Westfield State College Ely Library

Worldwide Political Science Abstracts provides references to journals, books, and other publications dealing with political science and its related fields of law, international relations, and public policy. Coverage begins in 1975.

Also see Searching Cited References in the Social Sciences for a guide to searching cited references in Worldwide Political Science Abstracts.

ACCESS:

On & Off-Campus:

From the Ely Library Homepage (http://www.lib.wsc.ma.edu)

In the Quick Links to Databases section click Worldwide Political Science Abstracts.

Search Options

Upon accessing the database, users are presented with the Advanced Search screen.

Advanced Search options allow users to search for terms in specific fields, combine search terms using Boolean operators, and use other advanced techniques such as nesting and truncation.

To perform an Advanced Search:

Enter your search term(s) in the boxes.
From the drop-down menu to the right, select the field in which you want to search for your term. More useful fields include title, author, descriptors, abstract, and keyword.
Connect additional terms and fields using the extra search boxes and the AND/OR/NOT options available in the drop-down box to their left.
You may limit your search to a specified date range, journal articles only, or only those items written in English.
Click Search

Click Thesaurus in the Search Tools menu at the bottom of the screen to identify the terminology used by the database to describe different topics. Using the terms provided by the thesaurus will help retrieve the maximum number of relevant documents.

Enter a word or phrase in the box labeled Search Thesaurus for: and click the radio button of the type of search you wish to perform.

Displays an alphabetical list of terms beginning with the term with the closest spelling to the word you entered in your search.

Displays all terms that share a relationship with the word or phrase you entered in your search. This includes broader, narrower, and related terms, as well as those that should be used instead of the term you searched for.

To search for documents with Capital Punishment as a subject, click the check box next to the term, then click GO in the New Search Using Marked Terms menu on the left of the screen. You can mark multiple terms to search, and combine them using the AND & OR radio buttons on the left.

Displays a list of all the terms used by the database that include the first word you entered in your search, as well as terms related to those.

Records are returned in reverse chronological order and displayed in "short form" (title, author, source, partial abstract) by default.

Click View Record to view the complete abstract, descriptors (subject headings), and other information for the citation. In the full record, checkboxes are displayed next to each descriptor. If the record contains descriptors that more accurately describe your topic than the search terms you originally entered, check the boxes next to those descriptors and perform a New Search Using Marked Terms by clicking Go.

Clicking Check Availability will display the citation in a new window from which you can access either the Ely Library Catalog or the WSC Full-Text Periodical Directory to determine whether the full-text of the item is available.

By default, all publication types are displayed in the result list. Use the tabs at the top of the list to view records of a specific publication type.

Mark those records you wish to save, print, or email by clicking the check box in the upper left corner of the record.

Click Save, Print, Email at the top of the result list. The Save, Print, Email screen appears.

Email - Enter both a TO and FROM address (the same address can be used for both) in the appropriate boxes. Click Email.

Save - Choose your operating system type and click Save. Save the file to your floppy or hard disk.

Print - Click Print Preview. Your records will appear in plain text format. Print using your browser's print function.

To format your marked citations in APA, MLA, Chicago, or Turabian style use the QuickBib feature located in the middle of the Save, Print, Email screen.