 |
Political Science Methodology
APOL 316: Prof. J. M. Teigen
Guide for finding sources at the George T. Potter Library
February 28 & March 3, 2008
Susan B. Kurzmann
I. Library Homepage: http://library.ramapo.edu
-
Provides access to the catalog (OPAC), databases, interlibrary loan forms, etc.
II. Find Books at the George T. Potter Library
- Catalog: use this to find books, periodical titles (NOT articles ), government documents, reserve items, music,and movies owned by the Library. You may limit a search by language, year(s) of publication, type of material, etc. This may take a few seconds to load.
- Use the Basic Search to find material using Keywords
- For example: search for "right to privacy" or right and privacy to locate a broad range of materials the library has on these keywords
- When you find an appropriate title, click on the Subjects, etc. tab located at the top of a catalog record to see which Library of Congress subject headings are discussed in that particular book/DVD/periodical
OR
- Search the catalog using Subject Browse feature if you know the relevant Library of Congress subject heading
- For example:
- Political science--Methodology
- Political statistics
- Comparative government--Methodology
- Public institutions
- Local Elections--New Jersey
- Election law
OR
- Go to Advanced Search
- The Boolean search terms are built in for your use:
- AND: you are commanding the system to search for material on both terms you've entered
- OR: you are commanding the system to search for meaterial on either of the search terms you have entered
- NOT: you are commanding the system to search for material on the first term you have entered and to exclude any material on the second term you have entered
- The catalog system will provide morre focused results
- The Boolean search terms are built in for your use:
Tips
- Start with broad searches. It's much easier to discard too much rather than start with too little.
- If you don't know the Subject Heading, use the Subjects, etc. tab located on the top of a catalog record to get to the headings. This will help you focus in on more relevant material.
- You can "virtually" browse the shelves by clicking on the call number in a record.
III. Find Online Documents and Books in our Catalog
-
Documents Without Shelves Collection: Online access to U.S. documents and books via the online catalog
- To limit your search to this collection, go to More Limits (right-hand side of the screen) and scroll down the Location Bar to select Documents Without Shelves
- This collection includes U.S. Government publications ranging from one-page reports to 300-page books
- Books will be accessible by chapter or section
- Tip Don't click on print until you're sure of what you're printing!
OR
To locate all online material, such as e-books, Documents Without Shelves titles, and databases, Scroll down the Quick limit menu (left-hand side of screen) to select Online material, and enter your search term.
IV. Reference Material
- The reference stacks are located on the 3rd floor (this is also the library's entrance).
- Some useful materials for your projects:
America at the Polls Volume 1: 1920-1956; Volume 2: 1960-2000 |
Ref JK 524 .M33 2001 |
| America Votes (v. 21, 1994+) | Ref JK 1967.A8 |
| Encyclopedia of Governmental Advisory Organizations | Ref JK 468.C7 E5 2007 |
| [Party Affiliations in the State Legislatures: A Year by Year Summary, 1796-2006] | Ref JK 2488.D83 2007 |
| Presidential Elections 1789-2000 | Ref JK 524 .P6783 2002 |
Print edition: Ref J 80 .A283 |
|
| Statistical Abstract of the United States | Ready Reference HA 202 .U5 |
| The United States Government Manual | Print edition: JK 421.A3 2007/2008--Ready Reference |
Vital Statistics on American Politics Volumes from 1988 through 2005/2006 |
Ref JK 274 .S74 2006 |
| Dictionaries | |
| Brewer's Politics: A Phrase and Fable Dictionary | Ref JA 61.C663 1993 |
| Dictionary of Political Thought | Ref JA 61.S37 |
| Encyclopedias and Handbooks | |
| Encyclopedia of Government and Politics | Ref JA 61.C66 2004 |
| Oxford Handbook of Political Theory | Ref JA 71 .O95 2006 |
| Political Philosophy: Theories, Thinkers, Concepts | Ref JA 71.P6226 2001 |
| Additional material | |
| PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) International and Archive | Online access |
| Survey Research Methodology, 1990-1999: An Annotated Bibliography | Ref Z 7164.S667 .W35 2003 |
Tips
- Use reference books to browse for project ideas and to get started on your research
- Use the bibliographies at the end of articles, books, encyclopedias, and dictionaries to locate more material on your topic
V. Finding Articles (Databases)
Some useful Databases for your projects:
Comprised of the full-text of more than 500 academic journals |
|
| LexisNexis Academic | Covers top news, general news topics, and news transcripts; foreign language news sources; company, industry, and market news; and legal news |
| See also: | |
| Contains records of 70 years of public opinion polls | |
| America's Newspapers | Includes full-text articles from the electronic editions of record for more than 300 U.S. newspapers |
| Worldwide Political Science Abstracts | Provides citations, abstracts, and indexing of literature in political science and public administration/policy |
Abstract databases, abstracts of articles and reviews in scholarly publications. NOTE: If a citation is not linked to the full-text article in JSTOR, click on the Primary Catalog link to see if the full text of the article is available in our collection in print or through another database. |
|
| CQ Researcher | Weekly publication providing original in-depth analysis of the most current major and controversial issues of the day with complete summaries, the pros and cons, and two bibliographies |
| Historic Documents | Published annually since 1972, includes 33 volumes of primary sources. Each volume contains approximately one hundred documents covering the most significant events of the year. |
Multidisciplinary databases that contains many full-text articles and citations. NOTE: When only a citation is indexed, click on the Check avaialbility [at Ramapo] link to see if the full text of the article is available in our collection in print or through another database. |
|
| Ethnic NewsWatch | A full-text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press |
| Historical NY Times | Full-text of the entire NY Times from 1851-2003 |
Scholarly/Peer Reviewed/Refereed articles have been reviewed by a selected panel of experts in the discipline covered by that journal. Many of the databases allow you to limit your search to these articles.
Tips
- Switch to the Advanced Search page in a database. This will give you more control over your results.
- Use Boolean Operators (AND, OR, NOT) and Quotation Marks when running a search. For Example: democracy and (realist or realism) nd critique OR (democracy or "political science") and "human rights"
- Always check your Spelling if the database results are zero.
- Use the Subject Terms or Thesaurus link, if available, to find the best terms to use in a database.
VI. Interlibrary Loan and Journal Finder
- Interlibrary Loan: allows studens to borrow a book or article that the George T. Potter library does not own. There is a link from the Journal Finder page.
- Journal Finder: locate the full text of articles in specific periodicalss (journals, newspapers, magazines)to which we have access either in our print or microform collection or through a full-text database.
Both of these links can be found under QUICK LINKS on the library's homepage.
VII. Preparing Bibliographies
- Citing Sources (Duke University) for examples of APA, ASA, Chicago, MLA, and Turabian citation styles
- The Open Handbook Online ( by Ann Raimes with Maria Jerskey)
- Style handbooks are also kept on reserve at the Circulation Desk
- Always be consistent and follow the examples for the required style format
VIII. Web Sources
-
Check Subject Resources links under Political Science and Statistical Information
-
Use Working Paper Sites of Political Science for current works in progress and links to recently published articles
-
Google Scholar: Search for scholarly information on Google
-
For Internet searching, access the library's link to Evaluating Websites to determine if the site is authoritative enough to use in your paper.
Useful Websites
-
U.S. Census Bureau: Includes information from Census 2000
-
FEDSTATS: Statistics from more than100 U.S. Federal agencies
-
United Nations Databases: Draws on information found in the United Nations Statistics division publications
-
Political Science - American Politics: Research Guide, Northwestern University. Links to many websites
-
American Rhetoric Speech Bank: Provides access to audio and video versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, and other recorded media events
-
History and Politics Out Loud: A searchable archive of politically significant audio materials
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
-
Budget of the United States Government 1997-Present
-
County and City Data Books: Geostat Center, University of Virginia
-
FRED: Federal Reserve Economic Data
Need more help? Visit or call the Reference Desk: 201.684.7574 OR Use QandA NJ.org, a 24/7 virtual chat service with a reference librarian |
|
 |
| George T. Potter Library | | 505 Ramapo Valley Road, Mahwah NJ 07430 | (201) 684-7575 | Design by Tibor Csokasi and Jon Jon Chua; Sketch Provided by Jon Jon Chua |
Please send your suggestions and comments to: Liz Siecke |