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Political Science Research Guide

General Overview

Activity

Suggested Resources & Guidance

Locate Major Reference Sources & Reviews

Try out Oxford Handbooks and Bibliographies,Oxford Research EncyclopediasRoutledge Handbooks, and Annual Reviews. Use bibliographies as needed (some will allow for direct searching in eJournals, Google Scholar and DiscoverE!). 

Locate Journal Articles & Track Citations

Major databases to consider are: Political Science Complete, Scopus, and Econlit.  See the databases tab for further suggestions. Be sure to use the added functionality in these databases to to filter results and use search operators to make your searches more precise and efficient.

Scopus has significant strengths in citation tracking and related record functionality to expand your literature review.  Use the FindIt@Emory button in these databases to link to full text.  Also consider use of Browzine for keeping up to date with content from relevant political science journals.  Use Google Scholar after you have located some relevant materials to expand your search (citations and related articles).  Be sure that you choose Emory under "library links." 

Use LibX/Proxy Servlet

Use LibX,the proxy servlet, or the Nomad Key to easily access Emory licensed resources. 

Locate data sources

You may wish to start with Statista and/or Data Planet for quantitative data.  Also, consider the Dataverse repository. Further recommendations are available via several guides maintained by Dr. Rob O'Reilly, Data Services Librarian in ECDS.

Locate Books & Browse Shelves

Be sure you always login to Library Search to take full advantage of its functionality and to be able to take advantage of request services (e.g., document delivery).  Be sure to login to take advantage go requesting!

Utilize ILL and/or Open Access Resources

If Emory does not own the material that you require, use Interlibrary Loan, or contact Chris Palazzolo, who can (rush) order the material for you.  Also, consider the Unpaywall browser extension to locate a free, open access version if the Emory link does not work or you are asked to pay for content.

Capturing Results & Managing Your Citations

Use bibliographic software like Zotero or Endnote to capture print or online book and journal citations or full-text articles and to automatically generate footnotes and reference lists.  You can use Zotero also to annotate your readings or share your bibliographies online with other.

Research Methods and Introductions

SRMO contains content from
- Over 600 books
- Dictionaries, Encyclopedias and Handbooks
- The entire “Little Green Book” and “Little Blue Book” series


 

 

LibKey Nomad

LibKey Nomad is a free plugin that helps you access scholarly journal articles. Once it knows you're affiliated with Emory, LibKey Nomad checks the web page of the article you're viewing to see if it's available at Emory. If it is, you'll see a graphic in the bottom left corner of your browser window that looks like this:

If Emory doesn't have the article, LibKey Nomad will also check open-access repositories and Unpaywall to see if there is another free and legal way to find it.

LibKey Nomad can also find many e-books in our catalog.

Installing the extension isn't very complicated. Third Iron has official browser extensions for most major browsers:

Google Chrome (and other Chromium-based browsers, including Microsoft Edge)

Mozilla Firefox

Safari


Chrome

To install LibKey Nomad for Google Chrome or other Chromium-based browsers:

  1. Visit the Chrome Store page for the LibKey Nomad browser plugin.
  2. Click the "Add to Chrome" button.
  3. Chrome will ask whether or not you give the extension permission to operate:

If you choose to cancel, LibKey Nomad will not be installed.

4. If you add the extension, Chrome will open up a new tab that asks you to select which institution with which you're affiliated. Choose "Emory University" from the drop-down list:

 

Once you see the message above, you can close that browser tab. LibKey Nomad should now be functional.


Firefox

There is also a LibKey Nomad extension for Mozilla Firefox. To begin, visit its extension page and click the Add to Firefox button to install:

The process is almost the same as the Chrome version; accept the privacy permissions, then choose Emory from the list of supported institutions.

 


Safari

LibKey Nomad is now available as an extension for Safari. To add it to your browser, go to the Apple App Store and click the blue "Get" button. Once it has been installed, you need to give LibKey Nomad permission to access every website:

LibKey Nomad instructions

When the configuration instructions ask you to select the organization with which you are affiliated, choose "Emory University." The search box will autocomplete the name once you start typing.

Just as with the Chrome and Firefox versions, once you visit the page for an article LibKey Nomad identifies as a resource available to you, the "Download PDF" button will appear in the lower-left corner of your browser window. Click the button and log in (if you haven't already) to see the resource.