Manderino Library: Political Science: Start Here

Article Databases

Start with these to find newspaper, magazine, or journal articles. More databases are available through our Find Resources by Subject guides. HINT: Look for ways to limit your search, such as Publication Date or by type of article (Scholarly Articles ...(Peer Reviewed).

Getting Full-Text: If the article you need is not available online use ILL (Interlibrary Loan). We will order the article for you - it is free and you get a PDF of the article!

Political Science Complete
Covers comparative politics, humanitarian issues, international relations, law and legislation, non-governmental organizations and political theory. (EBSCO)

More info from EBSCO
JSTOR Journal Archive
A full-text archive of over 1,700 of the best scholarly journals in the social sciences, humanities, mathematics, life sciences, etc. Full-text is available from the first issue, but usually does not include the most recent 2-5 years. Note: A very small number of journals now include current content.
SocINDEX with Full-Text
An important resource providing extensive coverage of sociology, social work, anthropology, and related topics. (EBSCO)

Alternate Access: Combined Search of SocINDEX and Social Work Abstracts
More info from EBSCO.
CQ Press Library
Search ALL of our CQ Press resources to find legislative and public policy. Useful for: social work, political science, journalism, communications, and current issues research. HINT: Although you can search each CQ resource separately, using this link to search all of them at once is usually better.

CQEL includes these databases:
(use these links to search each one separately)
CQ Researcher plus Archive
CQ Magazine
CQ Almanac
OneSearch (EBSCO Discovery Service)
OneSearch is a "discovery service" from EBSCO that allows you to search most of the library's resources in "one search"! Hint: You will get a lot of results, so use the limits on the left side to focus in on what you need. (EBSCO)
Military & Government Collection
Designed to offer current news pertaining to all branches of the military, this database offers a thorough collection of military-related journal and magazine titles, trade publications, newsweeklies, pamphlets, and country reports. (EBSCO)
Google Scholar
Google Scholar finds scholarly articles, books, papers, etc. Note: When off-campus, using the library's link to Google Scholar will provide more full-text resources than the simple link. Look for "Full-Text @ Cal U" to access items.

For more info, read about Library Links.

Books and E-books

OneSearch (EBSCO Discovery Service)
To limit to books, do your search and on the results page select "Books" under the search limits. Results will include books in our library, e-books, and books requestable from EZ-Borrow.

Library Catalog
more... less...

Help: Renewing Library Materials Online

E-ZBorrow
Easily request BOOKS from other libraries.

Cal U students, faculty, and staff may use E-ZBorrow to request books--but not articles.
E-ZBorrow Help Page
Google Books
Search the full-text of millions of books. Use as a "discovery" tool to find books on your topic. Books in the public domain (generally, pre-1923) are available full-text. Newer books offer limited viewing--from many pages to nothing.Note: This is just for books (and some magazines). To find scholarly articles, use Google Scholar.

Learn more About Google Books and the Google Books Library Project.
Additional info at: Google Books Wikipedia Article

Interlibrary Loan BOOK Request Form
Need a book that you can't find in our library, or in E-ZBorrow? Use this form to request BOOKS from other libraries. Please allow at least a week to get it.

Web Sites and Digital Collections

American Political Science Association
The American Political Science Association is the leading professional organization for the study of political science.

CIA World Factbook
"The Factbook is a comprehensive resource of facts and statistics on more than 250 countries and other entities." A good source for demographic, political, and economic information from the Central Intelligence Agency.
Congress.gov: United States Legislative Information
Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information. Includes: legislation activity, Public Laws, U.S. Code, appropriations, and more. Note: Congress.gov replaces THOMAS.gov.

See Coverage Dates for Legislative Information for details about coverage in Congress.gov.
Congressional documents from the first 100 years can be accessed through A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774-1875.
Countries: Background Notes
Facts about the land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations for countries and areas of the world. From the U.S. Dept. of State.

United States House of Representatives
Official hope page includes tremendous amount of information about current Congress.
Federal Election Commission
Search, view, and download campaign finance reports and data available from the Federal Election Commission on the campaign finance activities of Federal election candidates.
House of Representatives (U.S.)
Information on Representatives, committees, legislative activities, House history, and other resources.

National Security Archive
An independent, non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Senate (U.S.)
Information on Senators, committees, legislative activities, Senate history, and other resources.

USA.gov: Government Made Easy
The U.S. Government's official Web portal.

Video Resources

Films on Demand: Digital Educational Video
This video collection offers thousands of full-length programs and tens of thousands of video segments! Topics include: humanities, sciences, medicine, business, social sciences, and more!

C-SPAN Video Library
This is a complete archive of all C-SPAN programming since 1987 on all three C-SPAN stations (that's over 160,000 hours of video!).

Subject Liaison

Bill Meloy

Email Me

Contact:

Office: Manderino Library 116
meloy@calu.edu

724-938-4067

What's a Peer-Reviewed Journal?

What's a "peer-review journal"? And why does it matter to me?

"Peer-reviewed journals" are considered scholarly. And it matters to you because most of your research should come from scholarly journals.

Want to know more? Watch a brief YouTube tutorial from North Carolina State University called Peer Review in 3 Minutes.

Still not sure if your source is a peer-reviewed journal? Use the link below and search for the journal. HINT: Enter the journal name and specify that it be in the "TI Title" field. View the record for your journal and look for the "Peer-Reviewed" line. If it says "Yes," you're in business!

Serials Directory
Provides publication and pricing information for a large number of U.S. and international periodicals. Note: This is not the place to find articles! (EBSCO)