Political Science Research Guide
Finding Books
Search the NCSU Libraries Catalog
to locate books at NCSU, UNC-CH, or Duke. If you are searching for a
particular book, you can find it listed by the book's title or author.
However, if you are looking for books on a topic within political science, you
have several options. First, you could do a "keyword" search
for specific words in your topic. For instance, you might search for
"election AND 2004 AND president?" to find books about the 2004
presidential election. For more guidance on constructing a keyword
search, check out the LOBO
tutorial.
Another option is to search by "subject" in the online
catalog. Subjects are assigned to each book when the book is catalogued,
and can be a powerful way of finding books that are definitely about a
topic. Often you can search first by keyword, then identify in the
catalog records that contain useful subject terms. Next do a subject
search using the terms you've identified.
Some subject headings you might find useful in political science are:
| Authoritarianism |
Journalism - Political aspects |
| Bureaucracy |
Nationalism |
| Christianity and politics |
Oligarchy |
| Civics |
[Place name] - Politics and government |
| Conservatism |
Politics, Practical |
| Coups d'etat |
Right and Left (Political science) |
| Democracy |
Separation of powers |
| Elections |
State rights |
| Filibusters (Political science) |
Television and politics |
| Initiative, Right of |
Utopias |
The subject terms contained in the library's catalog are Library of Congress (LC) subjects. You can determine these "authorized" words and phrases using the Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH), available electronically and in print at the Reference Desk.
You may also browse the library's book and journal collection. Most
of our political science books and journals are in the following call number
ranges:
-
| J (legislative and executive papers) |
JN (European political institutions) |
| JA (general political science) |
JQ (Asian, African, & Australian political institutions) |
| JC (political theory) |
JS (local & municipal government) |
| JF (general political institutions) |
JV (emigration & immigration) |
| JK (US political institutions) |
JZ (international relations) |
| JL (North & South American political institutions - not
US) |
KZ (international law) |
While this is a large library, it does not have all the books and journals
you may want to use in your studies. The Interlibrary and Document Delivery Services (IL/DDS) Office facilitates access to materials not available in the NCSU Libraries. Requests for material in other Triangle libraries can usually be filled in three to four days; items that must be obtained from a greater distance may take several weeks to arrive.
Librarian Contact Information
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