Researching contemporary Russian politics using variety of online and printed resources at Gelman library can be very productive and rewarding. For that reason, we have put together this guide, which contains a wide selection of databases, books, and reference materials. On these pages we also provide an extensive guide to WWW resources on Russia and Russian politics.
NOTE:Starting this research and planning it most efficiently can be at times tricky and Global Resources Center (GRC) staff is ready to help and guide you through this process. Expert assistance from professional librarian on staff at the GRC on 7th floor of Gelman Library is available. Call or write librarian Mark Yoffe for a research appointment for help formulating your strategies and tactics for finding resources: 202 994-6303, yoffe@gwu.edu.
Note on transliteration and database searching:
Searching databases you need to be mindful that some Russian names can be transliterated in a few different but accepted ways. That is particularly important when dealing with names ending in “ii” or “y” as for example in Andrei Kurbskii. His name can be also spelled Andrey Kurbsky and even Andrej Kurbskij. For the most complete results use all variants in your search.
TIP: For unique names like Solzhenitsyn or Limonov (as opposed to very common names like Ivanov), search only the last name of the person.
Aside from using names of specific persons, organizations or events you can search combining specialized terms as in these samples that often proved to be productive: Russia ethnicity, Russia minorities, Russia elections, Russia migrations, Russia Muslims, Russia nationalism, Russia terrorism, Russia terrorism law, Russia radicalism, Russia journalists, Russia media freedom, Russia military reform etc.
Found in GRC Reference area:
Encyclopedia of Russian History, James R. Millar, editor in chief, 2004. DK14 .E53 2004 vols. 1-4
Dictionary of Russian Historical Terms from the Eleventh Century to 1917, 1970. DK36 .P78 1970
Great Dates in Russian and Soviet History, 1994. DK36 .G74 1994
Russia: A Reference Guide from the Renaissance to the Present, Mauricio Borrero, 2004. DK36 .B59 2004
An Ethnological Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires, ed. by James S. Olson, 1994. DK33 .E837 1994
The Peoples of the USSR: an Ethnographic Handbook, Ronald Wixman, 1984. DK33 .W59 1984
The Penguin Historical Atlas of Russia, 1995. DK38 .C4 1995
