Lafayette College Library

Indexes for finding scholarly articles 

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts

Coverage: 1975-present
Index of articles on political science and related fields, including international relations, law, and public policy. An important source for locating scholarly sources on foreign affairs.

Historical Abstracts and America: History and Life

Coverage: 1954-present
Companion databases indexing journal articles, book reviews, and dissertations on history. Historical Abstracts covers the history of the world (1450 to present) except for the U.S. and Canada, which is covered by America: History and Life (prehistory to present). 

Scholarly journals

When you're searching Worldwide Political Science Abstracts or other databases, be on the look out for articles from these scholarly journals, all of which the Lafayette Libraries subscribe to.

• Comparative Strategy
• Foreign Affairs
• Foreign Policy
• International Organization
• International Security
• Policy Studies Journal
• SAIS Review

Books in Skillman and Kirby

To find a listing of books available in Skillman or Kirby, use the Lafayette Library Catalog and begin with a keyword search or try subject searches for the following topics:

• National security -- United States
• United States -- Foreign relations
• United States -- Military policy

If you're researching a topic currently in the news, don't assume we don't have books on the topic. We may well have something published very recently or something that traces the roots of an issue that is now coming to a head.

News sources 

LexisNexis Academic

A database of the full text of hundreds of newspapers, including many international titles. For international news sources, from the News search form choose Non-US Newspapers and Wires or Non-English Language News.

World News Connection

Database of news and information gathered from non-U.S. newspapers, wire services and news broadcasts and translated into English. Materials go back to about 1994. Older materials are available from a microfiche collection; ask a librarian for assistance.

New York Times historical backfile

Cover-to-cover, full image backfile of the New York Times from the first issue through 2006. (For an electronic version of articles from 2007 forward, use LexisNexis Academic.)

Washington Post historical backfile

Cover-to-cover, full image backfile of the Washington Post from the first issue through 1993. (For an electronic version of articles from 1994 forward, use LexisNexis Academic.)

Additional sources

Armed Conflict Database

Database on international and internal conflicts as well as terrorism. Includes analyses of current situation and historical background. Also includes data on topics such as weapons, troops, fatalities, and refugees.

FAS Collection of Congressional Research Service Reports

Selection of reports written by the Congressional Research Service for members of Congress on issues relating to foreign policy and national security.

Foreign Affairs Ministries on the Web

List of links for locating Web sites of ministries of foreign affairs from the United States Institute of Peace. Useful when searching for a government's position on a foreign policy issue.

Foreign Relations of the United States, 1932-1976

Collection of primary source documents from presidential libraries, Departments of State and Defense, NSA, CIA, AID, foreign affairs agencies, and private papers of individuals involved in formulating U.S. foreign policy. Selected volumes online. Complete print version available in Skillman Library (JX 233 .A3).

Strategic Survey

Annual assessment of strategic policy issues and global developments over the past year. Includes analysis of foreign policy developments within individual countries.

National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Books

Collection of declassified United States government documents on foreign affairs and national security since World War II. Documents are grouped by topic and cover U.S. involvement in the Middle East as well as other parts of the world.

Primary Sources Guide

Skillman's guide to finding primary sources. Includes links for finding speeches, statistics, films, and many other types of primary sources.

Guides for citing sources

Chicago Style Citation Quick Guide

Examples of citations for various types of materials written in Chicago style.

Research assistance 

For assistance in finding research material for this course, contact:
Terese Heidenwolf
125 Skillman Library
610-330-5153
heidenwt@lafayette.edu

Or consult another reference librarian at Skillman.

Assignment

Word document of assignment.