Political Science

Developing a research question can be a challenge. Give yourself time to brainstorm and explore using the tips below.

Steps to Develop a Topic

Developing a good research question can sometimes be the most difficult part of the research process. If you are struggling, follow the links below.

• Brainstorming
• Develop research questions
• Identify keywords
• Find background information using reference sources
• Refine your topic

Encyclopedias are helpful starting places :

• To browse for research ideas.
• To help focus your topic.
• For general information about a topic, person, place, or an event (a tertiary source)
• For more resources that provide bibliographies – which will lead to additional books and articles.

As a general rule, researchers do not cite reference (tertiary) sources in their research, but instead use them for informational purposes. 

CREDO is an online collection of over 800 reference resources, providing definitions, background information, quotations, images, and biographical information. Explore this title list of reference eBooks relating to political science for background information!

Digital Reference Resources
Search your topic keywords and gather background and contextual information.

• Credo Reference This link opens in a new window

  Online collection of over 800 reference titles, providing useful definitions, background information, quotations, images, and biographical information.

• Encyclopaedia Britannica Online This link opens in a new window

  The online version of Britannica's encyclopedia, plus thousands of unique online articles, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (10th ed.), the Britannica Book of the Year, and more. Updated daily.

• Sage E-Reference This link opens in a new window

  Reference titles covering a wide variety of subjects, including the humanities and social sciences.

• Oxford Reference Online This link opens in a new window

  In-depth, specialized titles from Oxford University Press’s award-winning Encyclopedias and Companions series, and a selection of partner publishers’ scholarly works.

• World Factbook

  "Provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities, via the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency."

• Guide to Countries of the World

  Each entry provides a brief history of the country and outlines its political, economic, and social issues.

• Gale Ebooks This link opens in a new window

  Collection of reference ebooks from Gale covering general reference, biographical sources, and all major disciplines.

Palgrave Macmillan Dictionary of Political Thought by Roger Scruton

Covers every aspect of political thought, defining concepts and ideologies, surveying the arguments on issues, giving capsule histories of political institutions, and summarizing the thought of major political theorists.

Big Ideas Simply Explained: The Politics Book

From ancient and medieval philosophers such as Confucius and Thomas Aquinas, to revolutionary thought leaders such as Thomas Jefferson and Leon Trotsky, to the voices who have shaped modern politics today - Mao Zedong, Malcolm X, Che Guevara, and more - The Politics Book clearly and simply explains more than 100 groundbreaking ideas in the history of political thought.

Dictionary of Politics and Government

Terms covering world politics, international relations, local and national government and the European Union.

A Glossary of Political Theory by John Hoffman

Covers alphabetically both the major concepts in political theory and the key writers in the field. While ensuring accuracy and objectivity, the entries represent interpretations that are both challenging and interesting.

Political Philosophy A-Z by Jon Pike

A comprehensive, up-to-date and concise guide to one of the most important branches of philosophy.

Africa and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History by Richard M. Juang and Noelle Morrissette

This encyclopedia explores the many long-standing influences of Africa and people of African descent on the culture of the Americas, while tracing the many ways in which the Americas remain closely interconnected with Africa.

Britain and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History by Will Kaufman and Heidi Slettedahl Macpherson

A comprehensive encyclopedia covering the close ties between Britain and the whole of the Americas, examining Britain's cultural and political legacy to the nations of the New World.

France and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History by Bill Marshall

A unique, multidisciplinary encyclopedia covering the impacts that French and American politics, foreign policy, and culture have had on shaping each country's identity.

Germany and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History by Thomas Adam

This comprehensive encyclopedia details the close ties between the German-speaking world and the Americas, examining the extensive Germanic cultural and political legacy in the nations of the New World and the equally substantial influence of the Americas on the Germanic nations.

Iberia and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History by J. Michael Francis

This comprehensive encyclopedia covers the reciprocal effects that the politics, foreign policy, and culture of Spain, Portugal, and the American nations have had on one another since the time of Columbus.

A Glossary of UK Government and Politics by Duncan Watts

A handy reference guide to the events, personnel, policies and institutions relevant to the government and politics of the United Kingdom.

• Dictionary of American Government and Politics

This Dictionary offers a fresh, up-to-date look at US government and politics, explaining and where necessary demystifying the key terms used in discussion of the political system. Major figures, events, ideas, movements and Supreme Court cases relevant to a study of the American political system are included with the aim of allowing readers to develop a deeper knowledge and understanding of the area.

• From Suffrage to the Senate: America's Political Women by Suzanne O'Dea

A comprehensive and valuable compendium of biographies of leading women in U.S. politics, past and present, and an examination of the wide range of women's movements.

• Political Corruption in America: An Encyclopedia of Scandals, Power & Greed by Mark Grossman

Covers the complete scandal-filled history of American political corruption.

• The Princeton Encyclopedia of American Political History by Princeton University Press

Publication Date: 2010.  An essential resource for anyone interested in U.S. history and politics, this two-volume encyclopedia covers the major forces that have shaped American politics from the founding to today. Broad in scope, the book addresses both the traditional topics of political history--such as eras, institutions, political parties, presidents, and founding documents---and the wider subjects of current scholarship, including military, electoral, and economic events, as well as social movements, popular culture, religion, education, race, gender, and more. Primary sources in this title

• The Encyclopedia of The Continental Congresses

This title examines the in-depth history of the first Continental Congress in 1774 and the first Federal Congress in 1789. Coverage dives into the impact and role in the shaping and foundation of early American Society and government

• From Suffrage to the Senate: America's Political Women

A comprehensive and valuable compendium of biographies of leading women in U.S. politics, past and present, and an examination of the wide range of women's movements.

• A Dictionary of Diplomacy by G. R. Berridge and Alan James

  Diplomacy has spawned its own specialized terminology, and it is this lexicon which provides this title's thematic spine. Includes entries on legal terms, political events, international organizations and major figures who have occupied the diplomatic scene or have written influentially about it over the last half millennium.

• Encyclopedia of Nationalism: Fundamental Themes by Alexander J. Motyl

  Captures the aims and scope of nationalism. This volume covers fundamental themes.

• Encyclopedia of Nationalism: Leaders, Movements, and Concepts by Alexander J. Motyl

  Captures the aims and scope of nationalism. This volume covers leaders, movements, and concepts.

• Handbook of Global Environmental Politics by Peter Dauvergne

  This landmark book maps the latest theoretical and empirical research in this energetic and growing field. Captured here are the pioneering and lively debates over concerns for the health of the planet and how they might best be addressed.

• Poverty: An International Glossary by Paul Spicker, Sonia Alvarez Leguizamón, and David Gordon

  Provides an exhaustive and authoritative guide to technical terms used in contemporary scholarly research on poverty.

• Power and Succession in Arab Monarchies by Joseph Kéchichian

  This exhaustive reference traces the rise of each ruling family, outlines key constitutional developments, provides details on current rulers and their approaches to succession, and discusses potential contenders to power.

• Public Opinion and Polling Around the World: A Historical Encyclopedia by John G. Geer

  Covering the intricate facets of America's most important democratic tradition, this book serves as an important resource to understand how citizens' views are translated into governmental action.

• The Anti-Capitalist Dictionary by David E. Lowes

  This dictionary is an alternative and a counter-balance to the many political dictionaries that ignore or marginalize the history and influence of anti-capitalist movements.

• The Encyclopedia of Public Choice by Charles K. Rowley and Friedrich Schneider

  Offers a detailed and comprehensive account of the subject that deals with the intersection of economics and political science.

Books inform your research question by providing:

• contextual background information
• detailed scholarly research to strengthen your research
• bibliographies that may lead to additional sources

Find Books Using Library Catalogs

Hewes Library Catalog

• Locate physical books, DVDs and media owned by Hewes Library; select Ebooks included
• Materials may be print or digital and are immediately available on campus

I-Share Catalog

• Locate and borrow books owned in other Illinois academic libraries
• To request an item first login to the library catalog. Learn more about requesting materials via I-Share.
• Materials are delivered to Hewes Library in 3-5 days *NOTE: COVID-19 quarantines will cause an added 1 day delay.*

WorldCat

• A larger, international library catalog, WorldCat, allows identification of materials beyond the Hewes Library and the I-Share Catalog. (Be sure to check these catalogs first.)
• Materials identified in WorldCat may be requested using WorldShare.
• Items may take 7-14 days to arrive. *NOTE: COVID-19 quarantines will cause an added 1 day delay.*

• Keyword Search, default, searches all words in all fields.
• Advanced Search is located below the main search box and allows more complex searches and multiple filters.
• For a more specific search, choose Title, Author or Subject.

• A Subject search focuses on just the Topic (or Subject) field. 

On the results screen, Narrow Your Search facets allow limits by format, collection, topic and more.

CARLI eBook Collection: The CARLI eBook Collection consists of 29,000+ titles available instantly to patrons.  The collection is funded by the Consortium of Academic & Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI), of which Hewes Library is a governing member.  MC patrons will find the ebook records in both the Hewes Library Catalog and the I-Share Catalog.  MC users will be prompted to authenticate using your MC network username/password the first time an EBL eBook record is selected. 

Center for Research Libraries: CRL, located in Chicago, has over five million volumes in its collection and will make extended loans of materials for research projects (4 month loan periods and generous renewals). CRL is a cooperative venture of over 200 U.S. & Canadian college and university libraries to acquire expensive and unique collections for faculty and student research. Foreign language books, journals and newspapers make up a significant percentage of the collection. CRL owns over 800,000 foreign dissertations. Much of the collection is represented in WorldCat, but not all. 

Warren County Public Library: materials from the public library in Monmouth and its three branch locations.

Political Science Databases

These databases locate articles published in both scholarly and popular periodicals.

• HeinOnline: Legal Information Best Bet
• JSTOR Best Bet Popular
• Nexis Uni Best Bet
• Academic Search Complete Popular
• ArticleFirst
• Military & Government Collection

Multi-Disciplinary Databases

• Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window

  A scholarly, multi-disciplinary database indexing 17,000+ periodicals and publications; over 8,700 titles are full-text and over 7,600 are peer-reviewed. Coverage: 20th century to present. EBSCO platform.

• JSTOR This link opens in a new window

  A full-image (pdf) repository of over 2,600 scholarly journals and 48,000 eBooks in all disciplines. Coverage: varies; some holdings extend back to the 19th century.

• Sage Journals Online This link opens in a new window

  Provides access to over 900 peer-reviewed journals in the fields of business, humanities, social sciences, and science, technology and medicine. Note: best used with Explorer or Firefox browsers.

Browse Databases in a Subject Area
Have a multidisciplinary topic or not sure which database to choose? Select a SUBJECT term that relates to your topic and a explore list of library databases within that discipline.

Also known as academic, refereed, or peer-reviewed journals.

Author/Authority: Articles written by researchers or scholars in the field who report the results of original research. Other scholars evaluate the research before publication to assure its accuracy, called "peer-review."

Appearance: Generally have a sober, serious look. May contain graphs and charts, but few glossy pages or photographs. Use scholarly language with vocabulary specific to their profession or field.

Audience: Written for academics and professionals.

Citations: Articles include footnotes and a list of citations at the end of the article.

Content: Includes scholarly research for a particular profession or industry.

Frequency: Usually published bimonthly or quarterly.

This is not an exhaustive list of news sources

• Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window

  Full text of more than 15,000 business, legal, and news sources (national and international) including The New York Times. U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790. Learn more.

• Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window

  Provides cover-to-cover full text of 40 national and international newspapers and selected full text of 390 regional newspapers. Updated daily.

• World-Newspapers.com

  English language newspapers, magazines, and news sites from around the world, sorted by country and region

This is not an exhaustive list of news sources

• Newspaper Source This link opens in a new window

  Provides cover-to-cover full text of 40 national and international newspapers and selected full text of 390 regional newspapers. Updated daily.

• Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window

  Full text of more than 15,000 business, legal, and news sources (national and international) including The New York Times. U.S. Supreme Court decisions dating back to 1790. Learn more.

• CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window

  Provides in-depth coverage of contemporary issues. Written by experienced journalists, footnoted, and fact-checked. Quick start guide. Coverage: since 1991.

• New York Times

  Digital access via Nexis Uni: 06/01/1980 to the present.
  Digital access via New York Times Historical: 1851- 3 year embargo
  Print: Sunday only, received via mail with one day delay. Print retained for 3 months.

Milestone Documents in American History

Call Number: Online and Print

"in-depth, analytical essays illuminating famous primary source documents from U.S and world history"

The Declaration of Independence in historical context : American state papers, petitions, proclamations, and letters of the delegates to the First National Congresses. 
Reference Collection: HQ1410.U49 H85 1993
 

The emergence of modern America (1874-1917)
Reference Collection: E661 .E447 2014

U.S. Government resources and documents; See U.S. Government TAB on this guide

Newspapers and other news sources, current and historical; see News TAB on this guide.

Statistical sources, U.S. and international; see Statistics TAB on this guide.

• World Bank Open Data

  Free and open access to global development data compiled from member countries. Search by keyword, or browse by country or indicator (education, poverty, trade).

• Bibliography of Data-Related Literature

  "ICPSR Bibliography of Data-related Literature is a continuously-updated database of thousands of citations of works using data held in the ICPSR archive. The works include journal articles, books, book chapters, government and agency reports, working papers, dissertations, conference papers, meeting presentations, unpublished manuscripts, magazine and newspaper articles, and audiovisual materials." More about this resources and how to search and a subject term thesaurus.

• Yale Institute for Social & Policy Studies KnowledgeBase

  "The ISPS KnowledgeBase is the gateway to ISPS produced data, projects, and publications." Allows browsing by a set of variables. Results may link to citations and/or full text of data/publications.

• International Monetary Fund (IMF) eLibrary

  An index to the IMF’s periodicals, books, working papers and studies, and data and statistical tools. Hewes Library does not have a subscription to see full text, however, some may be available via interlibrary loan, in other published studies, or free online. Provides bibliography of material citing IMF study.

Newspapers and other news sources, current and historical; see News TAB on this guide.

Statistical sources, U.S. and international; see Statistics TAB on this guide.

 

What is Google Scholar?  

Google Scholar searches academic literature found in journal websites, university repositories, academic publishers and other websites that Google identifies as scholarly. While some scholarly resources are available free online, many are not. Google Scholar is just one resource, and should be used in conjunction with other Hewes Library scholarly resources.

For best results, configure Google Scholar to identify and access materials found through Monmouth College's licensed resources (see directions).

Connect Google Scholar to the library's resources 

1. At the Google Scholar website, select the menu in the top left corner.

2. Select "Settings"

3. Select "Library links" 

4. Search for "Monmouth College," then select it from the list. Save.

5. Subsequent searches will now indicate if an items is full text through a Monmouth College Hewes Library subscription.

• Google Scholar Search Tips

Boolean operators (connector words) such as AND, OR, and NOT, create phrases based on rules of search logic.  

Truncation
The “ * ” replaces any number of characters and will find all forms of a word root.

• child* LOCATES child, children, childhood
• therap* LOCATES therapy, therapies, therapist, therapists, therapeutic, therapeutically

Wildcard
Note: symbols used may differ based on the tool used.  Consult the help documentation.

Wildcard " # " replaces any extra characters that may appear in alternative spellings.

• colo#r LOCATES color, colour

Wildcard " ? ” replaces one character

• ne?t LOCATES neat, nest, or next, but will not find net

Phrase searching
increases the accuracy of the search by keeping two or more words together as a phrase. Use quotation marks to keep the phrase intact.

“social media”    "fairy tale"    "fake news"

A database search example using Boolean, truncation and phrase searching