Political Science

This page will provide you with some tips and tricks to make your research a breeze! If you still can't find what you need, please don't hesitate to contact the library! You can find our contact information and more on the Get Help page.

To get you started, here are some general search strategies:

Keyword Strategies

Use these keywords in a general search in any one of our recommended databases or inside DragonQuest:

• Supreme Court and Constitution
• Constitutional constraints on the Supreme Court
• Judicial review
• Amendments of the U.S. Constitution
• Separation of church and state
• Freedom of the press
• Internet regulation in the United States
• Reproductive rights and privacy
• Race discrimination in public school
• Sexual orientation and civil rights
• Gender discrimination in the work place

Subject Strategies

Searching for results by subject heading, rather than by keywords, can help you focus your search in new directions. Consider these subject search options:

• Constitutional law -- United States
• Church and state -- United States
• Inevitable discovery (Searches & seizures)

The following image shows you how to change your search to a subject search by using the dropdown menu inside DragonQuest:

Research Starters

Need some extra guidance? Try a Research Starter:

• Originalism
• Textualism
• Separation of church and state
• Bill of Rights
• Censorship and democracy
• Right to bear arms
• Fourteenth Amendment
• Fourth Amendment
• Fifth Amendment
• Right to counsel
• Gender and sexual orientation in the workplace

What is a Research Starter?

Research Starters are encyclopedia entries, so they are more of an "idea gathering" mechanism than a scholarly source to support your stance on an issue. They provide you with background information on a broad topic and highlight keywords you can use and/or links to source material to get you started on your research. 

Narrowing DragonQuest Search Results

If you'd like to know how to narrow down your DragonQuest list to only full text, peer reviewed, or specific types of resources, we recommend the following tutorial:

If you'd like additional guidance on using Academic Writer, we recommend the following tutorial: