International Comparative Government

Research Resources, Milne Library, SUNY College at Oneonta

Writing a Paper Overview | Find Articles | Periodical Facts | Find Books
| Find Background Information and Definitions | Internet Sites  | Put the Paper Together |

Steps in writing a research paper: Overview

Finding journal and magazine articles:

SerialsSolutions shows database locations for electronic journals.
Milne Library Serials List or OSCAR (online catalog) shows what is in the Library's Print Periodicals Collection.
 
Business and Company Resource Center
A comprehensive business resource which provides access to periodical and newspaper articles, information about domestic and international companies, investment reports, brands, industry and company rankings, corporate histories. Coverage includes public and private companies.
Expanded Academic ASAP
Indexes magazines and scholarly journals. Coverage begins in 1980. Contains over 10,000,000 articles from about 2300 journals, newspapers, and magazines (1300 are full text) from 1980 to the present.
JSTOR archive
Provides access to the full text of 322 scholarly journals across many subject areas. The objective of JSTOR is to provide all issues back to Volume 1, Issue 1 for all journals.  (Due to copyright restrictions, the most recent 3-5 years are unavailable.)
LEXIS-NEXIS Academic Universe
General News provides articles from major newspapers and magazines beginning around 1980. The Guided Search option allows more precise searches. Legal Research includes International Legal Materials. Reference includes Walden's Country Reports and the CIA World Factbook.
New York Times archive, 1851-2001
The New York Times archive provides full page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. It is possible to limit by article type including: classified ad, display ad, editorial cartoon, letter, comic, editorial article, review, stock quote, weather, legal notice, and real estate transaction.
PAIS (Public Affairs Information Service) 
Covers global public policy, political science and social issues. Includes references to scholarly journal articles, books, reports, and government documents. It is one of a number of indexes available through a database provider called FirstSearch.
ScienceDirect
Provides full text access to about 700 Elsevier journals in the fields of science, social sciences, medicine, and technology.
SocialSciIndex
Social Sciences Index covers all the social sciences and includes mostly scholarly journals. Via FirstSearch.
WilsonBusiness
Wilson Business Index might also be helpful. It provides an index to journal articles and other documents from the world of business. Via FirstSearch.

Periodical facts:

Can I get the full text of the article online?

SerialsSolutions lists the electronic journals available in Milne Library's full text periodical indexes and databases. Find the name of the journal in which your article appears and click on the database name to get started. Use significant keywords from the title of the article for the specific search.

Does Milne Library subscribe to the periodical?

Some of the citations you find will include only an abstract and not the full text of the article. You cannot write a paper based on abstracts. You will need to find and read the article.  To find out if Milne Library has the journal in which your article appears, look in the Milne Library Serials List or connect to OSCAR and search by the title of the journal.

Location of periodicals in Milne Library

Magazines, journals and newspapers are all considered periodicals, publications that come out on a regular, or periodic, basis (i.e. daily, weekly, monthly, etc.). Periodicals are kept in the Periodical Room in the basement of the library, filed on the shelves alphabetically by title.

Interlibrary Loan

If the library doesn't have an article that you need, we will try to get a copy from another library through the interlibrary loan service. Go the Interlibrary Loan Web page to request the article. You will be notified when the article arrives. Please allow one to two weeks to receive the article. Plan ahead!

Scholarly versus popular periodicals

popular magazine - Popular magazines are written for the general public with the purpose of informing and entertaining. Articles are often unsigned and have flashy illustrations. Magazines contain numerous color ads. Newsweek, Psychology Today, and Ebony are examples of popular magazines.

scholarly journal - Scholarly journals typically have articles written by authorities in the field. Peer-review is the process by which a journal article is evaluated by experts in the field. An article is not accepted for publication until it satisfies a panel of qualified scholars. They may report research or provide a scholarly discussion of a topic. Articles include bibliographies. Another term for peer-reviewed is refereed. For most college level papers, you should rely more heavily on articles from scholarly journals. American Journal of Political Science and World Politics are examples of scholarly journals.

Finding books:

Finding definitions and general background information:

Subject-specific encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other reference books give background information, clarify definitions, and often include bibliographies at the end of an article.  Ask a reference librarian for help if you need to locate other resources.

Encyclopedia of the World's Nations      REF G 63 K874 2002
Statesman's Year-Book                 REF JA 51 S7 ...
Encyclopedia of Democracy        REF JC 423 E53 1995
International Encyclopedia of Human Rights     REF JC 571 M3243 2000
World Encyclopedia of Parliaments and Legislatures    REF JF 511  W67 1998
World Encyclopedia of Political Systems and Parties    REF JF 2011 W67 1999
**  Europa World Year Book        REF JN 1 E85 ...
SIPRI Yearbook Armaments, Disarmament and International Security    REF JX 1904 S8 ...
International Organizations and World Order Dictionary        REF JX 1995 A4595 1992
International Organizations         REF JX 1995 S325 1993
Penguin Dictionary of International Relations        REF JZ 1161 E94 1998
Encyclopedia of the United Nations        REF JZ 4968 M66 2002
Legal Systems of the World: a Political Social, and Cultural Encyclopedia        REF K 48 L44 2002

Reputable Internet sites can also be helpful for facts, background, and overview information.

World Factbook
From the CIA. Provides comprehensive information on individual countries, including country profiles, heads of state, reference maps, and transnational issues.
Foreign Government Resources on the Web
From the University of Michigan. Links to foreign government official web sites, news, treaties, embassies, and statistics.
International Trade Association
This agency is charged with helping U.S. businesses participate in the global marketplace. It tracks and reports extensive and detailed import/export statistics by industry and by country.
Interpol
From their web site: "Interpol is the largest international police organization in the world. It was set up in 1923 to facilitate cross-border criminal police cooperation and today has 181 member countries spread over five continents. It supports and assists all organizations, authorities and services whose mission is to prevent or combat international crime."
WWW Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources
This award-winning site organizes and presents quality sites relating to international affairs and relations. There are links to government and non-governmental organizations, media sources, and issues by region and by topic.

Putting the paper together:

Page created and maintained by Sally Goodwin
Milne Library, SUNY College at Oneonta
Last updated October, 2003
http://www.oneonta.edu/library/courses/pols261.html 

Milne Library | SUNY Oneonta