Assignment Research for Political Science

This guide outlines a simple but effective approach to finding information for your assignment, based on the resources described in the Political Science guide. Depending on your topic and your level of study, you may need to rearrange or review these steps.

Check the Political Science guide carefully for additional subject resources and topic guides.

Define your topic

It may seem obvious, but the first step is to make sure you understand the topic. Identify the main concepts or keywords in your question to help you develop a search strategy.

More on defining your topic

Gather background information

Use dictionaries and encyclopedias to find definitions and background information. Articles from specialized subject encyclopedias are authoritative and often substantial.

Reference resources for Political Science

Find Books

Search the Library catalogue:

• Check for books on High Demand using the catalogue's Course Code search.
• Use Title and Keyword anywhere searches to find additional material.
• Click on the Subject headings of useful titles to find books on related subjects.
• Browse the library shelves in the classification sequence for Political Science.

More on catalogue searching

Find journal articles

The catalogue lists the print and electronic titles of journals held by the Library. To find articles on your specific topic you will need to search the recommended databases for Political Science.

More about using databases to find an article.

Find information on the Internet

The Internet can be a rich source of information but not everything will be useful or appropriate for research use. Web resources should be carefully evaluated and used in conjunction with the scholarly resources provided by the Library. Use the Advanced search features of Google or Google Scholar to restrict your searches to results from reputable sources.

Evaluate your sources

References recommended on reading lists will already have been evaluated for quality. You will need to evaluate sources that you find yourself. Think critically about the information you find. The quality of your information will help to determine the quality of your assignment.

More on evaluating your sources

Cite your sources

Avoid plagiarism by citing all the sources of information you use in your essay, using APA, or lecturer's required, style. UC library doesn't recommend the use of Harvard style given the number of versions in existence.

More on citing your sources.

Write your assignment

Locate the Political Science 'Guide to Writing a Political Science Research Paper' on Learn, or from your tutor.