Russian and East European Resources at MSU: A Basic Guide for Research

This guide gives a basic outline of some of the best resources to use at MSU when doing research on Russia, Eastern Europe, or the former Soviet Union.

Table of Contents:

Journal Article Databases
News Sources
Reference Sources

Journal Article Databases

American Bibliography of Slavic and East European Studies

ABSEES covers North American scholarship on Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. It contains bibliographical citations for journal articles, books, book chapters, book reviews, dissertations, and selected government publications. The web edition coverage begins from 1990 and is updated monthly. Hardcopy volumes from 1956 onwards are located in the Main Library Stacks
MLA International Bibliography (Chadwyck-Healey interface)

Produced by the Modern Language Association, this database consists of bibliographic records pertaining to literature, language, linguistics, and folklore. Provides access to scholarly research in over 3000 journals and series. It also covers relevant monographs, working papers, bibliographies and other formats. Includes such important Slavic language journals as Voprosy Literatury and Roczniki Humanistyczne.
Historical Abstracts

Provides access to historical articles and citations to articles for the Modern period (1450 to the present). Indexes several important Slavic history journals, including Slavic Review, Russian Review, Voprosy Istorii, Otechestvennaia istoriia, and Kwartalnik Historyczny.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

CSA Worldwide Political Science Abstracts provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international journal literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration/policy. Updated monthly.
Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO)

Indexes and selectively publishes post-1990 scholarship and reports on international affairs. Provides full-text access to relevant Columbia University Press titles and many recent journals, papers from university research institutes and non-governmental organizations, foundation-funded research projects, and conference proceedings. CIAO also has links to international affairs centers, institutes, and other resources; U.S., international, and foreign govenment sites; environmental studies web pages; and news media services.
PAIS International

Consists of citations and abstracts of articles, books, conference proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical directories about public affairs.

News Sources

Universal Database of Russian Newspapers

This resource contains full-text articles from 40 Russian newspapers in English and Russian. Issues are updated daily. Articles are fully searchable, and many newspaper archives go back to 1996.
LexisNexis Academic

Lexis-Nexis is a leading news and business information service which contains more than 7,100 newspaper sources, of which 3,700 provide their entire publications online.

Reference Sources

Statistical Resources
- International Statistics
  
  A research guide to a wide array of International Statistics available via the MSU Libraries. Many online sources.
- Europa World Year Book
  
  An excellent source for basic country information. Covers recent history plus the current political and economic system in each country of the world. Includes some statistics, information on political parties and political structure, and media information. Most current issue is located behind the Reference Desk in the Main Library, JN1.E85
- Statistical yearbooks of Russia and Eastern Europe
  The Statistical yearbook of the Russian Federation, Rossiiskii statisticheskii ezhegodnik, Statistics alcove HA1433 .N3, is in Russian only. Most of the other Russian statistical publications in the Stacks are in Russian and English.
  n.b. Several other yearbooks (Ukraine, Yugoslavia) are available, but they are very out of date. In these cases it is easier to use United Nations sources of information
Historical and Literary Sources
- Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History
  
  Location: DK14 .M6 Reference, 1 East.
  The gold standard in reference books on Russian History. Excellent entries signed by scholars that usually conclude with a bibliography of readings on each topic. A must-use resource for Russian History.
- Encyclopedia of Eastern Europe: From the Congress of Vienna to the Fall of Communism
  
  Location: DJK6 .E53 2000 Reference 1 East
  Scope: Eastern Europe: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania; 1814-1989
  Covers the countries of Eastern Europe outside of Russia/Soviet Union, but includes outside forces, events, and people that effected E. European history and culture. For each country the encyclopedia has lengthy, comprehensive essays. Additional entries cover historical events, geography, government, economy, politics, culture, and ideas. Topics are written and signed by scholars in the field, and most include suggestions for further reading. Has extensive see also references and superb indexing.
- Gale Literature Resource Center
  
  Literature Resource Center provides direct access to biographies, bibliographies and critical analysis of authors from all ages and literary disciplines in a single Internet-searchable service. Its resources cover more than 90,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists and other writers, with additional in-depth coverage of 2,500 of the most-studied authors.
- Reference Guide to Russian Literature
  
  Location: PG2940. R43 Reference 1E
  This is a superb source both for those who are unfamiliar with Russian literature and for the Russian lit. student or scholar. The guide is arranged by author's name, and within each section are descriptions of the major works of that author with plot summaries of some of the most important pieces. This guide will list what translations were published in English, particularly useful for short story authors.

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Last updated: 06-28-2006

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Russian and East European Resources at MSU: A Basic Guide for Research