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  • Welcome!

    Welcome to the City College of New York Library guide to Political Science.

    This guide serves as a starting point for researchers and students interested in     Political Science.  It contains useful resources to help you. 

    Although by no means a exhaustive or comprehensive list of resources at City College this guide contains selected resources that may be of particular interest to students and researchers.

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Political Science Resources

  • Books and E-Books

    • CUNY+ Library Catalog
      CUNY + is the online catalog for the holdings of all CUNY libraries. Search an individual library catalog or search the holdings of all CUNY libraries.
    • WorldCat
      WorldCat provides complete bibliographic information on nearly all materials published in all subject areas in all languages. It draws its information from the library holdings of thousands of libraries around the world. Included in the database are books, periodicals (but not individual articles), sound and video recordings, electronic resources, dissertations and theses.
    • Google Books
      Searches the full text of the vast collections of books that Google has scanned.
    • New York Public Library
      Search the catalogs of the branch libraries and research libraries.
    • Ebrary - Academic Complete   Icon
      Ebrary contains the full text of more than 45,000 nonfiction books, all from academic publishers. The books cover a wide array of subjects including business, marketing and economics; computers and information technology; education; engineering and technology; health, biomedical and clinical sciences; history and humanities; life and physical science; social and behavioral sciences. Ebrary includes a diverse collection of encylopedias, dictionaries, handbooks, and other reference works.
      You can use an Ebrary book on your smartphone or e-reader (except Kindle)

      A minority of ebrary titles are availible to only one user at a time

      To find out more visit our ebrary information page.
    • EBSCO ebook Collection (NetLibrary)   Icon    Icon    Icon
      As of July 2011 this is approximately 1000 ebooks in a broad variety of academic disciplines. Formerly this was known as NetLibrary.

      Some features of this resource are limited to one CUNY user at a time.

  • Articles

    • Academic Search Complete
      Academic Search Complete is a comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 6,100 full-text periodicals, including more than 5,100 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 10,100 journals and a total of more than 10,600 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc.
    • Google Scholar
      Google Scholar searches the Web for articles, books, and other scholarly materials in many different disciplines. Most searches return an assortment of citations, abstracts, and links to full text. To link Google Scholar to the City College Library's full text offerings, click 'Scholar Preferences,' type 'City College,' and click 'Find Library.' Then check the box next to 'City College - Find fulltext at CCNY.'
    • JSTOR
      JSTOR is a database providing indexing and full text access for about 500 peer-reviewed scholarly journals in 42 disciplines. Coverage is heavily weighted toward social sciences and humanities. The titles covered are almost exclusively oriented toward the scholar (senior or higher academic level), but some articles may be appropriate for use by lower level undergraduates.

  • More databases

    • Lexis-Nexis
      LexisNexis® Academic provides searchable access to a comprehensive spectrum of full-text information from over 5,600 sources, selected to meet academic research needs, including: national and regional newspapers, wire services, broadcast transcripts, international news, and non-English language sources; patents, U.S. Federal and state case law, codes, regulations, legal news, law reviews, and international legal information; Shepard's® Citations for all U.S. Supreme Court cases back to 1789
    • Project MUSE
      Project MUSE is a database consisting of over 300 peer-reviewed scholarly journals, mostly in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, published primarily by small scholarly or university presses. This database is more appropriate for the advanced student or scholar, but lower level undergraduates may also find useful material.
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Note Worthy Web Sites
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Scholarly Societies & Assoications
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Internet Resoruces

  • Internet Sites

    • 2011 and 2012 Elections: Provides links to presidential campaign websites and other political campaign material from government and other websites.
    • American Presidency Project: This University of California-Santa Barbara resource providing detailed documentary information about the U.S. presidency.
    • American Rhetoriccontains three datatbases. The Online Speech Bank is a database containing over 5000 full text, audio and video (streaming) versions of public speeches, sermons, legal proceedings, lectures, debates, interviews, other recordings.
    • Anglosphere Institute:  Organization promoting the role of English speaking nations in developing individual freedom, the rule of law, civil society, and encouraging cooperation between people from these countries. (NEW)
    • Cases & Materials on American Federalism, Online Edition: Developed by Douglas G. Amber of Purdue University, Calumet and organized for a specific course. Thus, it is a well organized collection of court cases and documents concerning American Federalism.
    • Chronology of US Historical Documents: University of Oklahoma College of Law. This site is a full text database beginning with the Magna Carta and contains treaties, speeches, and other documents.
    • Commission on Presidential Debates: Organization responsible for sponsoring presidential and vice-presidential debates.
    • Country Rankings Guide: American University Libraries resource listing how various interest groups rank countries in subjects like civil liberties, corruption, development, economics, environment, government, and political freedom etc.
    • Country Studies: This site contains on-line versions of books previously published in hard copy by the Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress under the Country Studies/Area Handbook Program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Army. Because the original intent of the Series' sponsor was to focus primarily on lesser known areas of the world or regions in which U.S. forces might be deployed, the series is not all-inclusive. At present, 101 countries and regions are covered. Notable omissions include Canada, France, the United Kingdom, and other Western nations, as well as a number of African nations.
    • Constitution Finder: The University of Richmond School of Law this site offers constitutions, charters, amendments, and other related documents from different nations of the world.
    • Constitutions: This site maintained by Richard Kimber presents past and present constitutions of various countries.
    • C-SPAN: Cable television network providing webcasts of various governmental and public policy events including congressional committee hearings.
    • Federalist Papers: Full-text and indexed. The Federalist Papers were written and published during the years 1787 and 1788 in several New York State newspapers to persuade New York voters to ratify the proposed constitution. In total, the Federalist Papers consist of 85 essays outlining how this new government would operate and why this type of government was the best choice for the United States of America.
    • Fedspending.org: This OMB Watch database features information about federal spending emphasizing grants and contracts.
    • Foreign and International Government Statistical Agencies
    • Historical Documents: This Library of Congress site contains full text searchable early Congressional documents.
    • Indiana State Statistical Agencies
    • Law and Politics: Internet GuideFounder of Law and Politics: Internet Guide, Randy Roberts is a law student, freelance author, and webmaster for the ABA E-Commerce Law Division.
    • Links to Political and Social Science Resources on the Internet: UCLA Library.
    • Non-Governmental Organizations: Links to search engines providing access to resources produced by non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
    • Pig Book:This Citizen's Against Government Waste resource documents wasteful government spending. (Select "Pork" upon reaching this site.
    • Policy Archive: Global database of nonpartisan public policy research reports.
    • Political Advocacy Groups: A Directory of United States Lobbyists:Provides access to political interest group websites arranged by subject.
    • Political Parties Directory(U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom)
    • Political Science ResourcesThis site maintained by Richard Kimber.
    • Presidential Libraries & Records: Provides links to presidential libraries administered by the National Archives & other organizations.
    • Research Centers:Provides access to U.S. and foreign think tanks representing numerous public policy issues and perspectives on these issues.
    • State Constitutions and Statutes, etc:This page seeks to link to sites containing full-text state constitutions, statutes (called codes or compiled laws in some states), legislation (bills, amendments and similar documents), session laws (bills that have become laws), and administrative rules.
    • U.S. Government Statistical Agency Websites: A listing of several U.S. Government statistical agencies.
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Comparative Politics
Campaigns & Elections

  • International

    • Comparative Study of Electoral Systems
      Allows cross-national research among election studies conducted in over fifty countries. Data is from public opinion survey questions as well as post election studies. Users must register.

    • ElectionGuide
      Results from around the world, 1998+, from the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), a Washington-based organization.

    • Elections and Electoral Systems Around the World
      One component of the extensive site created by Richard Kimber (United Kingdom).

    • Elections Around the World
      Updated monthly. Election results and links to major and minor parties, parliaments, and electoral institutes - site created by Wilfried Derksen (Netherlands).

    • Parties and Elections in Europe
      Parliamentary elections in the European countries since 1945 - site created by Wolfram Nordsieck (Germany).
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  • Internet: UN Documents Databases

    The United Nations is making more and more of it's older publications available online through retrospective conversion.  However, do not assume that what is online is all that exists.  Refer to print indexes for historical UN documents

    • Official Documents System of the United Nations
      All types of UN documents from 1993, with some older materials.
    • UN Bibliographic Information System (UNBISnet)
      Voting records and speeches for General Assembly and Security Council. Generally coverage is from 1979- but some documents come from as early as 1946.
      * Resolutions passed by the Security Council, ECOSOC, and General Assembly (1946 onward);
      * Voting records for all resolutions which were adopted by the General Assembly (1983 onward) and the Security Council; and
      * Speeches made in the General Assembly (1983 onward), the Security Council (1983 onward), the Economic and Social Council (1983 onward), and the Trusteeship Council (1982 onward).

  • Resources

    • Non-partisan "think tank" that publishes Foreign Affairs; the site includes vast array of in-house publications (policy briefs, journal articles, etc) as well as external material focusing on international affairs and American  foreign policy.

    • Country Background Notes
      Created by the U.S. Department of State; provides information about a country's land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and foreign relations.
    • Country Rankings Guide
      List of country rankings based on indicators that try to measure different characteristics of countries around the world.

    • Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
      Annual report prepared by the U.S. State Department.

    • Electronic Information System for International Law
      Maintained by the American Society of International Law, includes a mix of primary documents, Web sites, and research guides to aid international law researchers.

    • GlobaLex
      Tool for researching foreign and international law; published by New York University School of Law.

    • World Bank Data Catalog
      A listing of free World Bank data sources, including databases, pre-formatted tables and reports. Search results can be exported in different formats, such as Excel. Users can also choose to download the entire database directly from the catalog.

    • World Development Indicators
      Electronic access to more than 865 development indicators with time series for more than 225 countries and 18 country groups from 1960 to the present, where data are available. Produced by The World Bank Group.

  • Open Data

    • Australian Open Government Data
      Site language is English. Data.gov.au provides an easy way to find, access and reuse public datasets from the Australian Government and state and territory governments. The main purpose of the site is to encourage public access to and reuse of government data by providing it in useful formats and under open licences. It was created following the Government’s Declaration of Open Government and response to the Government 2.0 Taskforce.
    • Austria Open Government Data
      Site language is German. They have a collection of various datasets from federal agencies and organizations including GIS data, micro-census, census, environmental dta, traffic data, and various data from NPOs and NGOS. In both human and machine-readable formats.
    • Belgium Open Data Initiative
      Site language options include English. Data on topics including Animals, Culture, Economy, Research, Tourism, Work, Education, Science, Enviroment, Diaster, Geography, Poplution, Family, Birth, Death, Government, Taxes, Health, Housing, Justice, and Mobility/Traffic. This data is of various types (including Download, Newsfeed, Script, Twitter feed, webpage and web service) at various granularity (including Country, Region, Provience, Arrondissement, Municipality and St
    • Canada Open Data
      Site language is English. The Open Data Pilot is part of the Government of Canada's commitment to open government, which is being pursued along three streams: open data, open information & open dialogue, & aims to drive innovation and economic opportunities for all Canadians. The Open Data Pilot seeks to improve the ability of the public to find, download and use Government of Canada data. Search the catalogue, download datasets and explore the possibilities of Open Data.
    • Netherlands Open Data
      Site language is Dutch. Data.overheid.nl is the open data portal from the Dutch government. On this portal you will find other information about open government data and the national registry of references to existing open data sets. The portal focuses on public government. For geographic datasets can also search the National Georegister.
    • Estonia Open Data
      Site language options includes English. Open data from the government of Estonia. Data includes statistical information on the topics of the Economy, Environment, Population, Social life and from the 2000 Population Census and the 2001 Agricultural Census.
    • France - Open Platform of French Public Data
      Site language is French. Open data from the government of France. In May 26, 2011 the Prime Minister of France asked the government to open the public data of their administration to enhance the transparency of governmental action. Data.gouv.fr is the result of the Prime Minister's request and the number of dataset's available on the site continues to grow.
    • Hong Kong Open Data
      Site language is English. The Hong Kong government has made geo-referenced public facility data and real-time traffic data for free download and value-added re-use by the public on their site. The data includes names, addresses and co-ordinates, etc. of public facilities such as government offices, hospitals, schools, country parks as well as recreational, cultural and sports venues. Real-time traffic data is also available. Much of the data is available in the XML format.
    • Ireland's Official Statistics - StatCentral.ie
      Site language is English. In Ireland, official statistics are those produced by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), along with government departments, agencies and other state bodies. Most of these are available on the web through a variety of websites and formats. The StatCentral portal provides standard documentation on recurring official statistics and links to where they can be found.
    • Italy Open Data
      Site language is Italian. The Italian government has a catalog of some 176 datasets from 38 different administrative bodies. On topics including Environment, Art & Culture, Citizens & public life, Economy & investment, Jobs, Politics, Social Policy, Security, Wellness, Technology, and Transportation Infrastructure in a variety of formats (including XLS, CSV, XML, TSV, Shapefile, PDF, ODS and HTML).
    • Kenya Open Data
      This site makes public government data accessible to the people of Kenya. High quality national census data, government expenditure, parliamentary proceedings and public service locations are just a taste of what's to come. Our information is a national asset, and it's time it was shared: this data is key to improving transparency; unlocking social and economic value; and building Government 2.0 in Kenya.
    • Korea Open Data
      Page language is Korean. Topics of data include Education, Language, Labor, Cultural heritage, Art Health Care and Food Safety.
    • New Zealand Open Data
      Site language is English. data.govt.nz is a directory of publicly-available New Zealand government datasets. The site focuses on machine-readable (ie, well-structured and open) datasets, but has links to "grey" data (for example, web pages) as well. Formats include CSV, KML/SHP, GEO & API).
    • Romania Open Data
      Site language is Romanian. Data available on a variety of topics including, Land Relations, Tourism, Education, Intellectual Property, Social Insurance, Medical Insurance, Foreign Affairs, Internal Affairs, Agriculture & Food, Defense, Economy, Education, Finance, Justice, Enlivenment, Technology in a variety of formats (including XLSx, zip, & csv).
    • Saudi Open Government Data
      Site language is English. Open Government Data from the Saudi government, on the topics of Weather conditions, Prices and indices, Social Insurance, Trade (internal and external), Education and training, Social services, Agriculture and fishing, Population and Housing, Accounts Financial monetary affairs and Industry, Health, Energy and Water, Transport and Communications, Labor market, Industry, and the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
    • Singapore Government - Open Data
      Site language is English. data.gov.sg is the first-stop portal to search and access publicly-available data published by the Singapore Government. Launched in June 2011, data.gov.sg brings together over 5000 datasets from 50 government ministries and agencies. Topics include economic, legal, housing, education, judiciary, media, national parks, science & technology and Urban Redevelopment.
    • Spain Open Data
      Site language is Spanish. Data sets on topics including Culture & Leisure, Science & technology, Environment, Transportation, Education, Economy, Law & Justice, Trade Security, Planning & Infrastructure, Society & welfare, Energy, Health, Finance Housing, Employment, Tourism, Industry and Sports, in a variety of formats (including xhtml, html, pdf, xls, csv, xml & json).
    • United Kingdom Open Data
      Site language is English. There are currently over 5,400 datasets available, from all central government departments of the United Kingdom and a number of other public sector bodies and authorities. Topics on various nations (including England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland) on various topics (including Health, Communities, Children, Finance) from various publishers (Department of Health, UK Statistics Authority, British Geological Survey, Center for Ecology & Hydrology).
    • United State Open Data
      Site language is English. A primary goal of Data.gov is to improve access to Federal data and expand creative use of those data beyond the walls of government by encouraging innovative ideas (e.g., web applications). Data.gov strives to make government more transparent and is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. The openness derived from Data.gov will strengthen our Nation's democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

  • Statistics from United Nations Agencies

    The UN Statistics Division oversees UN collection, organization and distribution of statistics and provides links to the UN databases from their web site.  Here are some of the major UN statistical databases. 

    • GenderInfo
      Gender statistics for population, families, health, education, work, and political participation...
    • Social Indicators
      Child-bearing, Child and early populations, contraceptive use, education, health, housing, human settlements, income and economic activity, literacy, population, unemployment, water supply and sanitation
    • UN Comtrade
      International Merchandise Trade Statistics from 1962- present.
    • UN Demographic Yearbook
      World summary, population, fertility, foetal mortality, infant and maternal mortality, general mortality, nuptiality, divorces
    • UNCTAD Databases
      United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's databases: Global databank on world trade in creative products, Handbook of Statistics, Foreign Direct Investment, ICT Statistics, Millennium Indicators, Trade Analysis
    • United Nations Statistics Division
      Clearinghouse, portal and standards keeper for United Nations statistics.
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Elections & Campaigns

  • Campaings & Elections-United States

    • America Votes
      REF JK1967.A8 (Back volumes also available)

    • Atlas of Presidential Elections
    • Election Statistics
      Created by the U.S. House of Representatives Office of the Clerk.

    • Federal Election Commission
      Source for viewing federal candidates' campaign finance reports; also possible to search by contributor.

    • Open Secrets
      OpenSecrets.org is the nation’s premier independent website tracking the influence of money on U.S. politics, and how that money affects policy and citizens’ lives.

    • Living Room Candidate
      Web site of the Museum of the Moving Image that features more than 300 presidential campaign commercials, dating back to the 1950's.

    • Project Vote Smart
      Non-partisan site that provides access to biographical information, voting records, issue positions and interest group ratings of elected officials and political candidates across the country.

  • International Campaigns & Elections

    • Comparative Study of Electoral Systems
      Allows cross-national research among election studies conducted in over fifty countries. Data is from public opinion survey questions as well as post election studies. Users must register.

    • ElectionGuide
      Results from around the world, 1998+, from the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES), a Washington-based organization.

    • Elections and Electoral Systems Around the World
      One component of the extensive site created by Richard Kimber (United Kingdom).

    • Elections Around the World
      Updated monthly. Election results and links to major and minor parties, parliaments, and electoral institutes - site created by Wilfried Derksen (Netherlands).

    • Parties and Elections in Europe
      Parliamentary elections in the European countries since 1945 - site created by Wolfram Nordsieck (Germany).
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Articles/Journals/Databases
Articles-Scholarly Peer-Reviewed

  • Electronic Journals

    E-Journals A-Z

  • Can't Find the Fulltext Article

    To Request Articles

    1. From any database use FIND IT to determine the availability of the journal article you are looking for, or, if you are not already within a database, search for online access in the Journal Title List or the Catalog for print access to determine whether City College owns the journal title, volume, and issue you need.
    2. If a journal is available at City College, do not request article via Interlibrary loan
    3. If a journal is unavailable at City College, request article via Interlibrary loan
    4. If a City College paper journal issue or volume is missing, request it via ILL with note.
    5. Articles and book chapters are delivered in PDF format.
    6. Include the ISSN number for fastest ILL delivery.

  • Peer-Reviewed Articles

    Peer-reviewed/Scholarly?

    Peer review is the process by which articles or other works are critiqued before they are published. Authors send articles to an editor, who decides whether the work should be forwarded to reviewers for the journal. The most stringent form is anonymous or blind review, where neither the author nor the reviewers know whose work is being examined by whom. This helps reduce bias.

    Reviewers are usually well-published researchers and experts themselves. The articles are sent back to the editor with remarks and recommendations-- usually publish as is (rare), publish if edited or changed in specific ways, or don't publish. Editors will usually go with the recommendation of the majority of the reviewers. If revision is recommended, the reviewers' comments may be returned with the draft.

    The process is intended to improve the content of studies published-- more eyes on a project, and one's reputation on the line with peers, tends to improve the quality of what's published.  There are cases where it hasn't worked, and critics of the cycle, but it is the best system that has been developed to this point.

    Credit: Joan Parks, Librarian at Southwestern University, A. Frank Smith Library

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Primary Sources

  • Primary Sources

    What is considered a primary source varies somewhat by discipline. In any case, think of a primary source as first-hand knowledge, eyewitness accounts,or reports about (X topic).

    In the arts, a primary source may be a piece of art, such as a painting or sculpture, a musical score, a poem, a book or chapter, or an essay--whatever is created by the artist, writer, photographer, etc.

    In the sciences, a primary source is the first report of research; it may be published as a journal article, or sometimes as a research report or conference presentation.

    In some of the social sciences, such as anthropology, ethnography, psychology, sociology or social work, a primary source may be the first report of a piece of research, especially of empirical studies, or it may be something closer to primary sources in history, since some areas of these fields depend on direct observation, data, personal narratives or commentary, as from interviews or case studies.

    For history, a primary source is a letter, a diary, speech, lecture, piece of legislation, document or manuscript-- an original source which forms the basis, with other sources, of secondary work, such as a study of life in eighteenth century Ireland. A narrative is usually a personal account, by a single individual, of a period of time or an event.

    A secondary source is based on a primary source or other sources. It includes analysis, criticism, or other intellectual input. Secondary sources can include books, book chapters, articles, especially literature reviews, and some book reviews. 

    A tertiary source is commonly a resource or tool that helps people find primary or secondary sources. Tertiary sources include most bibliographies, databases and indexes, and library catalogs.

    What's gray literature? Gray literature is information that is usually not published for the general population, but available in limited distribution, typically to persons inside a company, a discipline, an industry, or a government sector. Examples include white papers, preliminary reports, brochures, handouts, working papers, notes, and so on. Some gray literature, such as in as scientific or engineering areas, is fairly well indexed and easy to find, and can be useful in specific circumstances.

    Credit: Necia-Parker Gibson, Librarian at University of Arkansas, Mullins Library.
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Databases

  • J Store (Journal Storage)

    JSTOR has created a full text digital archive of core scholarly journals with complete back runs of many titles. As part of JSTOR's agreement with publishers, current issues (usually the last 3 - 5 years) are not digitized by JSTOR and may be obtained elsewhere. The A. Frank Smith Library has access to the entire content of JSTOR's archival journal collections.

    • Digital archive of scholarly journals in many different disciplines, including political science (146 titles).
    • Current issues (usually last 3-5 years) are not digitized by JSTOR and be be available in Academic Search Complete or elsewhere.
    • Index approaches by keyword, author, title, abstract and periodical.
    • JSTOR will allow you to browse for articles in an online table of contents.
    • All peer-reviewed articles.
    • To get started, you can view a tutorial for JSTOR.

  • Project Muse

    Project MUSE is a collection of over 400 electronic scholarly journals in the humanities and social sciences from nearly 100 not-for-profit publishers.  Journals can be browsed or searched for articles. Back issue archives are available, with some titles beginning with volumes as early as 1993.  For an introduction to Project Muse.

    • Click here for instructional material for learning about Project MUSE, how to search, how to find journals by discipline, etc.
    • You will be able to retrieve some full-text JSTOR articles when searching in Project Muse.
    • 100% full-text articles from scholarly journals.
    • Advanced search through the pull down menus are: "and" "or" "not" "near" "followed by." The truncation symbol is *.

  • Columbia

    Columbia International Affairs Online provides access to the literature of theory and research in international affairs. CIAO includes the following:

    • Working papers from over 100 institutions.
    • Recent conference proceedings from more than 30 academic and nonprofit research institutes.
    • Texts and references from selected journals in the field of public policy.
    • Summaries and selected full text of selected books published by a number of important organizations in the field of public policy, including U.S. government reports.
    • A selection of full-text policy briefs and economic indicators from major organizations devoted to international affairs, including the Federal government.
    • Case studies, written by leading scholars, examine the effects of important events in history.
    • Course packets and syllabi for introductory and graduate level courses in international affairs.
    • CIAO also includes links to other sources for information on international affairs, a schedule of scholarly events in foreign affairs and security policy, and extensive information on nations and regions of the world, including maps.

    Help is available from the lower right of the front page . See also the guided tour.

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Scholarly Journals

  • Selected Titles of Scholarly Journals

    Comparative Politics

    Ethics & Global Politics

    Global Society

    International Affairs

    International relations

    International Studies Quarterly

    Journal of Comparative Politics

    Political theory

    Review of International Affairs

    Third World Quarterly

    World Politics

    World Political Science Review

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InterLibrary Loan- ILLIAD

  • Interlibrary Loan (ILL)

    The City College Library provides interlibrary loan (ILL) services for City College faculty, students and staff in good Library standing. ILL is used to obtain materials NOT OWNED by CUNY for purposes relating to:

    • Research
    • Academic studies  (Textbooks may not be requested)

    Click to learn more about ILL policies        

    All ILL requests are made online through our document delivery system called ILLiad. All articles requested through ILLiad will be delivered electronically to your ILLiad account. Books will be delivered to the Circulation department where you can pick them up. You will be notified via email when ILL items have been received. You must create an account on ILLiad to request items via ILL.

    Click here to create your ILLiad account or make request online     

    • InterLibrary Loan

      Through Interlibrary Services, currently enrolled students, faculty, and staff may borrow books, journal articles and other research materials not owned by the A. Frank Smith Library.   Personal information is stored which means no more filling in the same information over and over again. Articles, many times, are now delivered to your desktop electronically.

      Advantages of the system include:

      --Ability to track the status of your request from start to finish from any Web browser.

      --Ability to view the items you have requested helping to avoid submitting duplicate requests.

      --Copies of journal articles are delivered to your account in "PDF" format as soon as the library receives it from the lending library. "PDF" captures all the elements of a printed document, including graphics, of a printed document as an electronic image.

      --When searching databases click on the Interlibrary Loan link and the information for the articles will be pulled into the ILLIAD request form.

      To learn more about Interlibrary Loan Services, see the Interlibrary Services FAQ page. There is no charge for this service.

      Plan ahead to allow for the time it will take to receive the materials requested.

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    Article Search Tips

    • Article Search Tips

      The table courtsey of Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Harvard Business School, Soldiers Field, Boston, MA 02163, work 617-495-6040

      Major Search Operators

      AND

      The AND operator narrows a search by requiring that all search terms appear in records retrieved.

      Venn diagram showing shaded intersection between two circles Use AND when you want to:
      • COMBINE multiple concepts or areas of a topic in one search, e.g.,
        • cosmetics AND trend
        • children AND advertising
      • LIMIT a search by specific criteria, e.g.,
        • employment AND Greece
        • salary AND Atlanta

      OR

      The OR operator broadens a search by requiring that either one, but not necessarily both search terms appear in the records retrieved. .

      Venn diagram showing shaded two intersecting circles fully shaded Use OR when you want to:
      • BROADEN your search using synonyms, multiple word forms, e.g.,
        • statistics OR numerical
        • automobiles OR vehicles
        • child OR children
        • theater OR theatre
        • mobile phone OR cell phone

      Tip:

      • Use ( ) [parentheses] to group search terms by concept when you use multiple search operators, e.g.,
        • (woman or female) and (purchase or spending)
        • (venture capital or private equity) and China

      Subject Headings

      • Note the subjects suggested in the sidebar on the screen left side of the returned search.

      Major Search Symbols

      Exact Phrase

      Databases allow searching for exact phrases. Some require a particular search symbol such as quotations marks or parentheses.

      Truncation

      Truncation broadens a search by looking for variations in word stems, e.g., plurals. Some databases will not automatically search for variants. Truncation symbols vary from database to database. The common ones are *, !, and ?.

      Truncation Symbols in our key article databases:

      Academic Seach CompleteLexisNexis Academic
      * [asterisk] used as a right-handed truncation character following a word root only, e.g., econom* will find economy, economics, economist, etc.

      ! [exclamation mark] used as a right-handed truncation character following a word root only, e.g., econom! will find economy, economics, economist, etc.

      Tips:

      • Be careful when placing the truncation symbol and do not truncate too early, e.g., aut* will find auto, automobile, automobiles, automatic and author.
      • Truncation symbols may be used in conjunction with the operators AND and OR.

      Keyword Search Tips: Words to Avoid

      Common Words

      • Avoid using words that are too general or commonby themselves since they will give you far too many search results to be meaningful. For example, a keyword search on "strategy" in the ABI/ProQuest database retrieves more than 341,500 records.
      • Use common words only in combination with other keywords that will further define your topic, e.g., marketing strategy.

      Meaningless Words

      • When selecting keywords, LEAVE OUT articles (the, a, an), prepositions (in, of, on), and conjunctions (and, or, not). These words are insignificant by themselves and appear in virtually every database record. Databases will not search for these words.

      Slang Words

      • When selecting search terms, it is always best to use standard English words.
      • Only use slang or non-standard English words when you are specifically searching for occurrences of that term.

      Abstract Words

      • Keep in mind that the terms you choose to search on should not only be significant but also easily definable.Avoid hard-to-describe concepts such as "causes of" or "influences of." Such terms do not to describe your topic, but rather point out what you need to evaluate and determine after doing your research.
      • For example, if your topic is the impact of air bags on the number of traffic fatalities, the keywords are "air bags" and "traffic fatalities." The impact will be determined after your research. While these keywords may yield some search results, the results usually will not include all of the relevant information available. It is wise to think of different ways to say the same thing to find additional relevant items; e.g., use the keywords "traffic accidents."

      List of keywords to avoid:

      • impact
      • influence
      • importance
      • effect/effective/effectiveness
      • assessment
      • development
      • pros
      • significance
      • analysis
      • compare/comparison/comparative
      • causes
      • contrast
      • characteristics
      • cons
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    Newspaper Articles

    • Newspaper Articles

      Newspaper articles can be a good source of background material to help you understand the politics of other countries. Fortunately there are several on-line databases that are available to make your discovery easier. In addition, you might try to Google News Archive for some select acccess to older material.

      • By title? If you're looking for a certain newspaper title and not sure where to start, try searching by title in Smart Search. Or try the Libraries' E-journal search.
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    Search Strategies

    • Search Strategies

      Terms

      The weekly topics for your class as outlined in the syllabus are a good basis for developing search strategies. You may also find some of these terms helpful. Adding the name of your country of interest to your search will help narrow your topic and find relevant scholarship.

      • civil society
      • democracy
      • elections
      • government and politics
      • non-governmental organizations, or nongovernmental organizations, or ngo
      • political parties
      • political science
      • political sociology
      • public opinion
      • voting

      Strategies

      • Sometimes, spelling counts (labor vs. labour; ageing vs. aging)
      • Learn truncation syntax in databases you use a lot (*, !, ?). politic*
      • You may need to consider alternative terms (interest groups and nongovernmental organizations)
      • See what terms display under "subject headings" or "descriptors". All similar articles will use the same subject headings. This may vary from database to database.
      • AND is similar to "all the words". Use this to narrow a search.
      • OR is similar to "any of the words". Use this to broaden a search.
      • NOT means "none of these words" . Use this to narrow a search.
      • Add the name of a country or region to your search to focus your results.
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    Find Articles

    • Electronic Journals

      E-Journals A-Z

    • Can't find the fulltext article?

      To Request Articles

      1. From any database use FIND IT to determine the availability of the journal article you are looking for, or, if you are not already within a database, search for online access in the Journal Title List or the Catalog for print access to determine whether City College owns the journal title, volume, and issue you need.
      2. If a journal is available at City College, do not request article via Interlibrary loan
      3. If a journal is unavailable at City College, request article via Interlibrary loan 
      4. If a City College paper journal issue or volume is missing, request it via ILL with note.
      5. Articles and book chapters are delivered in PDF format.
      6. Include the ISSN number for fastest ILL delivery.

    • Interdisciplinary Portal: Google Scholar


    close

    • Electronic Journals

      E-Journals A-Z

    • Can't find the fulltext article?

      To Request Articles

      1. From any database use FIND IT to determine the availability of the journal article you are looking for, or, if you are not already within a database, search for online access in the Journal Title List or the Catalog for print access to determine whether City College owns the journal title, volume, and issue you need.
      2. If a journal is available at City College, do not request article via Interlibrary loan
      3. If a journal is unavailable at City College, request article via Interlibrary loan 
      4. If a City College paper journal issue or volume is missing, request it via ILL with note.
      5. Articles and book chapters are delivered in PDF format.
      6. Include the ISSN number for fastest ILL delivery.

    • IR Databases

      • Academic Search Complete
        Academic Search Complete is a comprehensive scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database, with more than 6,100 full-text periodicals, including more than 5,100 peer-reviewed journals. In addition to full text, this database offers indexing and abstracts for more than 10,100 journals and a total of more than 10,600 publications including monographs, reports, conference proceedings, etc. This resource also includes the EBSCO eBook Academic Collection, a growing collection which currently includes 113,000 titles (as of March 2013). This allows students and faculty access to all these e-books, covering a broad range of disciplines.
      • CIAO: Columbia International Affairs Online
        The most comprehensive source for theory and research in international affairs, CIAO publishes a wide range of scholarship from 1991 onward that includes working papers from university research institutes, occasional papers series from NGOs, foundation-funded research projects, proceedings from conferences, books, journals and policy briefs.
      • JSTOR
        JSTOR is a database providing indexing and full text access for about 500 peer-reviewed scholarly journals in 42 disciplines. Coverage is heavily weighted toward social sciences and humanities. The titles covered are almost exclusively oriented toward the scholar (senior or higher academic level), but some articles may be appropriate for use by lower level undergraduates.
        Search and browse JSTOR citations from a mobile device.

        To find out more about mobile apps, visit our Mobile Resources page.
      • UNdata
        Portal website to United Nations statistics --- topics include: Key Global Indicators, Millennium Development Goals Indicators and Gender Statistics, as well as statistics for Agriculture, Education, Employment, Energy, Environment, Health, Human Development, Industry, Information & Communication Technology, National Accounts, Population, Refugees, Trade and Tourism
      • Project MUSE
        Project MUSE offers full-text current and archival articles from 500+ scholarly journals from major university presses covering literature and criticism, history, performing arts, cultural studies, education, philosophy, political science, gender studies, and more. This database is more appropriate for the advanced student or scholar, but lower level undergraduates may also find useful material.
      • World Bank
        Free access to a comprehensive set of statistics and data about development in countries around the globe
      • Global Gateway: World Culture and Resources
        From the Library of Congress the Global Gateway is a unified portal to the Library of Congress's digital international collections and resources. Of particular interest is Portals to the World, selective links providing authoritative, in-depth information about the nations and other areas of the world arranged by country.

    • Getting to Databases from Off Campus

      When you do your work off campus, the first time you click on any database the screen below will pop up, so stop and put in your barcode!

      Complete your registration by submitting this form:

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    Country Overviews

    • Country Studies Series

      Country Studies: Library of Congress (book-length studies)

      • Prepared  by the the Federal Research Division  and made available via the Library of Congress Website, "The Country Studies Series presents a description and analysis of the historical setting and the social, economic, political, and national security systems and institutions of countries throughout the world."--Website.
      • Note: Many countries are not covered.
      • Questions about the series

    • Nation Master

      NationMaster.com

      • A central data source and way to graphically compare nations, generate maps and graphs with statistics. For example, click here for information on India.
      • Welcome to NationMaster, a massive central data source and a handy way to graphically compare nations. NationMaster is a vast compilation of data from such sources as the CIA World Factbook, UN, and OECD. Using the form above, you can generate maps and graphs on all kinds of statistics with ease.

        We want to be the web's one-stop resource for country statistics on everything from soldiers to wall plug voltages. -- Website

    • Background Notes

      Background Notes (Produced by U.S. Department of State)

      • "Background Notes are factual publications that contain information on all countries of the world with which the United States has relations.  They include facts on the country's land, people, history, government, political conditions, economy, and its relations with other countries and the United States."  Emphasis on political conditions.  Find Background notes for India, Egypt, Ghana, and Malaysia.

    • World Bank Group

      World Bank (Countries & Regions--background information and reports on all countries of the world.

      Browse by section: Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, South Asia, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America & The Caribbean, Middle East & North Africa. Country data and statistics included.  For more, click here.

      World Bank eAtlas of Global Development

      The World Bank eAtlas of Global Development maps and graphs more than 175 thematically organized indicators for over 200 countries, letting you visualize and compare progress on the most important development challenges facing our world. Most indicators cover several decades, so you can see, for example, how “life expectancy at birth” has improved from 1960 up through the latest year. Watch our short video for a quick overview! --Website

      This eAtlas, a new online companion to Atlas of Global Development, third edition, builds on the Atlas topics, allowing you to visualize and analyze a wider variety of data in greater depth, over a longer time period. You can

      Map more than 175 World Bank indicators worldwide
      Compare and view two maps simultaneously
      Animate maps to show change over time
      View all data in ranking tables and charts alongside maps
      Export maps and data for use in presentations and more
      Import your own data

    • World Data

      World Data Analyst (Encyclopedia Britannica) 

      Perform statistical comparisons between countries or explore changes over time.  Results can be placed in charts and graphs or be exported to a spreadsheet.  Users can also link to Compare Countries and World Atlas.

      • Use it to view country snapshots
      • Current comparison
      • Chronological l comparison by choose one or more country, choose only one statistic, compare statistics over a period of years
      • Ranked statistics
      • Content includes political information, area and population, demography, vital statistics, national economy, education and health, military, etc.

    • ELDS Country Profiles

      Regional and Country Profiles 

      • A gateway to global development information on international development issues. Provides free and easy access to materials on developing countries ...

    • Lexis-Nexis Academic Database

      LexisNexis Academic (Research Difference Countries )
      The new landing page  includes an Easy Form Search Box.  The Research Countries category allows you to find political and economic information about a specific country.  You must select a country from the Country drop-down box and then select a specific source from the Source drop-down box.  Your can choose:

      Sources are:

      • Business Monitor International (for International Company Information)
      • Country Briefings (economic briefings on politics, stock markets, etc. for 32 countries)
      • PRS Risk Guides and Service (international business risk analysis)
      • Walden Country Reports (basic country information , updated yearly)
      • Recent News Stories (news about the country selected).

    • British Broadcasting Assoication

      BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) News: Country Profile

      • Profiles provide an "instant guide" to news, history, politics, event timelines, and economic background of world countries.  Presents country overviews, basic facts, Web links, and details on leaders and media.  Includes news stories and audio videos clips from BCC Archive.

    • ipl2

      ipl2 (Regional and Country Information)

      • "ipl2: Information You Can Trust features a searchable, subject-categorized directory of authoritative websites; links to online texts, newspapers, ..."  Five hundred fifteen (534) sources listed. Browse by section: Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, Middle East, South America, South Pacific.

    • World Data

      WDI Online: World Development Indicators 2011

      • The World Development Indicators (WDI) publication is the World Bank's premier annual compilation of data about development. The 2010 WDI includes more than 800 indicators in over 90 tables organized in 6 sections: World View, People, Environment, Economy, States and Markets, and Global LinksData can be exported in standard formats like Excel.*For Southwestern community only.  More information on WDI.
      • Print version of World Development Indicators 2011 located at Reference 330.9 W89 2009.  Older issues in Main Collection, 2nd floor of the library.
    close
    Avoiding Plagiarism

    • Zotero

      Zotero [zoh-TAIR-oh] is a free, easy-to-use Firefox extension to help you collect, manage, cite, and share your research sources. 

      For a quick introduction to the features and capabilities of Zotero, check out this video on the Zotero web site:

      Quick Start Guide

    • CCNY Honor Code on Plagiarism

      "Plagiarism is the submission of another’s work as one’s own without acknowledgment in written work.

      There are basically four ways in which research papers use or incorporate written materials, and each of these requires footnoting.

      1. Direct Quotations should be marked off with quotation marks, with a footnote to indicate the source. It is not necessary to place in quotation marks every word in your paper that appears in a source you are using. If your paper concerns Napoleon, for example, you need not place “Napoleon” in quotation marks merely because your sources use the name. Similarly, there are phrases of some length such as “on the other hand” or “it is evident that” which are common property and act in effect as single words.

      2. Paraphrase. Where your own language follows closely the language of a written source, or where your line of argument follows a source, you need not use quotation marks, but you are obliged to indicate the source in a footnote.

      3. General Indebtedness. Where the ideas in your paper closely resemble and were suggested by ideas in a source, a footnote should be used to indicate this.

      4. Background Information. In any area of inquiry there are matters of fact commonly known to everyone with a serious interest. Such information need not

      be footnoted one fact at a time. Instead, a general footnote toward the beginning of the paper, naming the sources where such information was obtained, is sufficient."

    • Citing Your Sources

      Value of citations

      • Important to give credit to your sources (academic honesty)
      • Readers will judge your work based on the quality of your sources
      • Readers may consult the sources you cite to verify your statements
      • It's an important way for scholars to share information
      • Students should be able to have some comfort in reading citatons to determine the type and value of a source.

    • RefWorks

      RefWorks is a web-based bibliographic management tool. With RefWorks you can create a list of citations; format in-text citations, footnotes and endnotes; organize your citations in a variety of ways; and format bibliographies automatically in any standard format (or "style"): APA, Chicago, MLA, etc. You can import records directly into RefWorks from selected databases, including Academic Search Complete, JSTOR, and others.

      To use RefWorks, you'll first need to create an account while on campus, but you can then log into RefWorks from anywhere. Take advantage of the RefWorks tutorial, which will help you get started efficiently.

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    Statistics
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    William Gibbons
    William Gibbons
    Contact Info:
    Office: Cohen Library, NAC 2nd Floor
    Phone: (212) 650 7602
    Fax: (212) 650-7604
    Subjects:
    Harlem, African American Studies, Political Science
    Links:
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