{"id":325,"date":"2014-06-04T11:21:38","date_gmt":"2014-06-04T11:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/spslibrarian\/?p=325"},"modified":"2014-09-10T18:31:59","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T18:31:59","slug":"better-together-or-better-apart-some-useful-resources-on-the-scottish-referendum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/spslibrarian\/2014\/06\/04\/better-together-or-better-apart-some-useful-resources-on-the-scottish-referendum\/","title":{"rendered":"Better together or better apart? Some useful resources on the Scottish referendum."},"content":{"rendered":"

On the 18th<\/sup> September 2014 Scotland will vote yes or no to independence. There are a wealth of online resources available that can help with your research or help to inform your vote on the 18th<\/sup> September and here are just a small number that you may find useful.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Scottishparliament\"<\/a>Referendum on Independence Key Texts<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0has been put together by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe) and is intended to be useful to those seeking information on the\u00a0Referendum on Independence for Scotland, and on the debate around the Referendum.\u00a0Every effort is made to ensure that both sides of the debate (and neutral commentators) are covered. It is not an exhaustive resource and does not include material from the media e.g. BBC, newspapers, etc., or personal blogs, twitter, etc., however, there are a wide range of resources covered.<\/p>\n

Future of the UK and Scotland<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is a programme funded by the\u00a0Economic and Social Research Council<\/a>. It brings the best of UK social science to the debate about Scotland\u2019s constitutional future and its implications for the rest of the UK. That debate is focused in particular on the referendum question that will be posed on 18 September 2014: \u201cShould Scotland be an independent country?\u201d. The programme aims to provide an authoritative and independent reference point for those looking for information and insights about the future of the UK and Scotland that stand aside from the politics of the referendum.<\/p>\n

What Scotland Thinks?<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>is run by\u00a0ScotCen Social Research<\/a> and aims to provide impartial, up-to-date information on public attitudes to Scottish independence including the latest\u00a0Scottish Social Attitudes survey findings. This is a useful resource for poll and survey data on the forthcoming referendum and provides observations and analysis on the state of public opinion.<\/p>\n

Scotland’s Referendum: Informing the Debate<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0is the University of Edinburgh’s blog which aims to\u00a0provide a platform for disseminating research, providing commentary and promoting events to inform the referendum debate.<\/p>\n

The London School of Economics (LSE) British Politics and Policy blog<\/a> has a number of posts on the theme of the Scotland Independence Referendum<\/strong><\/a>. The BPP blog is\u00a0a multidisciplinary academic blog run by the LSE and Political Science. Their central aim is to increase the public understanding of British politics and policy by providing accessible academic commentary and research.<\/p>\n

Interested in what may happen with the constitution if Scotland does vote yes for independence? The Comparative Constitutions Project<\/strong><\/a> investigates the sources and consequences of constitutional choices. Data is being collected on the formal characteristics of written constitutions, both current and historical, for most independent states since 1789.<\/p>\n

*NEW*<\/strong> The Scottish Government Yearbooks<\/a><\/strong>, 1976-1992, are now freely available online. Published by the University of Edinburgh\u2019s \u2018Unit for the Study of Government in Scotland\u2019 the\u00a0archive offers a fascinating insight into a key period in Scotland\u2019s social and political development.<\/span><\/p>\n

Library Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Library subscribes to a number of databases that staff and students of the University of Edinburgh can use to find academic literature on the Scottish referendum and the surrounding debate. You can find a full list of databases recommended for Politics<\/a><\/strong> or see the Databases A-Z list<\/a> for a list of all databases that you have access to through the Library.<\/p>\n

Media<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although most newspapers will now have their own website, access to articles is not always free and their archives may not be easy to search. The Library subscribes to a number of databases that staff and students of the University can use to search and access newspaper articles, both UK and international papers. These databases allow you to\u00a0search multiple sources, to search for specific subject areas and to trace a story back.\u00a0Factiva<\/em>, Lexis Library<\/em> and Nexis UK<\/em> are recommended and you can access these and other newspaper databases from the Newspapers databases list<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"BoB2\"Box of Broadcasts<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0allows you to record and catch-up on missed programmes, schedule recordings, edit programmes into clips, search for recordings already made by other users, etc. Includes 60+ TV and radio channels. You have access to BoB through the University and you can use this to find, record and view programmes and interviews related to the Scottish referendum.<\/p>\n

BBC News Scottish Referendum<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0brings together features, interviews, surveys and timelines.<\/p>\n

Yes and No campaigns<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes:\u00a0http:\/\/www.yesscotland.net\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

No:\u00a0http:\/\/bettertogether.net\/<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Interested in finding out more about the\u00a0key issues and the campaigns for Scotland’s 2014 independence referendum? The University of Edinburgh will be running a free online course starting 25th August 2014 and lasting for 6 weeks.\u00a0https:\/\/www.futurelearn.com\/courses\/indyref<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(@indyrefmooc<\/a>) for more information on the course and how to join.<\/p>\n

Please note, this blog post contains links to external websites which we have no control over the content of and they do not reflect the opinion of the University of Edinburgh.<\/p>\n

Caroline Stirling – Academic Support Librarian for Social and Political Science<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the 18th September 2014 Scotland will vote yes or no to independence. There are a wealth of online resources available that can help with your research or help to inform your vote on the 18th September and here are … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"Better together or better apart? Some useful resources on the Scottish referendum.","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[24],"tags":[4,9,6,46,96],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4juGL-5f","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/spslibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/spslibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/spslibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/spslibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/spslibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=325"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/spslibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1854,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/spslibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325\/revisions\/1854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/spslibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/spslibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/libraryblogs.is.ed.ac.uk\/spslibrarian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}