Political Science Research Guide

Databases you can use to find scholarly sources about policies:​

To find information for the descriptive paper, you will need to start with reliable reference sources that can provide you with general information about a country. Reliable reference sources include:

• Political Handbook of the World

Available in print and online, this resource from CQ Press has long reports about the political, economic, and social state of countries around the world.

• Oxford Reference Online: Guide to Countries of the World

This guide provides information on every country in the world, with a brief history and outline of the contemporary social, economic, political and religious issues.

• Background Notes/Country Fact Sheets

Guides published by the U.S. Department of State that provide information on a country's leaders, politics, economy, and relations with the United States government.

• BBC News Country Profiles

Search “country” + “country profile” to find full profiles published by the BBC that provide an instant guide to the history, politics and economic background of countries and territories, and background on key institutions. They also include audio and video clips from BBC archives.

• World Factbook

This website published by the CIA provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 266 world entities.

• UN Data

Statistics published by the United Nations, UN Data provides access to economic, social, health, environmental, and governmental data for all available countries. Data comes from the IMF, World Bank, UN, and 30 other international agencies.

Primary sources are firsthand accounts, interviews, and observations of events. Primary sources that cover the effects of policies could include:

• Public opinion polls: Afrobarometer – Africa Public Opinion Research, Canadian Opinion Research Archive (CORA), European Public Opinion Analysis, European Social Survey, Latin American Public Opinion Project – LAPOP, Mansfield Asian Opinion Poll Database, National Opinion Research Center (NORC), Pew Global Attitudes Project, Polling the Nations, Program for Public Consultation, Public Opinion Foundation: FOM (Russia), U.K. Data Archive, World Public Opinion

• News articles on policies: local newspapers, ProQuest Newsstand, and CQ Researcher Online (A source of comprehensive reporting and policy analysis on news and current events, 1923 to present.)

• Governmental, international organization, or non-governmental organization reports

Not all websites are created equal. Anyone can go on Wikipedia and add information, but that information may not be correct.

Be careful when using websites for research. The most reliable websites should be the ones that end in ".org". ".edu", and ".gov".

When using a website as a source, always make sure the author is credible, the site has educational purpose, and that it is updated often.

Always check with your instructor to be sure that you can use websites for resources.

The CRAAP test was originally developed to help researchers evaluate web sources, but the criteria work equally well for both print and electronic materials:

Currency
The timeliness of the information.

Relevance/Coverage
The depth and importance of the information.

Authority
The source of the information.

Accuracy
The reliability of the information.

Purpose/Objectivity
The possible bias present in the information.

For each item you have found, judge it using the above criteria. And ask yourself: Who wrote it? Does the author have any biases? What is the tone? Does the work cite other sources? How old is this material?

*the CRAAP test was developed at the Meriam Library at California State University Chico