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General Research Information

See the other guides on the library web site on how to do general research at Carleton such as any of the following:

Bridge (the library catalog)
subject headings
print reference collection
indexes and electronic databases
web searching
citing

Print Reference Collection

Use these sources at the beginning of your research to get an overview of a topic or to identify synonyms or related terms that will apply to your topic. Later, return to these sources to clarify concepts or define new vocabulary. These sources also include bibliographical references that may prove helpful. All of these sources are located in the Reference Collection.

Library of Congress Call Numbers to browse in the print reference collection or in the general collection for Political Science:

• ref J - Political Science
• ref JK - U.S. Politics
• ref JN - Europe
• ref JV - Immigration
• ref JX - International Relations

This is only a partial list of the call numbers pertaining to Political Science. For a complete listing, go to the Library of Congress Classification Outline, provided by the Cataloging Policy and Support Office of the Library of Congress.

Selected Titles from the Print Reference Collection

The Almanac of Women and Minorities in American Politics. By Mart Martin.
Reference HQ 1236.5 .U6 M3778 1999

CQ's Politics in America 2004, the 108th Congress.
Ready Reference JK 1010 .P64 2003
Analyses and overviews of U.S. congress members' politics, voting, district dynamics; arranged by state and district.

Encyclopedia of American social movements. Edited by Immanuel Ness
CC Ref HN57 .E594 2004 v.1-4
Short entries covering this important topic.

Encyclopedia of Urban America:The Cities and Suburbs. Edited by Neil Larry Sumsky.
Reference HT .E5 1998
Overviews of concepts, terms, important topics.

Encyclopedia of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement. By Matt S. Meier and Margo Gutierrez.
Reference E 184 .M5 M458 2000
Short entries defining people, terms, concepts, laws.

Gay and Lesbian Americans and Political Participation: A Reference Handbook. By Raymond Smith.
Reference HQ 76.3 .U5 S59 2002
Two factbooks, arranged by minority group.

Public Interest Group Profiles 2004-2005.
Reference JK 1118 .P8 2004-2005
Analyses and overviews of public interest groups, such as the National Council of RAZA.

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Social Sciences Databases and Indexes

Indexing of Political Science and International Relations Journals - Subject Specific

America: History and Life and Historical Abstracts
These two key databases in the field of history index many political science and international relations journals. The primary difference between the two is that AHL covers American history, whereas HA is international. Journals like European Journal of Political Research and History of Political Thought are indexed here but not in PAIS or Social Sciences Index.

CIAO - Columbia International Affairs Online, 1991 to date.
Covers theory and research in international affairs. Strength in grey literature such as working papers, conference papers and procedings and government reports.

PAIS, 1972 to date.
Public Affairs Information Service (PAIS) includes articles, books, conference proceedings, government documents, book chapters, and statistical directories about public affairs. Includes indexing of the National Journal and Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report. For some journals this may be selective indexing rather than comprehensive indexing. Earlier print indexes begin in 1915, located in ref H 1 .P8.

JSTOR
This online archive of core academic journals is better for browsing specific journals or going straight to an article than it is for searching on a topic. That said, the ability to search the full-text of articles (and not just citations and abstracts) is not available in most other bibliographic databases. The full-text of 34 essential political science journals can be accessed through JSTOR. Do not search here for current articles, however - JSTOR includes every issue (often back to the 19th century) except the most recent five years.

PROL: Political Research Online
A searchable repository of papers delivered at Political Science conferences as well as other pre-print scholarship, from the American Political Science Association (APSA).  Also provides links to other excellent working paper and emerging scholarship repositories in the social sciences.

Sociological Abstracts, 1963 to date.
Many political science journals are included in the list of 1809 titles indexed and abstracted by Sociological Abstracts. Included are journals such as Policy Studies Journal, International Organization, and Third World Quarterly. Several journals indexed here are also indexed in Social Sciences Index, though the abstracts make an extra search here well worth the time.

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts, 1975 to date.
Covers international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, and public administration / policy.

Interdisciplinary Indexes

Broad, interdisciplinary indexes like the Social Sciences Citation Index and Ingenta are a good supplement to subject-specific indexes. Because their indexing is less in-depth, it is more difficult to craft relevant searches. However, because they cover more journal titles, including some searches here will make your literature search more exhaustive. Also, because these indexes are interdisciplinary, your search may pick up literature from areas in which you might not have thought to look.

Academic Search Premier
Indexes, abstracts, and some full-text to 216 international relations journals, 486 "politics and political science" journals along with nearly 14,000 other journals across all disciplines. Not all journals are scholarly or peer-reviewed, so limit your search if appropriate.

ProQuest
Indexes, abstracts, and some full-text to over 3300 scholarly journals, trade journals and popular magazines in all disciplines.

SSCI - Social Science Citation Index (via Web of Science), 1969 to date.
The Institute for Scientific Information publishes the Social Sciences Citation Index, which provides access to current bibliographic information and cited references, covering more than 1,700 of the world's leading social sciences journals in a broad range of disciplines. It also covers individually selected, relevant items from more than 3,400 of the world's leading natural and physical science journals. A powerful capability is cited reference searching, a process whereby one tracks the number of times a specific work has been cited or referenced in other works.

Indexes to News, Government Documents, and More

Congressional Universe
Indexing and selected full text for Congressional publications (hearings, bills, members of Congress, committees), laws and regulations, hot topics, links.

Ethnic News Watch, 1991 to date.
Index and full text of about 100 minority newspapers published in the U.S.

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Web Links

Political Science Resources on the Web
An award-winning site for the discipline. Includes United States Politics links.

The Politics Section of Intute
Intute, (formerly SOSIG, Social Sciences Information Gateway) is aimed at researchers and practitioners in the social sciences, and offers a browsable and searchable listing of high quality internet resources.

Researching U.S. Interest Groups and Public Policy
This web research guide from Carleton's Gould Library suggests resources relevant to interest groups, how to locate think tank and policy group papers and websites, ratings of Congress, and more.

Treaties and International Trade
A web research guide focused specifically on treaties and international trade from Carleton's Gould Library.

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