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Political
Science 200
Research Methods in Political Science
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For
Help
Contact
liaison librarian Erika
Behling
Go to AskUs!
for a live chat with a librarian, to send us your question
via email, or to call us at the Reference Desk.
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| Learning
Outcomes |
By the end of this session you will be able to:
- Plan an appropriate search strategy
- Use the Library's webpages to locate
relevant article databases
- Use library databases to locate journal
article citations
- Find
full text print and/or electronic journal articles
- Determine if a journal article is from
a peer-reviewed/scholarly/refereed source and and be
able to limit searches, where possible, to scholarly
publications
- Use the UWP Periodicals List to determine
if the library has access to specific journals
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| Planning
Your Search Strategy |
Before
you do any searching, you'll need to carefully plan
out what, exactly, you need to find. Part of this includes
writing a rather specific statement about what you
want to write about (a topic sentence). Don't simply
say "I need to write about elections." This
is not a detailed statement! Instead, take your statement
one step further....what do you really want
to say about your topic? A much better choice is something
like, "I want to write about the media's effect
on voter turnout in U.S. presidential elections." Having
a solid statement will save you from a lot of useless
searching.
Once
you have a topic sentence, start taking out the key
terms that you think you'd use when conducting a search.
Topic
Sentence: I want to write
about the media's effect on voter turnout in U.S.
presidential elections.
Key
terms: media,
voters, elections
Once
you identify the key terms, think of as many synonyms
or related terms as possible to
describe those words.
Media
synonyms/related terms: press,
networks, journalist, reporter
Voter
synonyms/related terms: electorate,
nation, faction, community
Election
synonyms/related terms: polls,
ballots, campaign
The
more synonyms you have, the easier it will be for you
to find items of relevance to your topic. In the case
of my example, if I'm not finding anything using terms
like media and campaigns, I'd instead try a
search using something like media and elections.
For
Help Constructing Search Statements, See the Following:
Boolean
Operators: Using AND,
Using OR,
Using NOT
Other Search Tips: Phrase
Searching, Wildcards, Truncation, Parentheses
Complex Search Statements: Complex
Searching
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| Locating
articles |
Step
1:
Use an index to find citations to journal articles
on your topic.
The
periodical indexes listed below will help you find citations
to journal articles and other publications in political.
You may search for articles by subject headings, keywords,
or by author. Note that most indexes do NOT include
the full-text of articles. Therefore, you'll need to
go on to step 2, below, once you have selected some citations.
Start
with these indexes:
Worldwide
Political Science Abstracts supplies
up-to-date bibliographic information and research
in political science, international relations,
law, and public administration/policy. Coverage
is international, indexing over 1000 journals
back to the 1960s.
SocINDEX contains
citations and abstracts to articles from more
than 2800 journals and serial publications in
the field of sociology and related disciplines
in the social and behavioral sciences. Also includes many full text articles.
Off-campus
access: These
databases are licensed by the Library for the use of
the University's students, faculty, and staff, and
most can be accessed from off-campus. If you are asked
for a password when trying to access a database, consult this
page for more information.
Step
2:
Now that you have a citation to an article, does the
Library own the journal?
After
finding a citation, unless the full-text is also offered,
you'll need to track down the article by determining
the answer to these questions:
- Does
the Library subscribe to the journal in which the article
appears?
- Does
the Library have access to the journal article in one
of its electronic databases?
To
find out if we own a journal in either print or electronic
form, look for either the FindIt! button or a link that
says something like "check your library for fulltext
access." Clicking on the link/button will launch
a new window with information on UWP's access to the
journal you're looking for. If the library doesn't have print or electronic access to the article, you'll
need to place an Interlibrary Loan request for it. If the library has access to the full
text of the article in another of its databases, you'll
find a link to the database and to the article. If the
library owns the item in print format, you'll find a
link that will initiate a search for the journal (in
which the article appears) in our library catalog. If
you have questions about this process, make sure to see
me!
For
detailed information about the Library's print and full-text
(electronic) journal holdings, consult the UWP
Periodicals List, where you can look for both formats.
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| Is
Your Article from a Peer-Reviewed Journal? |
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This
class requires that you use scholarly, or peer-reviewed,
sources. How can you make sure the resources you've
found are peer-reviewed? There are a few ways.
1. In the database you're using,
look for a search option that allows you to limit
to peer-reviewed/scholarly articles. While it may
seem that subject-specific databases include more
scholarly material, many still include items that
aren't peer-reviewed. Limiting ensures you'll retrieve
only items that have undergone the peer-review
process.
2. If the database you're using doesn't
have a search option allowing you to limit to peer-reviewed
items, try looking in Ulrich's Periodicals
Directory (REF DESK Z6941
U5) for information on the journal you're
article is published in. Journal entries preceded
by an arrow are journals that are known to be peer-reviewed/scholarly/refereed.
If there's no arrow, the journal is not peer-reviewed
and you'll need to find a different article for
the assignment.
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| Citing
sources |
When
preparing a project, follow the recommendation of your
instructor when you cite the sources you have used. Instructors
may recommend one of the format styles described in these
publications and Web sites.
Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association (Reference
BF 76.7 .P83 2001) presents the APA style. Additional
copies are available at the Reference Desk.
UWP
Quick APA Reference Guide This guide from our Library
provides a quick overview on APA reference lists and
in-text parenthetical citations.
APA
Documentation Style This Web page from University
of Wisconsin-Madison advises students on using the
Publication Manual.
The MLA
handbook for writers of research papers (Reference
Desk LB2369 .G53 1999) provides the recommendations
of the Modern Language Association for formatting
papers and references.
How
to Cite References Using MLA Style This online
guide, prepared by this library, is also available
in paper format in the guide rack near the Reference
Desk.
A
manual for writers of term papers, theses, and dissertations (Reference
Desk LB2369 .T8 1996) presents the "Chicago style" for
formatting papers and references.
UWP
Quick Turabian's Reference Guide This guide from
our Library provides a quick overview on Turabian style
reference listsbibliographies, works cited sheets,
and in-text parenthetical citations.
Documentation:
Chicago Style, created by the UW-Madison Writing
Center, presents the basics of using the Chicago
Manual of Style / Turabian's Manual for Writers.
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UW-Parkside
Library • P.O. Box 2000 • Kenosha, WI 53141 • (262)595-2360
Created 08/2004 by Erika Behling, liaison to the
Political Science Department
Last Update: 09/26/06
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