Research Guide for Political Science
Contact:
Dena Hutto
,
Director of Reference & Instruction
Reference Works
Blackwell Encyclopaedia of Political Thought
Ref JA61 .B57 1991
Articles on the history and theory of politics. Each article includes citations to core readings.
Political Handbook of the World
Ref JF37 .P671 2008
Concise, reliable information about political systems, structures, and leaders of countries. Includes basic country statistics and information about the current and historical political climate for each country.
Return to Top
Literature Review Tools
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
(1975-current)
The primary research database for political science. Abstracts of scholarly articles, book reviews, and conference papers. Includes coverage of international and comparative politics.
PAIS International
(1972-present)
Abstracts of journal articles, books, book chapters, and selected government publications on political events and topics.
Social Sciences Citation Index (part of Web of Science)
Abstracts of articles published in some of the most important journals from a broad spectrum of the social sciences disciplines. An essential part of any literature search in the social sciences for its currency, selectivity, and the ability to search for important works or authors cited.
Return to Top
Useful Electronic Collections
Academic Search Premier
(1975 - present)
Database of abstracts from a wide variety of disciplines, including articles published in thousands of scholarly and general interest journals. Most journals have fulltext articles available online, making this database a convenient tool for quickly retrieving articles.
CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online
(1991-present)
Research and theory in international affairs compiled by Columbia University Press. Includes working papers from research organizations and nongovernmental organizations, journal articles, books, policy briefs, and conference papers.
JSTOR
(coverage varies)
This electronic archives of essential academic journals includes several major titles from political science. Current issues of journals are not included in JSTOR, so use the library's Print and E-journals list to locate and access recent articles from major political science journals.
LexisNexis Academic
(coverage varies)
Fulltext database of news, broadcasts, laws, and law review articles.
Policy Central
Current news coverage, research, and reference tools for the U.S. Congress, policy, and elections research from National Journal.
Return to Top
Statistical Data & Documents
LexisNexis Congressional
(1789-present)
Comprehensive index for publications of Congress, including hearings, reports, public laws, and legislative history. Many links to fulltext and citations to older printed publications found in the government documents collection.
LexisNexis Statistical
(coverage varies)
Comprehensive index for statistics produced by the U.S. government, international organizations, foreign countries, U.S. state governments, and nongovernmental organizations. Create and download tables using the customize data feature.
Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
The center, headquartered at the University of Connecticut, maintains an archive of public opinion data from polls conducted in the 1930s to the present on topics ranging from national elections to current events. View quick results of poll questions or download data sets and documentation.
Statistical Abstract of the United States
Ref Desk HA202 .U5
Convenient compilation of frequently sought statistics on a broad range of topics. Includes references to data sources. Older editions in the library stacks.
Return to Top
