Political Science

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Political Science

• Source Introduction

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Coverage

• A general introduction to Political Science
• Many subcategories that each deserve their own
  source discussion

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Coverage

• Politics Canadian (Federal and Provincial)
• United States Politics
• European Politics
• International Relations
• Political Theory

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Definition

• The theory and practice of politics
• The description and analysis of political systems
  and political behaviour

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Databases

• Wide variety of good indexes and databases, from
  a number of vendors
• Some overlap
• The following are specifically those available
  through UBC Library

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Databases

• Most general place to start Academic Search
  Premier (EBSCO)
• 8000 journals (4700 full text)
• Familiar to many undergraduates

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Databases

• International Political Science Abstracts
• A more specific EBSCO index

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Databases

• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
• CSA (Cambridge Scientific Abstracts)
• Index (citations, references)
• 1500 journal titles
• 20000 new articles per year

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Databases

• PAIS and PAIS Archive (Public Affairs Information
  Service)
• Index
• Archive contains 850,000 records from literature
  published 1937-1976

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Databases

• Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO)
• Mostly full text, access to a variety of sources
  (papers, conferences, journal articles)

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Databases

• Web of Science - Social Science Citation Index
• Indexes 1700 social science journals
• Helpful for times cited and cited by
  statistics

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Databases

• JSTOR
• Broader database
• Full text, but no coverage of recent publications

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Databases

• Example of a more specific database, for Canadian
  politics
• CBCA Canadian Business Current Affairs
• Broad range, with full text

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Print Sources

• Many encyclopedias and handbooks
• International Encyclopedia of the Social
  Behavioral Sciences
• Good starting point for introductory articles
  with bibliographies
• Also available online

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Print Sources

• Many other print sources, widely available in a
  variety of libraries
• Great starting points, for background and basic
  information

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Print Sources

• Encyclopedia of politics the left and the right
  
• Encyclopedia of Democracy
• Oxford Companion to Politics of the World
• Political Handbook of the World

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Online Books

• Oxford Reference Online
• Full text reference books including
• The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics
• A Dictionary of Political Biography
• Handbook of the World
• And more

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Online Books

• Oxford Scholarship Online
• Over 1200 full text books, cross indexed and
  searchable

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Online Books

• Brookings Institution Press
• Free online access to a growing list of relevant
  books (currently over 30000 pages available)

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Websites

• CIA The World Fact Book https//www.cia.gov/cia/pu
  blications/factbook/index.html
• Wonderful source for basic facts and statistics

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Websites

• Constitution finder
• http//confinder.richmond.edu/
• Links to full text constitutions available on the
  web

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Websites

• Election Guide
• http//www.electionguide.org/
• Information on election dates and results from
  all over the world

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Websites

• Open Democracy http//www.opendemocracy.net/
• Describes itself as the leading independent
  website on global current affairs

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Primary Sources

• Legislation, speeches, treaties, resolutions
• Government Publications course
• One example the UN website http//www.un.org/

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Reference Questions

• The president of the UN General Assembly recently
  (at the start of March) made a statement about
  violence against women what was its proper
  title?
• Im writing a paper about recent elections in
  Afghanistan, and I was wondering where I could
  find a copy of the countrys constitution in
  English?
• Two countries just joined the European Union this
  year. Which ones were they?
• What is the population of Australia?
• What is the capital of Burkina Faso?