Murdoch University
Library

Politics and International Studies Resources

Introduction

This guide has been created to help you find Politics and International Studies related resources that are either held in Murdoch University Library or are available electronically on the web. It is not an exhaustive guide, but rather a sample of the many kinds of information sources you can use for your research topics.

Use this guide to help you to:

If you require further assistance to find subject-related resources enquire at the Reference Desk located on North Wing Level 3 in the library. For general queries ask at the Enquiry Desk near the entry to the library on North Wing Level 3. If you are unable to access the library, try the following options:

  • Ask a Librarian
  • Online Librarian
  • Politics and International Studies Subject Librarian by email.

    Library Home Page

     The Library Home Page offers a gateway to locating the information sources provided by the Library. It gives access to the Library's
  • Catalogue
  • Databases
  • Past exam papers
  • Library Portal
  • Alerting Services
  • Digital Thesis.

    Library Catalogues

    Use the Library Catalogue to find books, journals and other resources that may be helpful in providing information about your topic. From here you will also be able to determine the availability and location of any resource that you are interested in. The Murdoch Library Web Catalogue is accessible from the Library Home Page. For assistance using the catalogue go the Help With Searching page which is found on the left hand side of the web catalogue search pages.
    Access to the catalogues of Other Western Australian Libraries is also available from the Library's Home Page.

    The Libraries Australia database is a very useful resource containing records from major databases world wide. Where an item is held in Australia details of each library's holdings are indicated in the record.

    My Library

    My Library is a service which allows you to stay informed about new materials added to the Library collection by setting up email alerts. Connect to My Library from the Library homepage or from the catalogue, using your Murdoch Username and Password. Once logged into My Library, you can search the catalogue, save your searches, set up email alerts, renew your loans, and recall items on loan.

    E-books

    The library has access to thousands of electronic books, which are available to you whenever you are using the Internet. Where a book is available electronically there will be a link to it in the catalogue record. It is possible to limit your search so that you only find e-books. For example, try doing a keyword search for terrorism, limiting the Location to ELECTRONIC and Serial/Monograph to MONOGRAPH. For more information on the titles that are available see the e-books page.

    Theses

    To find theses completed at Murdoch University select the T>TITLE option in the Web Catalogue and then type the words murdoch university theses. Select from the result by scrolling through the display to find Honours, Masters or PhD level theses in your chosen subject area.
    You may wish to look at further information about Murdoch University theses.

    Other universities also record theses in their respective library catalogues.

    In recent years the Australian Digital Theses Program has been developed to deliver Australian theses (PhD's or equivalent and Masters by research only) in digital full-text format. By December 2007 there were over 21,000 digital theses online. Murdoch University now contributes to the Australian Digital Theses Program.

    ProQuest Digital Dissertations
    Free access to the most current two years of citations and abstracts in the Dissertation Abstracts database.

    The following printed index may also be of assistance:

    Index to theses with abstracts accepted for higher degrees by the universities of Great Britain and Ireland, 1986-1999 London, ASLIB.
    (Murdoch University Library subscription between Vol. 35 (1986)-v. 48 (1999))

    Reference Resources

    For background information on aspects of Politics and International Studies, there are many reference books available, a selection is listed below. It includes both printed and electronic encyclopaedias and dictionaries:

    Dictionaries

    The concise Oxford dictionary of politics - Electronic resource

    Cassell dictionary of modern politics

    The dictionary of 20th-century world politics

    Safire's new political dictionary : the definitive guide to the new language of politics

    The dictionary of world politics : a reference guide to concepts, ideas and institutions

    A dictionary of modern politics

    The Macmillan dictionary of Australian politics

    A dictionary of European history and politics, 1945-1995

    Dictionary of the modern politics of South-East Asia

    Encyclopaedias

    The concise encyclopedia of ethics in politics and the media

    Encyclopedia of government and politics

    International encyclopedia of environmental politics

    Law and politics : a cross-cultural encyclopedia

    The encyclopedia of revolutions and revolutionaries : from anarchism to Zhou Enlai

    Encyclopedia of modern Asia

    Encyclopedia of Cold War espionage, spies, and secret operations

    Journals

    The library has journals available in print and electronic format. In some cases both the paper and electronic versions of titles are held. To find out what journals the library holds, where they are located, and in what format they are available, use the library's Catalogue.

    New Journal Display

    Print copies of the latest issues of selected journals received in the Library are kept in the New Journal Display areas. Social Sciences, Humanities, Education Science and Business journals are displayed in Link Level 3. Law journals are displayed in South Wing Level 3.

    Finding a Specific Journal Title

    The Library holds many journals that relate to Politics and International Studies courses. If you have a citation for a journal article, or have been asked to research from a particular journal, you can check to see if it is held in the library by doing a TITLE search in the Catalogue. Click on Title on the Catalogue screen and type all or part of the journal title in the search box.

    One journal the library subscribes to is Comparative politics. A Title search for this item will display a result screen that provides a summary of the library's holdings. The details described indicate that the library holds this journal in print format from Vol. 16, no. 1 (Oct. 1983)- The call number for the item is given, as well as the location within the library. From the information provided we are able to determine that the library is still receiving print copies of the journal. By clicking on Latest Received you are able to find out the latest issue held by the library. In addition, the result screen advises that this particular journal is also available electronically. For this entry the catalogue provides a link to the electronic version of the journal, Access via JSTOR . By clicking on this link you will be able to access the fulltext of this particular journal.

    Remember: The library catalogue records the titles of journals held in the library but does not index all the articles in each of the journals. To find individual articles on a particular topic use the Databases. Instructions on when and how to use these will be covered in more detail below.

    Databases

    Databases collect information together from a varity of sources. Most typically a database will aggregate journal articles together from a range of journals. Journals are also known as serials or periodicals, which reflects the regular nature of their publication.

    Some databases are indexes. This means that enough information is contained in the database records to help you establish whether you might like to track down these journal articles. You will not be able to directly retrieve the full-text of the article from an index.

    Some databases are fulltext. This means that the whole of the articel is contained within the database. You will generally be not be able to directly retrieve the full-text of the article and sometimes in a variety of formats. (HTML, pdf, word)

    Sometimes a databse will be a mix of index and fulltext. This might mean that you will be able to retrieve some articles in fulltext and only get the abstract information for other articles.

    Nearly all databases can be accessed through the Library Database Page. This page provides a number of paths for accessing databases :

  • Alphabetical list allows you to browse by database title.
  • Quick Links to Major Databases for the more frequently used databases especially most of the full text databases.
  • Browse by Subject Area

    NB Please check Off Campus Access for information about how to access the Library's electronic resources remotely. Some databases require a password for access, which you can get from the Reference Desk on North Wing Level 3 (9360 6838).

    Databases available through Murdoch University Library

    Australian Databases

    Articles about Australian issues can be found in international databases, but not to the same extent as information about other regions of the world. If you need information that is specifically about Australian issues you should look at the following Australian databases

    Informit Search RMIT Publishing's Informit service is the premier source of online full text, multi media and index databases that deliver the majority of Australasian scholarly research to the education, research and business sectors.

    AFPD - Australian Federal Police Digest 1991- Abstracts of articles from selected Australian and overseas journals and conference papers relevant to Federal law enforcement and community policing.

    AGIS Plus Text 1975-
    Indexes and abstracts articles on all aspects of law. Provides abstracts of Australian and Pacific legal journals, and of articles in other law journals which are likely to interest the Australian legal profession. Subject coverage includes environmental law.

    Australian Public Affairs - Full Text (APA-FT), Fulltext 1995-, Index 1978-
    A wide ranging index of Australian sources in the social sciences and humanities. There is good coverage on issues such as the environment and on government policy.

    Multicultural Australia and Immigration Studies (MAIS) 1988-
    Indexes all aspects of Australian immigration and multicultural issues. Subject coverage includes multiculturalism, ethnicity, racism, migrant health, welfare and social services, access and equity, settlement services, refugees and population studies.

    Australian Bureau of Statistics
    ABS provides full text access to all ABS publications as well as time series spreadsheets, multidimensional datasets and census basic community profiles. Coverage includes social, economic, demographic, environmental, labour, finance, and other statistics. (FULL TEXT)

    International Databases

    Expanded Academic Index
    A multi-disciplinary database. Information on Astronomy, Religion, Law, History, Psychology, Humanities, Current Events, Sociology, Communications and the General Sciences.

    Factiva.com
    Provides fulltext access to significant news items from over 6000 international sources, including more than 100 Australasian sources. Coverage includes articles from newspapers, news wires, press releases, company announcements and journals. Also provides information on companies and industries.

    ProQuest
    Abstracting, full-text and image database which includes telecommunications, accounting & tax, applied science & technology, Asian business, computing, education and religions.

    Sociological Abstracts
    Indexes and abstracts scholarly literature in sociology and related disciplines. It provides abstracts from approximately 2500 journals, book chapters, conference papers, relevant dissertation citations from book reviews. Sociological Abstracts covers publications in sociology, anthropology, community development, economics, medicine, philosophy, demography, political science and social psychology.

    A complete listing of databases relevant to Politics and International Studies can be found on the Databases page under the Browse by Subject Area listing.

    The Library Portal

    The Library Portal provides a single access point for Library Databases, Catalogues and E-Journals. You can search multiple databases and calalogues simultaneously and link to full text resources and other services.

    Alerting Services

    A number of databases allow you to save your searches in your area of interest, and set up an email 'alert' for new articles that are being published. This allows you to keep up to date with the latest research in your field without having to regularly repeat your search. For a list of the databases with this service available, and instructions on how to create your alert see the Alerting Services page.

    Journal Title Abbreviations

    In many information sources the abbreviated form of the journal title is used in the citation and you will need to know the full title of the journal in order to check it in a library catalogue, or to cite it correctly. Some sources will have a separate listing of the full journal titles indexed but others may not. The following title may be used to check abbreviated journal titles:

    Periodical Titles Abbreviations
    NW Level 3 Reference Desk

    There are also a number of online resources that can be useful in providing the full title of journal abbreviations. These include the following:

    Abbreviations.com

    Ulrich's Periodicals Directory

    Document Delivery

    As part of the Library support to staff and research students, the Document Delivery service will request copies of documents, theses and other materials which are not held in the Murdoch collection. Requests are supplied from a number of sources including other libraries and commercial Document Supply services. For information on using this service including how to register, and details of the fees involved, look at the Library's Document Delivery web site.

    Subject Guides

    In addition to the online guide you are now reading, the library has developed other online guides to assist in finding information resources in specific subject areas. These can be accessed via the Library Home Page from the section Find, then Subject Guides.

    The Internet

    There are many varied sites and resources on the Internet, some more authorative than others. Though you may have fun surfing the net, remember that it should not be seen as the only, or even first resource for information gathering. Evaluate the web sources carefully before including them in your repertoire of research materials.

    Selected Internet Sites

    Subject specialists in Murdoch University Library have selected internet sites in a number of different subject areas. Some sites which may be relevant to Politics & International Studies include:

    Asian Studies

    Sociology

    History

    Politics & International Studies

    The Government Information list provides links to some of the world's government agencies. Many government publications are now published on the internet and are freely available to the public. Look for the Publications link on these websites to see a list of the available fulltext resources.

    Search Engines

    You could use a search engine to help find information on the internet. The library web site provides a list of search engines. Click on Searching the Internet listed under Internet Sites to see the many web navigation resources available. Keep up to date with new search engines and websites by subscribing to one of the email alert services such as the Scout Report.

    Email Lists

    There are many email lists you could subscribe to in order to keep abreast of new developments. Some are discussion lists and some merely informative. For further information on lists, what they are and how to subscribe to them, look at the University's Discussion List web page.

    Citing References

    It is essential that any references used in your research projects are cited correctly. A comprehensive bibliography is an indication of how widely you have read for the topic. This record also allows any relevant papers to be found at a later date. The most important aspect of citing is to be consistent.

    The Library's publication, How to cite references, which discusses various citation systems, is available for consultation online.

    One specialised guide that may be of relevance for some is the Murdoch University Library Legal Citation Guide.

    Please remember that there are specific citation rules for electronic resources. The guides give examples of these materials.

    Managing References : EndNote

    EndNote for Windows is a software package that allows you to manage your references electronically. You can search databases, organise your references in a single database and create bibliographies and reference lists automatically in your word processor. For Honours and Postgraduate students it is considered a particularly valuable tool. Look at the Library's EndNote site for further information about the software and details on how to get access to it.

    The library holds introductory training sessions aimed at users new to the Endnote software. The Library's Information Skills Training page provides details of classes that are available.

    Information Skills Programmes

    During the year the Murdoch Library regularly offers training in how to use the resources it provides, such as the Journal Databases and Endnote, as well as how to research using the web. These classes are available to all University staff and students. Details are posted on the Library's Training Notice Board, North Wing Level 3 and on the Information Skills Training page. Postgraduate students should also refer to their Generic Skills Programme for details of Library related workshops.

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