Subject Guides: Political Science: Home

Finding Sources

Encyclopedias & Dictionaries

US Census Bureau

The Princeton encyclopedia of American political history
Useful brief articles on a variety of political topics.

Browse All Subscription Journals, Magazines & Newspapers

LibrarySearch (Journals by Title)
Search specifically for journals in the catalog for the University of Maine System, including USM.

Databases

Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy
Avalon Project is a product of Yale Law School and contains digital documents relevant to the fields of law, history, economics, politics, diplomacy and government grouped by time period from ancient times to the present.
European Views of the Americas
European Views of the Americas indexes more than 32,000 entries and is a comprehensive guide to printed records about the Americas written in Europe before 1750. It covers the history of European exploration as well as portrayals of Native American peoples. A wide range of subject areas are covered; from natural disasters to disease outbreaks and slavery.
HeinOnline
Full text online access to legal journals
HeinOnline U. S. Congressional Documents Library
HeineOnline UlS. Contressional Documents Library is a searchable database of Annals of the Congress of the United States (1789-1824) -- Register of Debates in Congress (1824-1837) -- Congressional Globe (1833-1873) -- Congressional Record (1873-1880, 1996-2003),U.S. Statutes at Large (1789-2004),American State Papers (1789-1838), Journals of the Continental Congress (1774-1789)and other important congressional material.
PAIS Index
PAIS Index provides searching of the literature of public and social policy, and other aspects of social sciences. Links are provided to full text for some items. It includes records for journal articles, serials, books, government documents, directories, and public, intergovernmental, and private organization reports. Updated monthly.
Policy File Index
Policy File Index provides primarily full-text access to research on public policy research and analysis, both domestic and international, from think tanks, university research programs, research organizations and publishers. Browse by organization or by political leaning. Coverage: 1990-present. Updated weekly, although organizations are reviewed daily.
Political Science Database
Political Science Database provides access to hundreds of leading political science and international relations journals, providing full-text of many core titles indexed in Worldwide Political Science Abstracts. In addition, over a thousand recent full-text doctoral dissertations on political science topics are included, together with working papers, conference proceedings, country profiles, political news and other sources. Coverage: 1985 - present.
Project MUSE
Project Muse, a project initiated by John's Hopkins University Press, provides PDF full-text access to more than 600 peer-reviewed journals from 250 university presses and scholarly societies. Project MUSE covers the fields of literature and criticism, history, the visual and performing arts, cultural studies, education, political science, gender studies, economics, and others.
Proquest Politics Collection
ProQuest Politics Collection provides access to PAIS and World Political Science Abstracts, covering the international literature in political science and public administration/policy, along with related fields. Together, they provide abstracts, indexing and full text coverage of journal articles, country reports, dissertations, think-tank reports, working papers, government documents and more, including full-text from many leading political science and international relations journals. Coverage: 1900 - present.
Proquest Sociology
ProQuest Sociology covers the international literature of sociology and social work, including culture and social structure, history and theory of sociology, social psychology, substance abuse and addiction and more. This collection provides full-text coverage of many core titles indexed in Sociological Abstracts and Social Services Abstracts. As well as hundreds of full text scholarly journals, the database also includes over 500 recent full-text doctoral dissertations on sociology.
Sociology Collection (Includes Sociological Abstracts)
ProQuest's Sociology Collection indexes the literature of sociology and related disciplines, including anthropology, criminology, demography, education, gerontology, mental health, minority studies, political science, public health, social psychology, social work, urban studies, welfare programs, and women's studies. Content types covered include journals, books, conference papers, and doctoral dissertations. Sociology Collection incorporates the indexing from Sociological Abstracts, Social Services Abstracts, Applied Social Sciences Index & Abstracts (ASSIA), and Sociology Database into a single resource; each may also be searched separately. Sociology Collection includes full text articles from approximately 500 journals; it links to many more full text journals in other databases and journal collections, depending in part on each UMS library's subscriptions.
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts
Worldwide Political Science Abstracts indexes more than 1,500 periodicals in the fields of political science, international relations, law, public administration, and public policy. Indexing begins in 1975, and is updated monthly.

News Sources

Search for books locally or across the UMaine System of libraries with LibrarySearch. Use the GET IT button to request free delivery from another location to your campus library.

If you can't find what you need in LibrarySearch, use MaineCat to search the holdings of Colby, Bates & Bowdoin Colleges and other Maine libraries. Request free delivery from those locations, too.

Use WorldCat to search worldwide for any book and request delivery using our Interlibrary Loan service. Be sure to create a free ILLiad account in order to request books that aren't in Maine.

LibrarySearch (Library Catalog)
LibrarySearch is the book catalog for the University of Maine System Libraries. Records for books, videos and other materials are indexed. Online access is provided within records to online sources, such as e-books and streaming videos. To locate and access articles use any of our article databases, instead.
MaineCat
Statewide book catalog that includes Colby, Bates, Bowdoin, UNE, Husson and many other libraries in Maine. Always search LibrarySearch first; request a book from MaineCat with your USM library barcode number only if there is no available copy in LibrarySearch.
WorldCat
Bibliographic records for more than 36 million items held at OCLC member libraries throughout the world. Includes all types of information resources. Updated daily.

Building a Business of Politics: The rise of political consulting and the transformation of American (E-book and book) by Adam Sheingate
Call Number: E-book, click title to access and USM JK2281 .S498 2016

ISBN: 9780190217198

Publication Date: 2016
What Is Populism? (E-book and book) by Jan-Werner Müller
Call Number: E-book, click title to access and USM JC423 .M7458 2016

ISBN: 0812248988

Publication Date: 2016
Aesthetic Revolutions and Twentieth-Century Avant-Garde Movements by Ales Erjavec (Editor)
Call Number: E-book, click title to access and USM BH301.A94 A37 2015

ISBN: 9780822358619

Publication Date: 2015

E-books may be searched in the same way as print books, using LibrarySearch. USM students, faculty, and staff can access those E-books that say available to USM or the UMaine System (UM).

eBooks on EBSCOhost
Includes 7,885 e-books. The titles are also searchable in LibrarySearch.
ProQuest Ebook Central
Ebook collection that includes over 50,000 titles spanning all academic subject areas. Individual UMS libraries have also purchased some ebooks that are restricted to a single user at a time.
LibrarySearch (Library Catalog)
LibrarySearch is the book catalog for the University of Maine System Libraries. Records for books, videos and other materials are indexed. Online access is provided within records to online sources, such as e-books and streaming videos. To locate and access articles use any of our article databases, instead.

Current eBooks of Interest

The Dynamics of Opportunity in America: Evidence and Perspectives (E-book) by Irwin Kirsch (Editor); Henry Braun (Editor)
Call Number: E-book, click title to access

ISBN: 3319259911

Publication Date: 2016
Marx's Rebellion Against Lenin (E-book) by Norman Levine
Call Number: E-book, click title to access

ISBN: 1137309261

Publication Date: 2015
Democracy as Death: The moral order of anti-liberal politics in South Africa (E-book) by Jason Hickel
Call Number: E-book, click title to access

ISBN: 0520284224

Publication Date: 2015

The websites provided here are a sample of authoritative local, national, and international sources. Ask A Librarian for help finding more.

The American Presidenty Project
Ballot Measures Database
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Black Americans in Congress
Comparative Agendas Project
Federal Elections Commission
Global Terrorism Database
Government Disclosure Agencies
GovTrack.us
Maine People's Resource Center (2010+)
National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL)
Bi-partisan. The electronic information network for state legislatures, providing comprehensive services. Access to all NCSL products, plus a research database of more than 500,000 documents encompassing legislative research reports, current and past legislation, statutes, and 50-state surveys.
OpenSecrets.org
Pew Reserch Center
Resume of Congressional Activity
U.S. Bilateral Relations Factsheet
Vital Statistics on Congress (Brookings Institution)
World Bank eLibrary
BBC News Country Profiles
Full profiles provide an instant guide to history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions.
They also include audio and video clips from BBC archives.
Data USA

USA Data and Statistics
A comprehensive list of government data sources.
Data.gov
Pools and provides access to over 180,000 datasets from US Government Agencies.

Maine Census Data
Numeric data base of U.S. Census population totals for Maine minor civil Divisions (cities, towns) and counties, from each decennial census, 1790 to present.

Census Data
Data from the American Census Bureau about the nation's people and economy.
DataUSA
A project from MIT to create a comprehensive visualization of publicly available data.

Directory of Bills (Maine State Legislature)
Directory of Bills provides full text access to Maine Legislature Legislative Documents. Dates range from the 119th Legislature in 1998 to present. It includes bill amendments, chaptered law, committees, testimony, bill sponsors, bill tracking, committee calendars and more.

Pew Research Center
Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. They conduct public opinion polling, demographic research, content analysis and other data-driven social science research. They do not take policy positions.
Odum Institute Dataverse Network
A broad range of public opinion data including the Harris Poll. Particularly good for state level polls.
Annenberg Public Policy Center
Examines a wide range of political attitudes about candidates, issues and the traits Americans want in a president. You must apply for access to the data sets.
United Nations Data
Statistical resources compiled by the United Nations (UN) statistical system and other international agencies. It covers a wide range of statistical themes including agriculture, crime, communication, development assistance, education, energy, environment, finance, gender, health, labor market, manufacturing, national accounts, population and migration, science and technology, tourism, transport and trade.
Eurostat
Eurostat is the statistical office of the European Union situated in Luxembourg. Its task is to provide the European Union with statistics at European level that enable comparisons between countries and regions.
Eurobarometer
Web site of the Public Opinion Analysis sector of the European Commission.

EUR-Lex:the portal to European Union law
Document database on European Union Law. Includes Official Journal,Treaties,Legislation, Legislation in preparation, Case-law, Parliamentary questions, Documents of public interest, Enlargement

World Databank
A wide range of country level data from the World Bank
IMF Data
Economic and financial data from the International Monetary Fund
Afrobarometer
National public attitude surveys on democracy and governance in Africa
Asianbarometer
You will need to apply for access to most of the data.

Video Sources

Citing all sources you consulted in your research is essential. In the field of political science APA (American Psychological Association) citation style is usually used. The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association is available at each of the USM Libraries.

Like all citation styles, APA involves finding the right "formula" for the source you're using and plugging in the relevant information.

Books: Author, A. A. (Year of publication). Title of work: Capital letter also for subtitle. Publisher Name. DOI (if available)
- In every LibraySearch record use the Cite Now feature to instantly see the formatted citation.
Articles: Lastname, F. M., & Lastname, F. M. (Year). Title of article. Title of Periodical, Vol.(Issue), page numbers. DOI
- Many of our databases include a citation function at the article level. It will display the citation or you can email the article with the citation included.

With all of these automatically generated citation functions be sure to DOUBLE CHECK them for accuracy.

Citation Machine
Popular free internet tool will create simple APA & MLA citations and in-text citations too. Be sure to select APA or MLA at the end of creating your citations!
OWL
Online Writing Lab at Purdue University

Citation Tutorials

Citation: A (Very) Brief Introduction (NCSU)

Library Essentials

USM Libraries' Home Page
Library websites with resource and service information..
USM Libraries Hours & Locations
Hours & Locations of the Portland, Gorham, & Lewiston-Auburn Campus (LAC) campuses.
Sign-in to MyUSM Portal
For best results, sign-in to MyUSM portal before beginning your work. Use your username, typically your firstname.lastname. No need to use @maine.edu.
USM Library Check Out Policies
USM's borrowing policies.
Interlibrary Loan (ILLiad) Account
Create or sign into your free ILLiad account to electronically request journal articles that USM does not have, or to request print books, music scores, & videos not available through LibrarySearch and MaineCat.
Ereserves
Access Ereserves for your courses. If you have signed in through the MyUSM portal, you won't need to sign in again! Ereserves are also in the BrightSpace for your course(s).
Tutoring at USM: Subjects
The Learning Commons, The Learning Commons, which is part of the Library, provides free tutoring for students in Writing, Academic Subjects, Technology, & Peer Coaching.
Tutoring at USM: Writing
The Learning Commons, which is part of the Library, provides free tutoring for students in Writing, Academic Subjects, Technology, & Peer Coaching.
Reserve a Study Room
You can reserve a room in the Library for up to 2 hours/day. Be sure to select the Library you want (Por, Gor, or LAC) first and then the date, room, and time. Be sure to Confirm your appointment.

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