Need to Know: Citing Sources in APSA
In many cases, the American Political Science Association (APSA) citation style is prescribed in this subject area. Check your syllabus and/or with your instructor to confirm their preference.
- Quick Help for APSA Citation StyleThis brief two-page guide highlights the most used types of resources.
A couple of other things to remember - make use of reference management software (options in the Organizing Information tab) and be careful to cite any information or data used (the University Writing Center can help answer questions).
Anatomy of Scholarly Article (from NCSU)
Scholarly Sources in Political Science
The databases below provide extensive coverage of political topics, including international relations, law, public administration and policy, international relations or trade, comparative politics, developing nations, etc. published in journals, books, public documents, web sites, and policy reports.
- Political Science Complete This link opens in a new windowProvides coverage of global political topics, containing full-text and abstracts for thousands of publications on politics and government.
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts This link opens in a new windowProvides citations, abstracts, and indexing of the international serials literature in political science and related fields, including international relations, law, and public administration/policy.
Sources in the Historical Literature
The History databases are quite useful for looking at past events in International Affairs, Political Sciences and Economics.
These history databases can limit to articles ABOUT a specific period of time (usually databases limit by publication date). Just put the dates of the time period in which you are interested in the ERA field.
- America: History & Life with Full Text This link opens in a new windowProvides concrete literature covering the history and culture of the United States and Canada, from prehistory to the present. Contains full-text coverage of hundreds of journals and books, and selective indexing for journals dating back nearly 60 years.
- Historical Abstracts with Full Text This link opens in a new windowScholarship from more than 90 countries, the database includes book citations, dissertations and theses, and coverage extends to related disciplines such as archeology, anthropology and sociology.
Databases in Public Administration
- PAIS This link opens in a new windowContains references to more than 460,000 journal articles, books, government documents, statistical directories, grey literature, research reports, conference reports, publications of international agencies, microfiche, Internet material, and more.
- Public Administration Abstracts This link opens in a new windowIncludes bibliographic records covering essential areas related to public administration, including public administration theory, and other areas of key relevance to the discipline.
- Public Affairs Index This link opens in a new windowCovers all aspects of national and global contemporary public policy issues ranging from public health, the environment, housing, human and civil rights, to international commerce and conflict.
Databases on International Relations
- International Relations and Area Studies Gateway"IREON contains references and access to online full-text documents, on:
- Foreign and security policy
- Business and economics
- International cooperation and development policy
- European politics and transatlantic relations
- Regional and country studies worldwide
- Foreign cultural policy
- Climate, environment, energy
Databases of Legal Articles and Law Reviews
- HeinOnline This link opens in a new windowcontains current and historical legal resources ranging from law reviews, to regulatory documents, federal and state statutes, treaties, foreign and international law collections, state attorney general opinions, federal agency decisions and more.
- Nexis Uni This link opens in a new windowprovides full-text laws reviews and legal documents as well as over 5,900 news, business, medical, and reference publications.
- Westlaw This link opens in a new windowprovides access to a comprehensive collection of legal reviews, articles and news in additional to general news and business information.