Political Science

This general research guide introduces users to resources pertinent to the study of Political Science. It contains suggestions for locating books, articles, research tools, and data.

Subject Librarian for Political Science:

Valery King

e-mail valery.king[at]oregonstate.edu | phone 737-7318 | AIM: ValeryKing

 

 
Quicklinks
  Academic Search Primier | LexisNexis | Interlibrary Loan | Off-Campus Access

 

Table of Contents
Finding Books in Online Catalogs
Writing Guides
Dictionaries and Encyclopedias
Handbooks and Yearbooks
Statistics
Guides to the U.S. Government
Public Opinion Polls
Databases (Indexes and Abstracts)
Internet Resources
Electronic Journals

Finding Books in Online Catalogs

OSU Libraries Online Catalog - http://oasis.oregonstate.edu/

Summit (Orbis Cascades Alliance) Catalog: combined catalog of most academic libraries in Oregon and Washington. http://summit.orbiscascade.org/

Searching: Subject searching is the most effective search. OSU uses the Library of Congress Subject Headings. Some examples of LC subject headings for political science are:

Elections Federal goverment International relations
Political parties Public opinion polls Social movements

Locating by call number: As with most academic libraries, OSU uses the Library of Congress classification system to organize and arrange materials in the library. Most political science materials fall into the "J" call number range and are located on the 5th floor of The Valley Library. More specific groupings of materials include:

JC - Political theory JS - Local government
JF - Constitutional history JV - Colonies and colonization
JK - United States JX - International relations
JN - Europe  

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Writing Guides

Writing guides provide formats for typing footnotes, endnotes, and bibliographies, as well as instructions on how to cite print and electronic resources

  • RESOURCES IN THE LIBRARY
  • The Political Science Student Writer's Reference Manual
    Valley JA 86 . S39
  • The Chicago Manual of Style
    Valley Reference Desk Z 253 .U69
  • The Complete Guide to Citing Government Information Resources
    Valley Reference J 9.5 .G37
  • A Manual for Writers of Term Papers, Theses, and Dissertations
    Valley Reference LB 2369 .T8
  • MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers
    Valley Reference LB 2369 .G53
  • Style Manual for Political Science
    Valley Reference JA 86 .A521
  • ONLINE RESOURCES
  • Columbia Guide to Online Style (Columbia University Press)
  • The Writing Center - Web Resources (Oregon State University)
  • POLTICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT STUDENT WRITING GUIDE
  • A Student Writer's Survival Guide

Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

Specialized dictionaries define terms, concepts, and jargon used in a particular field or subject, sometimes in extended entries. Encyclopedias contain authoritative information on a variety of subjects in political science. The overviews they present will help you discover, develop, and narrow topics for research papers.

Handbooks and Yearbooks

Handbooks are compact reference books, organized for easy access, that provide factual information on specific topics. Yearbooks are annual publications of facts and information about the preceding year, limited to a specific subject, country, or organization.

  • RESOURCES IN THE LIBRARY
  • International Year Book & Statesmen's Who's Who
    Valley Reference JA 51 .I5
  • Oregon Blue Book - ONLINE
    Valley Reference JK 9031
  • Political Handbook of the World
    Valley Reference JF 37 .P6
  • Who's Who
    Valley Reference DA 28 .W6
  • Who's Who in America
    Valley Reference E 663 .W5
  • Yearbook of the United Nations
    Valley Reference JX 1977 .A37Y4
  • ONLINE RESOURCES
  • Country Studies (Area Studies) (Library of Congress)
  • CIA World Factbook (Central Intelligence Agency)

Statistics

Guides to the U.S. Government

  • RESOURCES IN THE LIBRARY
  • Almanac of American Politics
    Valley Reference JK 1012 .A5
  • Federal Regulatory Directory
    Valley Reference JK 901 .F4
  • Guide to Current American Government
    Valley Reference JK 1 .C17
  • Guide to U.S. Elections
    Valley Reference JK 1967 .C662
  • How to Research Congress
    Valley JK 1108 .M349
  • United States Government Manual - ONLINE
    Valley Reference Desk JK 421 .A3
  • Washington Information Directory
    Valley Reference F 192.3 .W33
  • ONLINE RESOURCES
  • American President (University of Virginia: Miller Center of Public Affairs)
  • Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (1774-present)
  • Elections 2004 (Univ. of Michigan Documents Center)
  • Elections Central (OregonLive.com: Elections)
  • USA.gov: The U.S. Government's Official Web Portal (formerly Firstgov.gov)
  • GPO Access: A Service of the U.S. Government Printing Office
  • WatchBlog: Political News, Opinion and Commentary

Public Opinion Polls

  • For more online resources, link to "Guide to public opinion poll Web sites: Polling data from around the world" by Gary Thompson and Sean Conley. C&RL News, October 2006 Vol. 67, No. 9.

Databases (Indexes and Abstracts)

Indexes are finding-aids for the contents of published material (journal articles, conference papers, books, etc.) in a specific field. They usually include subject, author, and sometimes title headings to promote a variety of search strategies. Abstracts are an indexing service that provides both a citation and a summary of each item listed.

  • Academic Search Premier Academic multi-disciplinary database providing FULL TEXT for nearly 4,700 publications, including more than 3,600 peer-reviewed journals.
  • Homeland Security Digital Library NEW! Provides quick access to important U.S. policy documents, presidential directives, and national strategy documents as well as specialized resources such as theses and reports from various universities, organizations and local and state agencies. The resources are reviewed and selected by a team of homeland security researchers and organized in a unique homeland security taxonomy.
  • LexisNexis Academic A FULL TEXT database which provides access to a wide range of news, legal, business, and government information. Use it to search for newspaper articles in papers your library doesn't own.
  • LexisNexis Congressional Publications FULL TEXT of many publications of the US Congress: legislative histories, bills & laws, regulations, members & committees, Congressional Record, and political news/hot topics.
  • Social Science Citation Index Index to materials in over 1,700 of the world's leading scholarly social sciences journals covering more than 50 disciplines. It includes cited references for all materials.

Internet Resources

Electronic Journals

The OSU Libraries Catalog online also links to our electronic journals. And while most of our full text is accessible through the electronic journals list, it is not complete and forces you to do a laborious search by individual journal title and issue tables of contents. We recommended that, unless you are looking for a precise citation to a specific journal, that you use a periodical index/database to do your article searching. One advantage of electronic journals is that they are full-text online. This list is subject to change, and years of coverage will vary by journal.

 

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Return to the Alphabetical or Subject index of the Subject Research Guides.