Good Sources

by Paige Johnson Tan

Department of Public and International Affairs

University of North Carolina Wilmington

tanp@uncw.edu

This is an evolving webpage designed to assist students in finding good sources for writing papers in Political Science (particularly on intl. topics).

Start with:

1) The library's journal databases http://library.uncw.edu/web/research/databases/index.html: Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO), Ebscohost, JStor, Project Muse, Blackwell Synergy, Sage Journals, and Lexis-Nexis among others. Especially good scholarly journals include:

·         For Asia: Asian Survey, China Quarterly, Contemporary Southeast Asia, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Critical Asian Studies, India Review, Indonesia, Journal of Asian Studies, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Pacific Affairs, Pacific Review, Southeast Asian Affairs, Third World Quarterly.

·         For Comparative Politics: American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, Democratization, Journal of Comparative Politics, Journal of Democracy, Party Politics, Perspectives on Politics, and World Politics.   

·         For Ethics: Ethics & International Affairs, see also the listings for international relations, below. 

·         For International Relations/International Organizations:  American Political Science Review, Current History, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Human Rights Quarterly, International Organizations, International Security, Journal of Democracy, Perspectives on Politics, Survival, Third World Quarterly, The Washington Quarterly, and World Politics.

·         For Public Administration/Policy: American Review of Public Administration, Governing Magazine, International Journal of Public Administration, Journal of Public Administration Research & Theory, PA Times, Public Administration Review.

2) The library's collection of books. Search the catalogue at http://uncclc.coast.uncwil.edu/search~b001o001c001i001.

3) Interlibrary loan can have any books you want here within days, from anywhere in the country. USE THIS RESOURCE!! http://library.uncw.edu/web/customerservices/interlibraryloan.html

4) Internet resources.

Primary sources:

• International Organizations: United Nations (http://www.un.org), World Bank (http://www.worldbank.org), International Monetary Fund http://www.imf.org), International Criminal Court (http://www.icc-cpi.int/), World Trade Organization (http://www.wto.org)  
• US government: White House (http://www.whitehouse.gov), State Department (http://www.state.gov), Defense Department (http://www.defenselink.mil), House of Representatives (http://www.house.gov), Senate (http://www.senate.gov/). The CIA provides excellent and constantly updated country introductions at https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/.
• European Governments Online: http://europa.eu.int/abc/governments/index_en.html 
• The Electronic Embassy (http://www.embassy.org)
• National Security Archive http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/
• Statistical sites around the world http://www.bls.gov/bls/other.htm

Secondary sources:

    Quality news sources:

• BBC http://news.bbc.co.uk/  (Country Profiles http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm)
• New York Times http://www.nytimes.com
• International Herald Tribune http://www.iht.com
• EU Observer http://www,euobserver.com
• Economist magazine http://www.economist.com (Country Briefings  http://www.economist.com/countries/)
• Lexis-Nexis, one of the library's journal databases, will allow you to search news from an individual country's newspapers. Try always to get a perspective from inside the country you are working on, if this is germane.

    Non-governmental Organizations/Activist Bodies:

• Amnesty International http://www.amnestyusa.org
• Carter Center http://www.cartercenter.org
• Center for Defense Information http://www.cdi.org/
• Federation of American Scientists http://www.fas.org/index.html
• Human Rights Watch http://www.hrw.org
• International Crisis Group http://www.crisisgroup.org/
• International Foundation for Election Systems http://www.ifes.org
• International IDEA (democracy promotion) http://www.idea.int/
• International Republican Institute http://www.iri.org
• National Democratic Institute for International Affairs http://www.ndi.org/index.asp
• Nobel Prize http://nobelprize.org/
• Open Society Institute http://www.soros.org/
• Oxfam http://www.oxfam.org
• Reporters without Borders http://www.rsf.org
• Transparency International http://www.transparency.org

    Think Tanks/Journals/Other:

• American Enterprise Institute http://www.aei.org
• Atlantic Council of the United States http://www.acus.org/
• Chatham House http://www.chathamhouse.org.uk/
• Brookings http://www.brookings.edu
• Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs http://www.cceia.org
• Cato Institute http://www.cato.org
• Center for American Progress http://www.americanprogress.org/
• Council on Foreign Relations http://www.cfr.org/
• Crimes of War Project http://www.crimesofwar.org

• Foreign Policy in Focus http://www.fpif.org/

• Freedom House http://www.freedomhouse.org
• Global Security http://www.globalsecurity.org/
• Global Policy Forum http://www.globalsecurity.org/
• Global Issues http://www.globalissues.org/
• Hoover Institution http://www.hoover.org/
• Marxists Internet Archive http://www.marxists.org/
• Peterson Institute for International Economics http://www.iie.com/
• Policy Review http://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview
• The Washington Quarterly http://www.twq.com

    Random but useful for presentations:

• Voice of America has a pronunciation guide for different countries' political leaders.  See http://names.voa.gov/ (choose the country you're interested in and then the person from a list of important individuals).

Google and Wikipedia:

Many students Google for information and check Wikipedia on topics they are beginning to research.  I cannot stop you.  This is probably okay as a start, but there are a couple of important caveats. 

• First, material from Wikipedia cannot be cited in your papers. Citations must come from more reputable sources.  Be aware, too, when Wikipedia mentions that a cite is contested. That means the information in it is perhaps biased or politicized. 
• Also, Google might help you to find interesting and quality sources of information that you did not know about, but it also might lead you down a perilous path of biased or faulty information.  Be a careful consumer, ask your professor, and/or double-check with other resources about information about which you are unsure.
• Finally, information for your papers needs to come from the respected and high-quality types of sources I have listed above. I expect you to have reputable journals, book titles, and quality think tanks/activist organization publications as the bases for your work.

Page created April 28, 2008.  Last modified May 4, 2009.

Back to Paige Tan's homepage: http://people.uncw.edu/tanp/