Introduction
CQ Researcher is noted for its award-winning in-depth, unbiased coverage of health, social trends, criminal justice, international affairs, education, the environment, technology and the economy. Reports are published online 44 times a year by CQ Press, an imprint of SAGE Publications. Each report is researched by a seasoned journalist, footnoted and professionally fact checked. The reader-friendly organization provides researchers with an introductory overview, which poses and addresses relevant questions; a background and chronology on the topic; an assessment of the current situation; tables and maps; a pro/con debate by representatives of opposing positions; and bibliographies of key sources.
***Important Note: CQ Researcher is intended to be a starting point that guides you toward further research. It is not a source you would cite in your paper. We'll discuss locating those in the following sections.
Using CQ Researcher
From the CQ Researcher homepage, you can conduct a keyword search, browse reports by topic, or review the featured stories and hot topics. All reports will be related to current events and social issues. Their front page will always include a featured report, recent reports, and a list of hot topics in the sidebar:
For our purposes, we'll use their current featured report on hate crimes to demonstrate how to use CQ Researcher as a starting point and how to develop your research from there. The hate crimes report was published on August 13th 2021, so it reflects the most recent developments on this issue. To get started, click "Read the Full report."
Structure: CQ reports are extensive and uniform in that they are organized by subcategories including introduction, overview, background, future outlook, pro/con, a bibliography and, perhaps most importantly, directions for further research.
Discussion Questions:These are a new feature. These questions can be useful when thinking about a possible research question.
Court Cases & Policies: CQ reports often refer to specific court cases and policies that you can research more in-depth using the sources below. The hate crimes report references several Supreme Court cases that we can search for in Nexus Uni (discussed below).
Issue tracker: There's an Issue Tracker and Related Topics section in the sidebar that features reports related to your issue. This is a useful tool to track the development of an issue through time. In this case, the earliest hate crime report is from 1933 on lynching and kidnapping.