Political Studies
Use the Master’s College Library Web site [www.masters.edu/library]to access the library’s online catalog and the many online databases the library has to offer. The library’s Web site also provides information on how to do research, library services, hours, personnel, links to other libraries’ catalogs and links to other recommended scholarly Web Resources.
Dewey Decimal Classification Numbers
The TMC library’s collection is arranged according to the Dewey Decimal Classification System (DDC) with a few exceptions. An outline of the whole DDC can be found at Summaries: DDC. The following are the more common Dewey numbers used in the field of Political Science:
320 – Political Science (Politics and government)
321 – Systems of government and states
322 - Relation of state to organized groups
323 - Civil and political rights
324 - The political process
325 – International migration and colonization
326 – Slavery and emancipation
327 – International relations
328 – The legislative process
Library of Congress Classification Numbers
The Master’s Seminary Library and many other libraries around the world use the Library of Congress Classification System (LC). For an outline of the entire LC System go to the Library of Congress Classification Outline. The following are the more common LC numbers used in the field of Political Studies:
J - Political Science
JA – Collections and general works
JC – Political theory. Theory of the state
JF – Constitutional History and administration
JK – United State
JL –
JN –
JQ -
JS –Local Government
JV – Colonies and colonization. Emigration and immigration
JX – International law. International relations
Library Catalog
The library catalog is the index to all the resources the library provides. This is a good place to start looking for information related to the field of Political Studies. The following are suggestions for getting started with research in this field.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Search the library catalog for appropriate LC Subject Headings (not to be confused with the LC Classification System) to use in your research. For broad topics select the Basic Search screen and type in a broad subject term in the free text field, and then select the Subject (Left Anchored) field. When you receive your hit list, be sure to examine any additional related terminology.
For narrower topics the Subject tab may prove more useful as it performs a keyword search within the subject listing instead of the left anchored search perfomed by the Subject search using the Basic Search screen.
Here are some additional tips for using LC Subject Headings in Political Science.
NOTE: Political Studies is NOT an LC Subject Heading; use Political Science
For works on the political history, conditions or institutions of the
For works on the discipline of political science in the United States use: Political science--
Other related LC Subject Headings:
Comparative government
Conservatism
Political ethics
Political science History
Politics in the Bible
Religion and politics
World Politics
UNBIS Thesaurus
In addition familiarity with the UNBIS thesaurus may prove useful in Political Studies research. The multilingual (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish) UNBIS Thesaurus, created by the Dag Hammarskjöld Library, United Nations Department of Public Information, contains the terminology used in subject analysis of documents and other materials relevant to United Nations programs and activities. It is used as the subject authority of the United Nations Bibliographic Information System (UNBIS) [http://unbisnet.un.org/] and has been incorporated as the subject lexicon of the United Nations Official Document System. It is multidisciplinary in scope, reflecting the Organization’s wide-ranging concerns. The terms included are meant to reflect accurately, clearly, concisely and with a sufficient degree of specificity, matters of importance and interest to the United Nations.
Reference Resources
The reference collection is one of the first places to start doing research because the resources there will provide background information on the topic, a ready made outline, expert authors in the field and contextual parameters of a topic. To find appropriate reference books go to the library catalog Advances Search scree and set the Location: to Reference then use the appropriate search term(s) as a Keyword.
Subject Specific Encyclopedias: Use the search query united states politic?; select the Boolean option “all of these” and then select the Subject field. Truncating “politic” with the use of the question mark will retrieve “politics” and “political” as well as any other variation on the root word.
Main Books
To find materials in the main collection use the same search strategy used to find reference books but without setting the Location to Reference. For example type in the appropriate search term(s) in the “Search for:” free text field, select the most suitable Boolean operation (“any of these”, “all of these”, as a phrase”) and then select an applicable field from the “Search in:” drop down menu.
Research TIP: Use Sources to Find Other Sources -- when relevant records are identified search the Call Numbers and Subject Headings found with those records to identify additional related resources. Also, scroll through the hit list and identify the most commonly used Dewey Classification numbers and then browse the shelves in those areas.
Finding Periodicals
Magazines, Journals, Newspapers
For all periodical titles available through the TMC Powell library go to library Web site and select Periodical Holdings from the menu on the left. From this page you can find periodicals by title or by subject. There are also links to the online indexes that provide full-text articles. The periodical holdings list indicates which periodical titles are held by the library as well as inclusive dates and format availability (e.g. microform, print, electronic).
For a list of all of the TMC subscribed periodicals related to Political Studies (whether print or electronic) use the "select a subject category" drop down menu, select "Social and Behavioral Sciences" [search] then select "Political Science" or one of its subheadings.
Research TIP: The Periodical Holdings List is especially useful when you have a citation and need to know whether or not the library has the journal containing the desired article. Simply search for the journal title found in the citation. If the journal is available in print or online, it will be listed along with holdings information indicating which volumes are available.
Periodical Indexes
Periodical Indexes are used to identify the location of articles contained in magazines, journals and newspapers. These indexes provide citations to the articles (author, title of the article, journal name, volume, issue, date, and page numbers). Some indexes also provide abstracts (includes a summary of the article) and many online indexes provide the full-text (FT) of the article (e.g. the complete text of the article).
To access the indexes available to the TMC community go to library Web site and select Databases/Indexes. Use the various search options to identify all available print and electronic indexes by either title or main topic and type.
All of the available online indexing tools have the added benefit of the Check for Full Text service. When the online index being searched does not have the full text of a needed article, Check for Full Text provides a link directly to the article, if it is full text in another index. It may be that the article is not full text in any of the online indexes TMC provides, but it is available in print in the library itself. Check for Full Text will also connect to the library catalog showing the holdings information for the print journal containing the article. And in the event the article is not available at all through the TMC library (either in print or full text online), Check for Full Text provides a link to our interlibrary loan service.
Of particular interest are:
AHSearch (FirstSearch)
AltPress (FirstSearch)
CQ Researcher
CQ Weekly
GPO (FirstSearch)
Historical Abstracts
Lexis/Nexis
Online Databases
The Databases/Indexes page includes all periodical indexes as well as other subscription based electronic research tools. To access all of these online research tools use the Databases/Indexes menu option found on the library Web site.
Of particular interest are:
Historic Documents (CQ)
Opposing
World Data Analyst
WorldCat
Web Links
Go to the library Web site and select Web Resources from the menu on the left. Select the appropriate subject related to the field of interest (e.g. Political Studies). All Web sites posted have been evaluated and recommended by subject specialists.
Many of the library's databases also provide links to scholarly Web sites. Using these will save you from the need to evaluate for yourself their reputability. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online for example has a check box to limit your search to "Britannica Internet Guide".
There are a number of Subject Directories and Portals that have links to Web sites searchable by subject. These Web sites have been selected, evaluated and abstracted by librarians, scholars and subject specialist. It is strongly recommended that you use these to locate focused scholarly Web sites instead of just broadly searching the public Internet. You will find these and others on the library’s Web Resources page as well:
INFOMINE http://infomine.ucr.edu/ Scholarly Internet Resource Collections - University-level virtual library of Internet resources built by librarians and relevant to faculty, students, and research staff.
The Digital Librarian http://www.digital-librarian.com/
An annotated Internet directory providing hand selected links maintained by a librarian.
The Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org/
An annotated collection of high quality Internet resources, selected by IPL staff for their usefulness in providing accurate, factual information on a particular topic.
BUBL Link http://bubl.ac.uk/
Selected Internet resources covering all academic subject areas. All items are selected, evaluated, described and catalogued in the Dewey Decimal Classification System.
Librarians’ Internet Index http://www.lii.org/
Reliable, librarian-selected Internet sources. LII is a searchable, annotated subject directory of Internet resources selected and evaluated by librarians for their usefulness to users of public libraries.
Google Scholar (http://scholar.google.com) is more of a search engine than a subject directory yet it provides a simple way to broadly search for scholarly literature. From one place, you can search across many disciplines and sources for peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles. Scholarly resources are culled from academic publishers, professional societies, preprint repositories, universities and other scholarly organizations.
The Scout Report at http://scout.wisc.edu/
For a more exhaustive listing of Web sites reviewed and annotated by scholars and specialists in the field.
Additional Research Guides: (also available on the Reference Desk)
· Basic Steps in Library Research – six simple steps explaining the research process
· From Cite to Hand - Books – how to actually obtain books and other materials whether or not the library owns them
· From Cite to Hand - Articles – how to actually obtain magazine and journal articles whether or not the library owns them
· Finding Articles in Two, sometime Three, OK maybe Four Easy Steps
· Identifying Scholarly Books – clues for distinguishing scholarly books and journals
· Identifying Scholarly Periodicals- clues for distinguishing between magazines, journals and peer reviewed journals
· Evaluating Resources – easy way to help evaluate the usefulness of research resource both paper and electronic
· Research Worksheet – designed to make research simpler by working step by step through the research process
· Copyright for Higher Education– help in understanding the copyright law as it pertains to faculty and students
© Janet Tillman/The Master’s College, 2004-2009, permission is granted for non-profit educational use; any reproduction or modification should include this statement.
Last updated August, 2009