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       Political Science

                         McFarlin Library

This is a selected guide to resources on Political Science in the McFarlin Library collection. It is not a comprehensive list. It is intended to serve as a starting point for your research.

Approaches to Research

For information on how to do research in general, check Constructing a Research Paper.

Book Reviews

To find a book review, the original date of publication is needed.  Begin searching for reviews in the year the book was published, then work forward through the more recent years.  Check either the Library Catalog  or WorldCat to get the original publication date.

Dictionaries/Encyclopedias

Encyclopedias and dictionaries are a good place to start when you need an overview of a subject or when you want a quick summary of basic ideas. They can also be used to  familiarize yourself with the vocabulary of the discipline. Encyclopedia articles are often followed by selected bibliographies or lists of references to other works. The following are available in McFarlin Library:

Dictionaries can help you to define unfamiliar terms as well as specialized usage within the professional literature.

 Directories/Handbooks/Almanacs

 

Oklahoma Politics

McF Ready Reference; JK7130 .O34

Oklahoma Almanac

 

United States Politics

International Politics

 Finding Articles

Journal articles are important in your research. You should use periodical indexes to identify current journal and newspaper articles published in the professional and scholarly literature on topics relevant to your research project.  Indexes can be subject-specific for in-depth research or can be more general in nature.

Some indexes are in electronic format and others are in print format. All indexes provide a citation, many provide an abstract, and a few provide the full text of the article.  If the article is not available in full text, you must use the Library Catalog to find out if McFarlin Library subscribes to the journal that publishes the article you need.

To find out if McFarlin Library has a specific journal click on the Journals and Online Sources  link on the Libraries' Home Page and choose Journal Portal. Type the journal title in the Search box. If McFarlin subscribes to the journal, note the location and format of the periodical.  Back issues of periodicals might be found as a hard copy, on microfilm, or through an electronic format.   If McFarlin Library does not subscribe to the journal you need, you may request it through interlibrary loan.

To find articles in political science, search the following electronic indexes:

Academic Search Elite via EBSCOhost

Academic Search Elite provides full text for nearly 1,490 academic, social sciences, humanities, general science, education and multi-cultural journals. In addition to the full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for over 2,670 journals. Over 1,700 journals are peer reviewed.

International Political Science Abstracts via EBSCOhost

"International Political Science Abstracts (IPSA),produced by the International Political Science Association, includes current indexing and abstracts of the world's leading journals in political science. This database contains over 110,000 records from nearly 900 journals published from 1989 to the present. Approximately 8,000 new records are added to the database each year."
 

Sociological Abstracts  

Sociological Abstracts contains citations to and abstracts of the world's literature in sociology and related disciplines from over 2,000 journals. Coverage also includes books, dissertations, conference proceedings, and reviews. It includes such fields as communications, counseling, crime, economics, education, philosophy, public policy, political science, religion, social psychology, and welfare.

 

SocINDEX with Full Text  via EBSCOhost

SocINDEX with Full Text is the world's most comprehensive and highest quality sociology research database. The database features more than 1,660,000 records with subject headings from a 19,300 term sociological thesaurus designed by subject experts and expert lexicographers. SocINDEX with Full Text contains full text for 344 "core" coverage journals dating back to 1895, and 129 "priority" coverage journals. This database also includes full text for more than 700 books and monographs, and full text for 6,800 conference papers.

To find articles in political science, search the following print indexes:

 Finding Books

To find books located in McFarlin Library, use the library's online catalog.   In addition to books, the Library Catalog allows you to search for periodicals, government documents, audiovisual material, and Special Collections.

Call number classifications for Political Science are:

Library materials for Political Science are listed on the Library Catalog under these suggested subject headings:

Broad Terms:

• Political science
• Constitutional history
• Political leadership
• World politics
• Teaching
• Political Science, Periodicals

See also the subheadings:

-- Politics and government (under the names of regions, countries, cities and under ethnic groups)

-- Political aspects

For example:

Journalism -- Political aspects

Tulsa (Okla.) -- Politics and government

United States -- Politics and government

Narrow terms:

• Comparative government
• Conservatism
• Democracy
• Ideology
• Politics and education

Check the Library of Congress Subject Headings for other more specific terms to search on the Library Catalog.

 Internet Resources

The Internet provides a great amount of information in the area of political science.  Listed below are some of the most well-established collections:

Oklahoma State Government Home Page

 

Country Studies

"A continuing series of books prepared by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the Department of the Army. This series presently contains studies of 71 countries."

 

Handbook of International Economic Statistics

Produced by the CIA, "the Handbook provides basic worldwide statistics for comparing the economic performance of major countries and regions. In general, the data in the Handbook are for 1970, 1980, and individual years in the period 1990-1997." 

 

 

Statistical Abstract of the United States

Not the complete work, this online version of the Abstract does include many of the most heavily

requested tables, as well as state and county profiles, state rankings, economic indicators, and more.

 

United States Government Manual

"The United States Government Manual database contains comprehensive information on the agencies of the legislative, judicial and executive branches. The Manual also includes information on quasi-official agencies; international organizations in which the United States participates; and boards, commissions and committees."

 

 

United States House of Representatives 

The official website of the House.

 

 

United States Senate 

The official website of the United States Senate.

 

 Statistics/Yearbooks

For statistical resources  found in McFarlin Library, check out  Statistics.

Citing Sources

For information on style manuals and guides found in McFarlin Library, check out  How to Cite Sources.