Political Science 528

Primary Documents

If you are doing research on public policy, it will be useful to read the primary documents. Where you find them, depends on the topic. Here are a few place you can look.

 

Government Documents

USA.gov

California Legislative Information

 

Books

We may have books on your topic. Check the library catalog

Remember, when you find a book that matches your interests, use the subject headings to find more like it.

 

Databases for Scholarly Journals and Newspapers

The database that best suites your needs depends on the issue you are researching.  For example, if your are doing research on No Child Left Behind, you can try one of the databases below. However, you will also want to search in Education databases.  Environmental issues may require different databases, etc. Go to the Database by Subject List and navigate to the appropriate option. The databases listed below, will find information on many different topics.

 

Academic Search Premier

OmniFile Full Text Mega

LexisNexis Academic

LexisNexis Congressional

Los Angeles Times - 1985-current

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center (This may be useful for very controversial issues)

 

Evaluating Websites

This page will show you how to evaluate sources from the web

Wired Magazine article about Wikipedia

• A recent article proves many of the articles in Wikipedia are manipulated by people with a very specific agenda. Check it out.
• NPR's coverage of the story

 

Citing your Sources

MLA

APA

Chicago

Search Strategy

• Develop your question first
• Use your research question to help you evaluate sources. (Will this resource help me answer the question?)
• Use this handout to help you develop a search strategy
• Use multiple search terms
• Identify useful subject headings in the database and try those in subsequent searches.
• When you find a good source use the bibliography to locate additional items. If its a journal use the "Find Journals by Title" option from the library homepage to locate the item.