Academic, scholarly, and peer-reviewed books, journals, and articles are considered appropriate sources for college-level research and writing assignments. Here are a few tips when searching for books, journals, and articles:
- The library catalog contains books, journal articles, databases, CDs and DVDs, and other items in the Penn Libraries' collections.
- If you need articles for which you already have the title or citation, use Articles+ or the PennText Article Finder citation tool.
- Start your search for articles in a general database such as EBSCO MegaFILE.
- Use a subject database such as Worldwide Political Science Abstracts for political science-specific articles.
- If your assignment requires scholarly, academic, or peer-reviewed journal articles, use a scholarly database such as JSTOR.
- If you cannot locate a book or journal article, request it through the Borrowdirect, EZBorrow & Interlibrary Loan - Request an Item.
Are you new to political science research? Oxford University Press publishes the following Very Short Introductions series. Each book offers a short, concise, yet authoritative overview of a topic related to political science and international relations. It is designed to provide easily accessible introductions to complex topics.