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Political Science: Background

Reference Sources

Reference books provide background information on a topic, such as definitions of terms, key figures and events, and well written overviews. They can be a useful starting point for any research project, because they fill in missing knowledge about the topic or provide you with the language of the discipline.

Featured Reference Books

Selected books from our Reference collection:

Oxford English Dictionary

"The Oxford English Dictionary is the accepted authority on the evolution of the English language over the last millennium. It is an unsurpassed guide to the meaning, history, and pronunciation of over half a million words, both present and past. "

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

Sage Knowledge

Titles include:
Encyclopedia of activism and social justice, Handbook of European Union politics, Handbook of International Relations, SAGE handbook of nations and nationalism, Handbook of party politics, SAGE handbook of political advertising, Encyclopedia of political communication, SAGE handbook of political geography, Handbook of political theory, Encyclopedia of politics: the Left and the Right,  plus more

Oxford Reference Online

Search selected dictionaries and encyclopedias from Oxford University Press:

Examples:

  • Comparative Politics
  • International Relations
  • Social Policy
  • Social Discourse

Gale Reference Library Online

Examples:

  • Aristotle
  • Critical Feminist Theory
  • Constitution
  • Canadian Law and Society Association

 

Wiley Online Library

Formerly known as the Blackwell Reference Online, here you will be provided with authoritative, scholarly reference sources (dictionaries, handbooks and companions) in the social sciences and humanities.

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