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Political Science Research Guide

A research guide for political science subjects and courses

About This Guide

political science image from Columbia State academic pagesAccording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics:

  • "Political scientists study the origin, development, and operation of political systems. They research political ideas and analyze governments, policies, political trends, and related issues."
  • "Court reporters create word-for-word transcriptions at trials, depositions, and other legal proceedings. Some court reporters provide captioning for television and real-time translation for deaf or hard-of-hearing people at public events, in business meetings, or in classrooms."
  • "Police officers protect lives and property. Detectives and criminal investigators, who are sometimes called agents or special agents, gather facts and collect evidence of possible crimes."
  • "Lawyers advise and represent individuals, businesses, and government agencies on legal issues and disputes."

This guide is designed to support the research and learning needs of the political science program. Here, you'll find resources for:

  • selecting and evaluating sources
  • constructing research questions
  • search tips and strategies
  • finding sources in Charger Search, databases, online sources, and statistics
  • recommended citation and style guides
  • contacting librarians for help

If you have suggestions for other resources, please let us know!

About the Political Science Major

According to Study Hall, an educational video series by Arizona State University and Crash Course on how to navigate college,

"In Political Science you can expect to study topics such as public policy, globalization, civil rights and so much more. Basically, Political Science is the study of how societies interact with their government. "

Here is their Fast Guide to Political Science, which will help give you an understanding on the major!

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.