CPSP 118N: College Park Scholars Colloquium I: International Studies

Professor: James Glass
TA's: Mike McDonald, Tony Marcum, Javiera Alarcon, and Carmen Deanna
Librarian: Judy Markowitz

This guide will assist you in locating resources for your CPSP 118N international studies research.
For additional information, please contact Judy Markowitz, 301-314-1316, judym[@]umd.edu.

Table of Contents

Choosing a Topic / Background Information / Getting Started

• Reference Subject Encyclopedias
• Search the Catalog for Additional Subject Encyclopedias
• Databases (topic/background)
How to Find Those References
Searching the Catalog for Additional Books
Databases (journal articles)
Research Guides
Citation Guides

Choosing a Topic / Background Information / Getting Started

Reference Books

Sometimes the hardest aspect of research is identifying a topic to write about! Reference materials, especially subject encyclopedias, are great sources to use to identify a topic and to gather background information. In addition to providing an excellent introduction and background information to topics, subject encyclopedias provide a list of references, or citations that will jump start the gathering of relevant information. Be sure to make note of the book/journal references and the author/title/journal title/article title/vol/date... information to locate them later.

• Barry, John, ed. International Encyclopedia of Environmental Politics.
  MCK REF GE170.I55 2002
  (environmental policy-encyclopedias)

• Buck, Trevor. International Child Law.
  MCK REF K639.B83 2005
  (children (international law) / children-legal status, laws, etc.)

• Encyclopedia of World Terrorism.
  MCK REF HV6431.E53 1997 vols. 1-3 (terrorism from 1949-1995)
  MCK REF HV6431.E53 2003 vols. 1-2 (terrorism from 1996-2002 plus documents)
  (terrorism-history-20th century)

• Forsyth, Tim, ed. Encyclopedia of International Development.
  MCK REF HD82.E547 2005
  (economic development-encyclopedias / development economics-encyclopedias)

• Gorman, Robert. Great Debates at the United Nations: an encyclopedia of fifty key issues 1945-2000.
  MCK REF KZ4968 .G67 2001
  (united nations-encyclopedias)

• Griffiths, Martin, ed. Encyclopedia of International Relations and Global Politics.
  MCK REF JZ1160.E53 2005
  (world politics-encyclopedias)

• Routledge Encyclopedia of International Political Economy.
  MCK REF HF1359.R68 2001
  (international economic relations-encyclopedias / international realtions-encyclopedias)

• Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: global women's issues and knowledge.
  MCK REF HQ1115.R69 2000 vols. 1-4
  (women-encyclopedias / feminism-encyclopedias)

• Scholte, Jan Aart, ed. Encyclopedia of Globalization.
  MCK REF JZ1318.E63 2007 vols. 1-4
  (globalization-encyclopedias)

• Shelton, Dinah, ed. Encyclopedia of Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity.
  MCK REF HV6322.7.E532 2005
  (genocide-history-encyclopedias)

• World at Risk: a Global Issues Sourcebook.
  MCK REF JZ1242.W67 2002
  (international relations / world politics-1989-)

return to top

Use the Catalog to locate subject encyclopedias and other books on your topic.
In the examples above, the subject headings are listed. Notice most include the word: encyclopedias. To identify additional encyclopedias on a topic, use subject beginning with... and add encyclopedias to your topic:

  return to top

The following databases, are good for starting your research, identifying a topic, background information, and references. Use Research Port to access the databases. From off-campus, choose College Park and enter your directory id and password.

• CQ Researcher
  Full-text database that provides comprehensive analysis of topics, including history and background information, relevant pro & con arguments, current status, bibliographies, contact information, and outlooks on upcoming "hot topics" in current events..

• CIAO
  Mostly full-text database which publishes a wide range of scholarship including working papers from research institutes, occasional paper series from NGOS, policy briefs, case studies, conference proceedings and papers, course packs, book chapters and journal articles. *For topic ideas, use the advanced search and browse the case studies, policy briefs and course packets.

• Foreign Affairs
  Full-text of Foreign Affairs, an influential publication on international affairs and foreign policy, going back to 1973. *Browse by topic, region, features.

• Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports Search Engine
  (This is a free source, not part of Research Port)
  The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is the public policy research arm of the US Congress. This legislative branch agency works exclusively for Members of Congress, their committees and their staffs. It issues about 3,000 briefs, reports, short issue papers and longer position papers per year, but it does not make its reports available to the public. However, it cannot prevent members of Congress from giving them out individually and some government agencies from posting reports they find relevant. Perhaps 1/3 of these reports have become available on the web.
  http://zfacts.com/p/576.html
  Reports from the U.S. Department of State
  http://fpc.state.gov/c18185.htm
  Congressional Research Service Reports, Hosted by UNT Libraries
  http://digital.library.unt.edu/govdocs/crs/

How to Find Those References

Remember, as you used the subject encyclopedias and topic databases, you made sure to make note of the additional resources (book, book chapter, journal article) you found in the bibliographies, references, notes and footnotes! Now you need to locate them. Here is an example of two sources from the Bibliography on Poverty in the Encyclopedia of Globalization.

author of the article = Milanovic, Branko
title of the article = The Two Faces of Globalization: Against Globalization as We Know it.
journal = World Development
vol, issue number, date, pages = 31, no. 4, 2003, 667-683

  One way to determine if we own the journal article and the format availability is to use the Article Search Box on the Research Port page. Fill in the citation information:

  Some additional examples:

• I.A.Al Mutrif, "Perceptions of Arabian Gulf Security," Review of International Affairs, vol.49, 15II, 1998,p.20

• Sadkovich, James J. Terrorism in Croatia, 1929-1934, East European Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 55, 1988

  The second citation is to a book:

author = Narayan, D. Patel
title = Voices of the Poor: Can Anyone Hear Us?

Searching the Catalog for Additional Books

SEARCH BY KEYWORD: Be sure to look at the subject headings and to refine the search, either follow the link or conduct a new search using: subject beginning with... or subject word/s
Additional strategies: place phrases in quotes when conducting a keyword search: "international relations" and use the * for truncation: refugee* = refugee or refugee

"international relations" and "human rights"

terrorism and "national security"

"national security" and "southeast asia"

SAMPLE SUBJECT HEADINGS:

international relations	world politics	world politics - 21st century
Non-governmental organizations	geopolitics	economic development projects

When conducting a search using subject beginning with... be sure to look at the subdivisions.

COUNTRY INFORMATION:
Subject beginning with...

return to top

Research Port is the libraries gateway to the databases, electronic journals and off campus access. When using a database, be sure to follow the link. This will direct you to the available full text, the catalog if we own the journal in print, or Interlibrary Loan if full text is not available and if the Libraries do not subscribe to the journal or needed vol/issues. Although your chosen topic will determine which additional database/s you search, you should at least start with International Political Science Abstracts, Worldwide Political Science Abstracts and PAIS (notice date coverage). For additional databases check the databases by subject category

• International Political Science Abstracts 1989 -
  Produced by the International Political Science Association, includes current indexing and abstracts of the world's leading journals in political science.

• Worldwide Political Science Abstracts 1975 -
  International political science journals.

  

• PAIS Archive 1915-1976
  References to journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, research reports and other types of publications from 1915-1976. Use PAIS International for coverage after 1976. Newspapers and newsletters are not indexed.

• PAIS International 1972 -
  References to journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and more from 1972 to the present. Newspapers and newsletters are not indexed.

• Government Information Online: International
  http://www.lib.umd.edu/GOV/GIO/international.html

• International Resources
  http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/international.html

• International Statistics
  http://lib.guides.umd.edu/internationalstats

• VBIC: Country Research
  http://vbic.umd.edu/

• Academic Integrity and Style Guides
  http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/honesty.html

• Citation Guidelines: Assembling a List of Works Cited in Your Paper (Duke University)
  http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/

• Documentation Guidelines: Citing Sources Within Your Paper (Duke University)
  http://library.duke.edu/research/citing/within/

• Evaluating Websites
  http://www.lib.umd.edu/guides/evaluate.html