Political Science

The following resources have been compiled by the librarians with specific regard to the field of Political Science.

Reference Books

• A New handbook of political science. 1996. Main Collection 320 N42G
  An authoritative survey of developments in the discipline compiled by 42 of the most famous political scientists worldwide, analysing progress over the past twenty years and assessing this in the context of historical trends in the field. Discussion of each of the main subdisciplines: political institutions political behaviour comparative politics international relations political theory public policy and administration.

• The Palgrave Macmillan dictionary of political thought. 2007. Ref 320.03 P17S

• The Dictionary of political analysis. 1982. Ref 320.03 P69d

• Encyclopedia of modern Christian politics. 2 volumes. 2006. Ref 320.088 En19M

• Political handbook of the world. 2009. Ref 320.2 P757

• Encyclopedia of politics: The Left and the right. 2 volumes. 2005. Ref 320.3 En19C
  Contains over 450 articles on individuals, movements, political parties, and ideological principles, with those usually thought of as left in the left-hand volume (Volume 1) and those considered on the right, in the right-hand volume (Volume 2). Topics covered include laws, movements, parties, people, and "isms" for both Left and the Right, as well as countries and regions that ascribe to each.

• The Human rights encyclopedia. 3 volumes. 2001. Ref 323 H918h

• International encyclopedia of human rights: Freedoms, abuses and remedies. 2000. Ref 323 M26i

• Encyclopedia of media and politics. 2007. Ref 302.23 En19S

• Encyclopedia of politics and religion. 2 volumes. 2006. Ref 322.1 En19W

• Assassinations and executions: An Encyclopedia of political violence, 1865 - 1986. 1988. Ref 909.8 L57a
  

Finding Books

• Online Catalog
  • Find books, as well as a variety of other materials in the TU Libraries.
  • Use the Advanced search option to specify material format, campus, language, and date range.

• WorldCat
  • Listed under Essential Tools.
  • Find books, among other things, to request via Interlibrary Loan (ILL).

Finding Articles

• Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO)
Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO) is the most comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs. It publishes a wide range of scholarship from 1991 onward that includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs. CIAO is also widely-recognized source for teaching materials including original case studies written by leading international affairs experts, course packs of background readings for history and political science classes, and special features like the analysis of a bin Laden recruitment tape with video.


• LexisNexis Academic 
  For legal and government information, as well as a plethora of other topics, this is a great source.

• Military and Government Collection
  Designed to offer current news pertaining to all branches of the military and government, this database offers a thorough collection of periodicals, academic journals, and other content pertinent to the increasing needs of those sites. The Military & Government Collection provides cover-to-cover full text for more than 300 journals and periodicals and indexing and abstracts for more than 400 titles.


• JSTOR
  JSTOR (Journal STORage) presents the searchable full text of the complete back files for over 100 important scholarly journals. Coverage generally includes the first volume through issues published prior to the most recent 3-5 years (current issues are not available in JSTOR). Includes journals for the following disciplines: African-American studies, anthropology, Asian studies, ecology, economics, education, finance, history, literature, mathematics, philosophy, political science, population studies, sociology, and statistics. Also search JSTOR via Google Scholar by including "+JSTOR" in the search.


• CountryWatch
  Provides up-to-date information and news on the countries of the world in a concise and useful form. Includes cultural, political, economic, and business information and maps.


• Project MUSE
  This collection of 400 journals represent the publications of 100 not-for-profit organizations. Every article available in Project MUSE is in full-text, meaning you will immediately be able to view, print, or save the article for later use.


• Catalog of U.S. Government publications
  The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) is a search and retrieval service that provides bibliographic records of U.S. Government information products. Use it to link to Federal agency online resources or identify materials distributed to Federal sdepository libraries. Coverage begins with January 1994 and new records are added daily.

Finding Journals

• List of Journals, Magazines and Newspapers
  Search by journal title keyword for online full-text journals, and to see what we have in print in the library.


• Click here for a Poilitical Science subject search in the Periodical List to find out what journals (and how many) we have available both in print and online. Also, try a Law subject search for more related information. Click on the blue links to enter the actual list of titles. The numbers in parentheses beside the subject indicate how many journal titles are included in that subject area. Both sections offer subdisciplines, so browse through to find more specific journals for your topic.


• CQ Weekly Report
  Also check out this weekly publication regarding Actions and Reactions in Congress. Provides sections on bills to watch, other perspectives on current events, as well as trends and forecasts in government, commerce, and politics.

Internet Resources

• USA.gov
  Provides a rich treasure of online information, services, and resources from the U.S. government. Is searchable, as well as offering information divided up by broad topic area.


• Fedstats.gov
  FedStats provides easy access to statistics and information produced by more than 100 US Federal Government agencies. You can even find statistical information about Grant County.


• Congressional Hearings (Law Library of Congress)
  The Law Library of Congress and Google teamed up on a collaborative pilot project to digitize the Law Library's entire collection of 75,000 volumes of printed Congressional Hearings. The intent of this initial digitization project is to produce browsable, text-readable versions of these hearings and to make them available as quickly as possible. Currently, the site contains three thematic collections that cover hearings on the U.S. Census, freedom of information, and immigration.

• Human Rights First
  "Human Rights First believes that building respect for human rights and the rule of law will help ensure the dignity to which every individual is entitled and will stem tyranny, extremism, intolerance, and violence.
  
  Human Rights First is practical and effective. We advocate for change at the highest levels of national and international policymaking. We seek justice through the courts. We raise awareness and understanding through the media. We build coalitions among those with divergent views. And we mobilize people to act."
  
  Full of media articles, videos, and other news items in various forms, this site is a hub of human rights efforts worldwide. It also provides citations for many human rights related publications that can possibly be found through Interlibrary Loan or purchased from this site. Contact a Librarian if you need help.


• Witness.org
  Started in 1992 by artist Peter Gabriel, this organization is dedicated to human rights awareness and action around the world. Their mission, as stated on their web site: "WITNESS uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. We empower people to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice, promoting public engagement and policy change."


• Government Publishing Office (US gov)
  Provides free electronic access to a wealth of important information products produced by the Federal Government. The information provided on this site is the official, published version and the information retrieved from GPO Access can be used without restriction, unless specifically noted. This free service is funded by the Federal Depository Library Program and has grown out of Public Law 103-40, known as the Government Printing Office Electronic Information Enhancement Act of 1993.


• Legal Information Institute (Cornell U)
  The LII is known internationally as a leading "law-not-com" provider of public legal information. We offer all opinions of the United States Supreme Court handed down since 1992, together with over 600 earlier decisions selected for their historic importance, over a decade of opinions of the New York Court of Appeals, and the full United States Code. We also publish important secondary sources: libraries in two important areas (legal ethics and social security) and a series of "topical" pages that serve as concise explanatory guides and Internet resource listings for roughly 100 areas of law.


• Global Legal Information Network
  A public database of official texts of laws, regulations, judicial decisions, and other complementary legal sources contributed by governmental agencies and international organizations. These GLIN members contribute the full texts of their published documents to the database in their original languages. Each document is accompanied by a summary in English and, in many cases in additional languages, plus subject terms selected from the multilingual index to GLIN. All summaries are available to the public, and public access to full texts is also available for most jurisdictions.


• United Nations Documentation Research Guide
  This guide is designed for researchers and information professionals with an interest in United Nations documentation. It presents an overview of the various types of documents and publications issued by the Organization (e.g, reports, resolutions, meeting records, sales publications, press releases) and gives guidance on how to work with them.


• History of Televised Presidential Debates
  Sponsored by the MBC--Museum of Broadcast Communications-this web site presents an interactive multimedia celebration of over forty years of television and politics. Including the entirety of the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1960, and clips, photos, and news items of each following presidential debate, it recounts the history of televised elections. Has a curriculum resource center with lesson plans and activities that promote learning in the social sciences and language arts.

• The American Presidency Project 
  Offers extensive research on historical and current information of U.S. Presidents. Has over 85,000 documents available through searches, including speeches, official papers, execurtive orders, proclamations, news conferences, and more. Definitely worth a perusal when you need information on Presidents.


• HG Worldwide Legal Directories
  Provides a plethora of legal resources from a directory of laws and lawyers in over 200 countries to identifying law schools, etc. In the lefthand menu, under International Law, the link for Laws for 230 countries offers law and government information resources for countries in alphabetical order.


• Political Resources on the Net
  This site is a "listing of political sites available on the Internet sorted by country, with links to Parties, Organizations, Governments, Media and more from all around the world." Search by region around the world, alphabetically by nation, or organization (via the basic Search feature).

Other Research Tools

• Credo Reference
  A conglomeration of specialized dictionaries and encyclopedias that allows you to search for definitions and encyclopedia articles, as well as develop ideas for expanding or refining a research strategy.

• Oxford Reference Premium Online  
  Oxford University Press produces a number of extremely useful reference materials, many of which they have made available here. You can search by keyword, but you can also choose particular subjects and from there, particular books within which to search. This willl provide you with all sorts of background and broad spectrum information on a particular topic.

• Biography Resource Center  
  Find background information about people, authors, famous personalities, and others. Search by first or last name.

Citation Help

One of the least favorite aspects of research papers are the citations, documenting the sources where you gleaned your information. To make that a little easier, the Library offers a few resources.

• The Chicago manual of style. 2003. Ref 808.042 Un3c

• The Citation Style Guide is a place where you can find call numbers for print Style Manuals and Handbooks, as well as online help from several different universities around the States. Check it out and see if it helps!

• RefWorks
  is a Citation Management program. Fully available online, and linked from the Library's home page, it allows you to keep it all ELECTRONIC. Download your citations from the various databases you're using into RefWorks. This program will create the Works Cited page for you with little effort. In a database, look for the option to EXPORT - that is where you'll find this gem of a program.

• Automatically Generated Citations can be found in our Library Catalog (to the right of the item on the Results page), as well as in most EBSCO databases (like Academic Search Premier, PsycINFO, Communications and Mass Media Complete, etc.). Most databases either provide an instant citation in a couple of different styles, or they allow Exporting to RefWorks (see above). Ask a Librarian for more help in managing your citations and creating your bibliographies and works cited pages faster.

• WorldCat.org
  "Cite this item" within individual item record lists the citation in APA, MLA, Chicago and more.

• The Writing Center is also a solid resource. Available in the Library, this is run by the English department. If you'd like face-to-face help individually with citing or any aspect of writing and editing your paper, the Writing Center is the place to go. For more information, see their page on the Portal, or you can contact them at writingctr@taylor.edu.

Product descriptions on this page are incorporated from book reviews and product descriptions from various sources.

Ask-A-Librarian for more information.