Politics 

Materials which are referred to for brief or general information. Examples include:

• Background or overview synopses (encyclopedia)
• Definitions (dictionary)
• Synonyms (thesaurus)
• Statistics
• Biographical Details
• Maps (atlas)

Links/Resources to the right are specific to this discipline.  General sources can be found at the libraries Reference Sources page.

Reference resources are organized in an order that aids searching (alphabetically, chronologically, etc).  Most include an index which points users to the appropriate section.  Tips for searching:

1. Decide on your search terms
2. Try searching with them
3. If not satisfied with the results, try searching a synonym or related idea

Things to watch out for:

• Is the computer searching only the title/header of the entries or the full-text of the information?  You will get more results, but more of them will be irrelabent if you are searching the full-text.
• Are you searching for a proper noun (name, place,...)?  Make sure that the spelling is correct and try variations if it originated in a foreign language.
• Searching for something by date?  This is trickier than it sounds.  If possible, search for an event name or topic rather than a date, e.g. civil rights movement or hippies or flower children rather than 1960s.

Search a group of online encyclopedias on the topic: U.S. Politics.

Search a group of online encyclopedias on the topic: International Politics.

You will find these in the Crumb Library Reference area, to the right of the reference desk.

• America votes. - biennial compilation of national election results (Ref JK 1967.A8)
  
• American Justice (Ref. KF154 .A44 1996)
• The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political Thought. - the major ideas, persons, and doctrines. (Ref JA 61.B57 1991)
• Congressional Quarterly Almanac. - annual, basic source on events in Congress, (Ref JK 1.C66)
• Encyclopedia of American Political History. (Ref E 183.E48 2001)
  
• The Encyclopedia of Politics: the left and right. (Ref JA 61.E54 2005). v.1 the Left; v.2 the Right
• Encyclopedia of the American judicial system. (Ref KF 154.E53 1987)
  
• Encyclopedia of the American Presidency. (Ref JK 511.E53 1994) 4 vols
  
• Encyclopedia of the United Nations and International Agreements (Ref. KZ4968 .O84 2003)
  
• Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace & Conflict (Ref HM886 .E53 1999)
  
• Historical Dictionary of U.S.-Latin American Relations. (Ref F 1418.F457 2005)
  
• A Historical Guide to the U.S. Government. (Ref JK 9 H57 1998)
  
• Local Government Handbook. (Ref JS 451.N75L53 2000)
  
• The Supreme Court Compendium : data, decisions, and developments (Ref. KF8742 .S914 2007)

There are many more - search Bearcat for a selection of relevant encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks.