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Getting Started
This is meant to provide a general research process to write your paper:
- Identify topic
- Conduct a literature review - Your literature review should cover the scholarly research on your topic.
Be sure to start early - you may need to order articles through Interlibrary Loan, which can take up to two weeks.
- What is a literature review?
- What is scholarly research?
- Write a research question - Keep in mind, this will change throughout the course of your research. You may have to revise your argument or thesis statement as you research and understand your topic better.
- Write your paper
- Cite your sources - Using APA style, cite direct quotes, summaries and paraphrases in the text of your paper, and provide a bibliography or works cited list of all the materials used in your paper.
Why cite? Check out this tutorial from UCLA.
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Literature Review
What is a literature review?
A literature review is not research, it is a review of the research that has been done on your topic.
A literature review is NOT just a summary, but a conceptually organized synthesis of the results of your search. It must
- organize information and relate it to the thesis or research question you are developing
- synthesize and critically analyze the results comparing and contrasting their findings
- identify controversy and themes that appear in the literature
Check out these sites for more help understanding literature reviews
Tips on conducting research for a literature review
- Use bibliographies and reference pages of articles to direct your research. You may start to see some trends with the people who are writing about your topic. Check the bibliography for more articles about your topic.
- Use the authors who you have found to be writing on your topic as starting points. Look for additional articles, and rebuttals, retractions or responses to their research.
 Use this chart to track articles you read for your literature review.
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Develop Language for
Searches
Vary the terms you use to search. Use synonyms
and AND and OR to develop search strategies.
Use the database thesaurus to change slang to
scholarly language.
- Be flexible with your searches.
- Review the
descriptors or subjects used in the articles you find.
- Use the tools for limiting or expanding your search.
- Read the HELP screens
Developing a Search Strategy
After you have focused your topic by writing your thesis
statement you want to develop a good search strategy. Select
the main concepts in your statement, find synonyms or
alternative terms, and use AND and OR to connect them
appropriately.
EXAMPLE:
| THESIS |
Even though most
people vote their gut rather than their brain,
political ads
should be about issues not emotions because we need
to know what the various
perspectives on the issues are and because emotional
ads can backfire. |
| MAIN CONCEPTS |
- political advertising
- emotional appeal
- electoral campaigns
|
| Alternative TERMS |
- Political
Advertising, Television in Politics
- Persuasion, Influence,
Political psychology
- Political campaigns,
Communications in politics, Elections
|
| SEARCHES |
- Political Advertising OR Television in Politics OR
Communications in politics
- Persuasion OR Influence OR Political psychology
- Political campaigns OR Elections
|
Want to learn more? Watch this short video on how to write a search strategy.
Watch a video (approx. 3.5 min.) 
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Articles
Journal articles provide you with the latest research in your field. The research databases below will provide you with both scholarly and popular journal articles in political science.
What's the difference between scholarly and popular articles?
Most Useful
| Database |
Full Text |
Coverage |
Scholarly |
Academic Search Premier
This scholarly collection offers information in nearly every area of academic study including: computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, ethnic studies, and many more.
|
 +  |
1975→current |
most |
JSTOR
Contains (EXCEPT for the latest five years) core scholarly journals in sociology, history, economics, political science, mathematics, African-American studies, Asian studies, and biological, health & general sciences.
|
 |
1838→2002 |
all |
Sociological Abstracts
Provides access to the latest international findings in theoretical and applied sociology, social science, and political science.
|
|
1963→current |
all |
PAIS
An important index to political, economic, and social issues in current debate.
|
|
1972→current |
all |
Also Useful
| Database |
Full Text |
Coverage |
Scholarly |
Project Muse
Full-text coverage for hundreds of scholarly journals in the humanities, social sciences, and mathematics
|
 |
1993→current |
all |
Womens Studies International
Includes over 204,000 records drawn from a variety of essential women's studies databases.
|
 |
1972→current |
most |
Lexis Nexis Academic
Provides access to a wide range of news, business, legal, and reference information.
|
|
1975→current |
some |
CQ Researcher
Explores a single "hot" issue in the news in-depth each week. Topics range from social and teen issues to environment, health, education and science and technology.
|
|
1991→current |
most |
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Books
To search for books, you need to use a library catalog. Depending on how much time you have, you have a couple of options:
Citing Sources
As you write your paper, you'll need
to cite passages and ideas from the sources
you've found. Use the guides below to write your citations in APA style.
 |
APA: Publication manual
of the American Psychological Association.
5th ed. Washington, DC : American
Psychological Association, 2001.
|
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