Subject Specialist:
Law, Political Science
International Affairs
814-863-1347
e-mail: hms2@psu.edu
Helen Sheehy
Title: Head Social Sciences Library
Subject Specialist:
Law, Political Science
International Affairs
814-863-1347
e-mail: hms2@psu.edu
Subject Specialist:
Anthropology, Area Studies, Military Science
814-863-4644
e-mail: nonny@psu.edu
Course Name:
ENGL 202A : Writing in the Social Sciences : Research Basics
Semester:
Fall
Campus:
University Park (UP)
Instructor:
Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology [online full text]
Gale Virtual Reference Library [online full text]
CQ Researcher — Since 1923 it has covered current events and hot topics with original reporting and analysis. It is a good place to find and begin your exploration of topics.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context — looks at controversial subjects and explores the opposing points of view
CRS Reports — reports from the Congressional Research Service that take an objective in-depth look at policy issues before the federal government. Invaluable when studying any political issues.
Policy File — an index to reports from think tanks and policy organizations across the political spectrum. A great place to find out what the political pundits are talking about.
CQ Global Researcher — similar in content to CQ Researcher, it covers of global affairs from a number of international viewpoints
Global Issues in Context — use this for more in-depth exploration of global issues.
You will NOT find articles in The CAT, the Libraries' online catalog.
Use LionSearch to cross-search a wide selection of Libraries' databases or use one of the subject-specific databases below to search for articles. [Note: this is not a complete list of databases to which the Penn State Libraries subscribe. To see the complete list, check the Libraries' Databases by Title (A-Z List)]
| General/Interdisciplinary databases | Selected Subject-Specific databases |
|---|---|
|
Communication and Mass Media Complete PsycINFO (not searched by LionSearch) |
See if there are Libraries' research guides that can help you find databases that are used in the discipline covered by your field.
Use controlled vocabulary to focus your search. For example, to search for ethnographies in Sociological Abstracts: limit to the subject ethnography (as opposed to searching ethnography as a keyword).
Use the database's thesaurus to find other possible terms to use.
Citation and Writing Guides, a Penn State Libraries' research guide, provides links to online citation guides as well as citation management tools that will help you correctly format your bibliographic references.
