Global Politics and Society (POL SCI 100)

1. Purpose: To help students complete the required bibliographic search assignment.

2. What is "bibliographic information"? Bibliographic Information is also referred to as the citation.

The information that you need to make note of would be the following:

Title (of book, article, or web site)
Author(s)
Source
- For an article: journal/magazine/newspaper, pages, volume no., issue no. (if any), date of publication
- For a book: publisher, publication date, place of publication
- For a web site: URL, date last updated, date you accessed the information

For information on how to set up your citations connect to either the Library's MLA Guide or the Library's APA Guide.

3. Resources to use:

To find books:

Cofrin Library Catalog
If you are searching for a book and you discover our Library does not own it you can request it through interLibrary loan, a service for students to get books and journal articles for other libraries. To get a book through interLibrary loan, stop by the reference desk for assistance.
Worldcat
Use the mega-catalog, Worldcat, to find books from other libraries. WorldCat will allow you to search over 15,000 libraries worldwide. Although the Cofrin Library may not own an item that you find in WorldCat, you can submit an interLibrary loan request from right inside the database. It can take from 7-10 days for the item to arrive so it is important that you start your research early to give yourself an opportunity to get the best resources for you research.

To find background information:

CQ Researcher
Description : The CQ Researcher explores a single "hot" issue in the news in depth each week. Topics range from social and teen issues to environment, health, education and science and technology. There are 44 reports produced each year including four expanded reports.
Coverage: 1991-

CQ Weekly
Description : CQ Weekly is a weekly source of information on government, politics and public policy. CQ Weekly contains an unbiased and comprehensive roundup of all-important Capitol Hill activity from the previous week. CQ Weekly takes each legislative issue being debated and provides a clear explanation of its historical significance, how it’s evolving and what to look for in the future. Status of legislation, agendas of individual members and the appropriations process are all covered thoroughly and impartially.

To find journal and magazine articles:

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
Description: WPSA provides citations, abstracts and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and its complementary fields, including international relations, law, public administration, and public policy.
Coverage: 1975 -
Academic Search Premier from EbscoHostDescription : Gain access to information from a wide range of academic areas including literature and language.
Coverage: varies from title to title, but approximately 1990 to the present.
JSTOR
Description: JSTOR is unique because the contains complete backfiles of core scholarly journals in PDF full text format. Many journals reach back to the 1800s.
Coverage: varies from title to title, but approximately from the 1800s to 2000.
Project Muse
Description: Project Muse provides the full text of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics.
Coverage: 1995 -
Social Sciences Full Text
Description: Indexes and abstracts over 400 English language periodicals. Topics include anthropology, area studies, community health and medical care, criminal justice and criminology, economics, family studies, geography, gerontology, international relations, law, minority studies, planning and public administration, policy sciences, political science, psychiatry, psychology, social work and public welfare, sociology, urban studies, women's studies, and related subjects.
Coverage: 1983 -
Sociological Abstracts
Description: The Sociological Abstracts database is a primary resource for accessing the latest research sponsored in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database draws information from an international selection of over 2,600 journals and other serials publications, plus conference papers, books, and dissertations. Social Planning/Policy & Development Abstracts (SOPODA) is also included as part of this database, providing additional literature on policy issues addressing violence, abuse, neglect, aging, health, energy, environment, housing, education, women and development, disaster preparedness and risk assessment.
Coverage: 1963 -

Dr. Everingham recommends that you browse through the journal Current History. This journal is not in electronic format, but you can find it in print on the fourth floor of the Library. Magazines and journals are arranged alphabetically by the first letter of the title. The most current three years are in print, and older editions are on microfilm.

To Find Newspaper articles:

Proquest Newspapers
Description: Indexing, abstracting and full-text of over 300 state, national and international newspapers. Includes full-text coverage of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and Madison Capital Times.
Coverage: 1989 -
Lexis Nexis Academic
escription : Academic Universe provides access to nearly 5,000 publication on a wide range of news, business, legal, and reference information.
Coverage: 1990 -
Green Bay Press-Gazette
Description: Complete full-text content of local and regional news, including community events, schools, politics, government policies, cultural activities, local companies, state industries, and people in the community. Paid advertisements are excluded.
Coverage: 1999 -

To find web sites:

Google and Google Uncle Sam, Google Scholar
GPO Access

4. Determining a scholarly source:

There are a number of ways to determine if a source is scholarly, below are a couple of the key ways:

Scholarly sources ALWAYS cite their sources in either footnotes or bibliographies
Scholarly sources have articles written by people in the field with which the journal is concerned.
Scholarly sources use language that assumes a certain level of scholarly background.
Scholarly sources often contain graphs and charts, but few pictures.

5. Evaluating your sources:

No matter what type of source you are using, be it a book, article, or web site, you should look at 5 key points:

Authority - What are the author's credentials?
Accuracy - Compared to other sources does it seem to be giving correct information?
Objectivity - Is there a bias or an agenda by the author?
Currency - Is the source current enough for your needs?
Coverage - Does the source go enough in-depth for your needs?

Research Assistance Page