System (what COD uses to shelve its books).
Other Nearby Public and Academic Libraries
Reference Works
Some appropriate reference books are also included with each
section of Internet sites listed below.
- Chicago
Vocabulary Page.
- Cities Ranked and Rated. Reference HT 123 .C 585.
- Comparative Guide to American Suburbs. Reference HT 123 .C 616.
- Disasters Research Guide (C.O.D. Library Resources)
- The Encyclopedia of Chicago. Online and in Reference F 548.3 .E 53 2004.
- The Encyclopedia of Urban America. Reference HT 123 .E 5 1998.
- The Encyclopedia of Urban Cultures. Reference HT 108.5 .E 53 2002.
- The Encyclopedia of Urban Legends. Reference GR 105.34 .B 78 2001.
- The Ethnic Handbook: A Guide to the Cultures and Traditions
of Chicago's Diverse Communities. Reference F 548.9 .A 1
E 87 1996.
- Immigration Issue Research Guide (C.O.D. Library Resources)
- Library
Jargon: A Multilingual Glossary.
- Nicknames and Sobriquets of U.S. Cities and States. Reference E 155 .K 24 1970.
- The Ultimate 2000 Directory of Ethnic Organizations, Ethnic
Media and Scholars, for the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Reference
F 548.9 .A 1 U 5.
- Weather of U.S. Cities. Reference QC 983 .W 4.
- World Encyclopedia of Cities. Reference HT 108.5 .K 87 1993.
Article Indexes and Databases
You must have a valid College of DuPage library
card to access the electronic indexes and databases from off-campus.
- Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost) (1990-present) Magazines and journals.
Some full-text.
- Blackwell Synergy. This is an index of articles published in journals that are printed by the Blackwell company. A wide variety of topics and journals are covered, but you only get bibliographic citations, no full-text articles. You can select a particular subject area to search in, or you can select a specific journal to search in by clicking on the broad subject, then selecting a small subject area from that next page, then selecting the particular journal title on the third page. You can move through the categories by clicking on the plus sign [+] to the left of the category name.
- The Chicago Sun-Times
newspaper.
- Chicago
Tribune(1985-present).Full-text.
- Expanded Academic Index (1980-present).2500 magazines and
journals.Some full-text.
- FindArticles.com. Citations to millions of journal articles, a free service.
- The Free Library. A database of free magazine and journal articles.
- Google Scholar. This provides access to many free full-text articles, as well as citations to many other articles.
- IngentaConnect. This is an index to millions of journal articles, book chapters, reports, and more. Most are not available as full-text online items.
- JSTOR: Scholarly Journals Archive of Older Issues.
- Latin American Periodicals Tables of Contents (LAPTOC). No full-text articles.
- Military and Government Collection of articles.
- Open Access Journals Directory (free full-text journal articles)
- Project MUSE. This database provides citations and abstracts only.
- SCIRUS. A search engine for citations to journal articles and links to web pages.
- More COD Library journal and newspaper article databases.
- Does the C.O.D. Library own the journal that I need?
- Explanation
of the Difference between Journals and Magazines .
- How
to Read a Research Study Article.
Internet Sites for Organizations
Statistics
- Census
2000: Summary Tables of Social, Economic, & Housing Data for the
77 Community Areas in the City of Chicago (August 20, 2002) Summary
File SF3
- Census
2000 General Profiles for the 77 Chicago Community Areas from
Summary File 1 (January 15, 2002).
- Census
2000 - Illinois Congressional District Demographic Profiles.
- Census
2000 Results for Northeastern Illinois.
- Chicago Area Geographic Information Study (CAGIS)
- Chicago Census Facts Online.
- Chicago
City Factbook Demographics.
- Chicago Communities, including Neighborhood Names and Zip Codes.
- Chicago Community Area Demographics.
- Chicago Community Area Information for Businesses, from Chicago
Community Ventures. This includes Enterprise Zones, Empowerment
Zones, Industrial Corridors, and TIF Zones.
- Chicago Community Area Profiles.
- Chicago Community Area 2000 Census Profiles from the Chicago Tribune.
- Chicago Community Areas Ranked by Population Size.
- Chicago
Community Lending Fact Book.
- Chicago Federal Reserve Bank.
- Chicago In Focus: A Profile from Census 2000. (Brookings Institution, 2003)
- Chicago Police Crime Statistics.
- City Data.com. Lots of different types of statistics for nearby cities.
- Community Statistics by Zip Code.
- Demographia
- Chicago.
- Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
- Illinois
Counties, Cities and Towns, and Chicago Neighborhoods, from the
Chicago Sun-Times.
- Illinois County Statistical Abstract.
- Illinois Statistics Arranged by Subject and Agency.
- Local Community Fact Book : Chicago Metropolitan Area :
Based on the 1970 and 1980 Censuses. Call number: Reference
and General Collections HA 730 .C 5 L 63 1984.
-
Metro Chicago Immigration Fact Book, 2003. Also Reference
HA 730 .C 5 P 373 2003.
- PL 94-171
Chicago Community Area (CCA) Profiles (Census 2000)
- Social / Demographic / Economic Statistics Sources. Subdivided into local-, county-, and state-level electronic and printed COD resources. Although developed for marketing classes, it can certainly be utilized for other purposes as well.
- Statistics selected by your Geography from Fed Stats/Map Stats.
Government
Maps and Atlases
Evaluating Web Sites
Interlibrary Loan
The Library can obtain copies of articles or books from other libraries
for you. Inquire at the Reference Desk. You may also consult journal
title lists from other libraries in the area.
Citing Sources
Reference Desk: 630-942-3364
Dan Blewett, Reference Librarian
(630) 942-2279
Office: SRC 3033
blewett@cdnet.cod.edu
