Overview
This guide is offers starting point to researching an issue at each stage of the Issue-Attention Cycle.
Resources with historical coverage 1940-1990 have been emphasized in this guide.
Stages of the Issue Attention Cycle *
Stage One: The Pre-Problem Stage
Stage Two: The Alarmed Discovery and Euphoric Enthusiasm Stage **
Stage Three: The Realizing the Cost of Significant Progress Stage **
Stage Four: The Gradual Decline in Intense Public Interest Stage
Stage Five: The Post-Problem Stage
* The Issue Attention Cycle was developed by Anthony Downs in his essay, Up and Down with Ecology: the “Issue-Attention Cycle," originally published in the journal Public Interest, volume 28, page 38, in 1972.
** Stage Two and Stage Three are main focus of the EVRN 332 research assignment.
Start Here
Looking for full text of the primary resources that document the process of the bill becoming a law?
Most of the public laws researched for this assignment will be included in ProQuest Legislative Insight. You can easily search by Public Law number, Bill number, or the Statute at Large citation.
- ProQuest legislative insight This link opens in a new windowProQuest legislative insight module A is a Federal legislative history service that makes available thoroughly researched compilations of digital full text publications created by Congress during the process leading up to the enactment of U.S. Public Laws.
- ProQuest Legislative Insight TutorialPower Point tutorial with links to videos.
General Overview and Background
- Homeland security digital library (HSDL) This link opens in a new windowGreat source for Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports. Also contains documents related to homeland security policy, strategy, and organizational management, non-classified Presidential directives and policy and national strategy documents. Sources of documents include federal, state, tribal, and local government agencies, professional organizations, think tanks, academic institutions, and international governing bodies.
- CQ researcher online This link opens in a new windowIn-depth reports "written by experienced journalists, footnoted and professionally fact-checked. Full-length articles include an overview, historical background, chronology, pro/con feature, plus resources for additional research."
- U.S. Federal Legislative History Library | HeinOnline"In addition to the inclusion of comprehensive federal legislative histories published by the U.S. GPO and private publishers, this library also includes a unique finding aid based on Nancy Johnson's award-winning work, Sources of Compiled Legislative Histories."
