Political Science

An overview article about political science is found the Encyclopaedia Britannica:

"Political Science," (pdf file), EB

Political science is a discipline whose definition has undergone considerable change since the early to mid-50's of the last century to the present. During the early 1900's, political science was much more tantamount to the study of government or political philosophy: it was a normative, descriptive study of what should be done, and the biographical study of great men as the actors who initiated and carried out the political change that was called for. 

Of course, these strains of popularization in political science are still the broad view of what political science is all about.  And the topics are very, very popular among the consuming audience of American book buyers: as an example, look at the first 4 titles (1,2,3,4) and 8,9,10 on this week's New York Times Books Non Fiction Bestsellers list . . .

. . . however, political science--the scholarly discipline--does not weigh in on a side in partisan political bickering, or join in the currently fashionable "infotainment" of the partisan Right or Left, expressed as "commentary" on television, on radio, and in print (both magazines and books). 

Since the middle of the 1900's, the discipline of political science--most particularly in the United States--has become an empirical, behavioral science intent on explaining individual and group behavior and political policy formulation processes.  The current research literature of political science is much, much more likely to be just as quantitative and statistical as the literature of sociology and psychology.  Unlike psychology, the designs used for these political science studies are not as likely to be either experimental or quasi-experimental; they are likely to be highly quantitative, non-experimental, ex-post facto research designs.

For the researcher of political science, there has been a shift in data collection from the earlier period of government which used the documentary residue of the business of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government as their primary sources of data--hearings, judicial opinions, executive branch statements, etc. Today, the political scientist is much more likely to be involved in empirical research which collects observations, or surveys individuals, about individuals or members of groups.   

The central source of political science bibliographic control you need to be aware of is the comprehensive, recurrent service, World Political Science Abstracts. 

Current resources coming from the US government and its system of legislative, judicial, and executive offices should be consulted for many topics (Congressional Universe, GPO, Statistical Universe).  Because of the traditional slant of diplomacy, international relations, international law and foreign policy as topics for the historian, do not automatically bypass historical tools in your search strategy (America: History and Life, Historical Abstracts, LexisNexis Academic).  Related social science discipline's tools (psychology, sociology, economics) and interdisciplinary tools (PAIS (FirstSearch)) should be considered as well, depending on the specific topic your are researching. 

• America: History and Life (1/1/1964 - present)
  Index and abstracts to journals on the the history and culture of the United States and Canada from prehistoric times to the present. Includes citations to book and media reviews and dissertations.

• Congressional Universe
  Access to U.S. legislative information. Index of congressional publications from 1879 to the present; Legislative Histories for public laws going back to 1970; Testimony from congressional hearings; Track bills; Search the Congressional Record and Federal Register; Locate information about members and committees; Search the National Journal (some information/articles available full text)

• GPO (1/1/1976 - present)
  Index of U.S. government documents and some technical reports.

• Historical Abstracts (1/1/1954 - present)
  Index and abstracts to books, journals, and dissertations on the history of the world from 1450 to the present.

• LexisNexis Academic
  Access to a wide range of news, business, legal, medical, and reference databases (Many databases are full text).

• PAIS (FirstSearch) (1/1/1972 - present)
  Index to public and social policy issues foreign and domestic, in journals, government documents, books, pamphlets, yearbooks, directories, etc.

• Statistical Universe
  Access to statistical information from the Congressional Information Service including the American Statistics Index (ASI), Statistical Reference Index (SRI), Index to International Statistics (IIS) (some information/articles available full text).

• World Political Science Abstracts (1/1/1975 - present)
  Combining Political Science Abstracts and ABC Pol Sci, this database provides citations and abstracts to over 800 journals in political science and related fields, including international relations, law, and public administration/policy.

A subject guide is also available to assist you: Political Science Resources.

Law and Justice

An overview of law is given in an article about the legal profession in Encyclopaedia Britannica:

"Legal Profession," (pdf file), EB

Bibliographically, three services should be your starting points: LegalTrac, LexisNexis Academic and   Hein-On-Line, and Congressional Universe is a good service if your search involves the development of legislation that later became law.

• Congressional Universe
  Access to U.S. legislative information. Index of congressional publications from 1879 to the present; Legislative Histories for public laws going back to 1970; Testimony from congressional hearings; Track bills; Search the Congressional Record and Federal Register; Locate information about members and committees; Search the National Journal (some information/articles available full text)

• Hein-On-Line
  Hein On-Line is an ever-expanding, comprehensive, image-based collection of legal periodicals. Hein On-Line provides the exact page images of legal journals meaning that you can view the page as it originally appeared in hardcopy. Each journal in the database begins from its inception.

• LegalTrac (1/1/1980 - present)
  Indexes legal publications: major law reviews, law journals, specialty law and bar association journals, and legal newspapers on Federal and State Cases, Laws and Government Regulations, Legal Practice, and legal subjects such as Taxation and International Law.

• LexisNexis Academic
  Access to a wide range of news, business, legal, medical, and reference databases (Many databases are full text).

For a subject guide to law and justice, don't forget to consult our subject guide, Law and Justice Resources.

International Relations

For an overview of international relations, see the following Encyclopaedia Britannica article:

"International Relations," (pdf file), EB

International relations is an interdisciplinary area in the social sciences that draws on the disciplines of political science, history, economics, law, and to a certain extent, human geography.

• EconLit (1/1/1969 - present)
  Index to books, chapters, working papers and dissertations, and abstracts to articles in economics journals.

• Historical Abstracts (1/1/1954 - present)
  Index and abstracts to books, journals, and dissertations on the history of the world from 1450 to the present.

• LexisNexis Academic
  Access to a wide range of news, business, legal, medical, and reference databases (Many databases are full text).

• PAIS (FirstSearch) (1/1/1972 - present)
  Index to public and social policy issues foreign and domestic, in journals, government documents, books, pamphlets, yearbooks, directories, etc.

• World Political Science Abstracts (1/1/1975 - present)
  Combining Political Science Abstracts and ABC Pol Sci, this database provides citations and abstracts to over 800 journals in political science and related fields, including international relations, law, and public administration/policy.

Don't forget to look over our subject guide to leadership here:  International Relations Resources