Research Guides: Political Science: Choosing and Understanding a Research Topic

Choosing & Understanding a Topic

Political Science is a wide discipline with many areas to inspire your research. Getting started with your research can be challenging and intimidating. Using background resources, like encyclopedias, handbooks, or some other books and websites can show you different directions your research might take.

Example Background Sources

The Encyclopedia of Political Science
serves as a core reference to the central ideas, concepts, and frameworks underlying the study of politics and that highlights the intersections of politics with other disciplines.
Encyclopedia of Governance by Mark W. Bevir (Editor)
Topics related to the changing nature and role of the state in recent times and the ways in which these roles have been conceptualized in the areas of Political Science, Public Administration, Political Economy, and Sociology.
Dictionary of American Government and Politics by Duncan Watts
Explaining key terms used in discussion of the political system.
The Oxford Handbook of American Political Parties and Interest Groups by L. Sandy Maisel (Editor); Jeffrey M. Berry (Editor); George C. Edwards (General Editor)
Essential guide to the study of American political life in the 21st century. With engaging new contributions from the major figures in the field of political parties & interest groups, this handbook is a key point of reference for anyone working in American politics today.
The Oxford Companion to Comparative Politics by Joel Krieger; Margaret E. Crahan (Editor); Craig N. Murphy (Editor)
Focuses on the major theories, concepts, and conclusions that define the field of comparative politics, the discipline devoted to the politics of other countries or peoples.