Resources for Western European Politics–PSCI4002

Starting Your Research

Search Tips

When starting your research, brainstorm the terms that can be used to describe this type of research. Some example keywords:

Location: name of country, name of cities, names of international organizations
General: Politics and government, political parties, elections, immigration, migrants

Many of the databases you’ll be searching will also use descriptors or specific words or phrases that they have assigned to a particular topic (much like subject headings in the library catalog). Using these descriptors can help you find similar articles and get ideas for additional search terms. Use the Search Worksheet to record this information.

Research and Subject Guides Database

This database provides a complete listing of guides in the library, it ranges from guides to finding primary sources and economic information to how to use particular databases and how to create a citation.

Articles, especially peer-reviewed or scholarly ones, can form a good start for your research. If you are trying to figure out where to start use Find Articles and More.

• Find Articles and More The databases are arranged alphabetically by name, or you can find databases in a particular subject area by choosing a subject from the drop down menu on that page. Here are a few databases to try first:
• Click on the + next to Political Science and choose the link for Scholarly Sources.
• Choose either International Political Science Abstracts CU, an index of political science articles from around the world or PAIS International CU, an index of publications of international bodies, US and other governments on global policy and social issues. Start with keyword searches.
• Click on International Area Studies. Choose Europe. Use your keywords.
• Not having luck? Here are a few other more general resources (not focused on political science):
• Academic Search Premier CU Index of nearly 4,000 academic journals, with full text available for many.
• Google Scholar Uses Google search technology to search a wide variety of sources for academic material.

• [name of country] Politics and government (ex. Italy Politics and Government)
• Political parties [name of country] (ex. Political Parties France)
• Local elections [name of country] (ex. Local Elections Great Britain)
• Local government [name of country] (ex. Local government Germany)
• [name of country] Emigration and immigration (ex. Poland emigration and immigration)
• National characteristics,[name] (ex. National characteristics french)

Book Chapters

Book chapters titles often reveal hidden treasures in a book. For an example, take a look at The logics and politics of post-WWII migration to Western Europe. To search these book chapter titles you need to use the keyword search. If you want more chapter titles, check out WorldCat or Google Books.

These pages link to information from individual countries, including links to government bodies.

This page provides links to international organizations and a custom search that only searches international organizations. Here are some selected international sources that may be of interest:

• European Union (EU)
  Europa The EU is an economic and political partnership between 27 democratic European countries. EU policies are part of national policies.
• Council of Europe (COE)
  Council of Europe Founded in 1949, the COE has 47 members. Its aim is to protect human rights, pluralist democracy and the rule of law. One of its subgroups is the Department of Local and Regional Democracy and Good Governance, which has published country reports
• Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
  OSCE A regional security organization consisting of 56 participating states. OSCE deals with three dimensions of security: politico-military, economic and environmental, and human.
• Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
  OECD Established in 1961, the OECD is a club of "like-minded" nations that hope to achieve the highest sustainable economic growth and employment. The OECD collects data, monitors trends, analyzes and forecasts economic developments and researches social changes for member and non-member countries. Reports and data available through the SourceOECD CU

• RefWorks
  RefWorks is a database that lets you save your citations and then format them in the style of your choice. Check out this quick guide for help using this resource.
• Citing Sources
  This guide goes over the various formats you can use to cite material as well as providing links to quick citation sheets.