Political Science

Before you can start any research on your topic, you must have a background knowledge of it. Books and websites can provide you with that knowledge.

This is important because:

1. Background sources give you the language that people are using to discuss your topic. You will use this language when you start to search databases for scholarly articles and resources on the topic.
2. This "pre-research" gives you a sense if your topic is focused enough. If your initial searches bring back so many results you can't even figure out what the language is, then you should consider narrowing your topic.

Browsing journals in the discipline can help you identify current trends and research topics as well as provide examples of what published research in the field looks like.

Below are some of the top political science journals with links to our full-text access (unless otherwise noted).