POLS 3025: A Century of Revolution Adam Taves Scott Library Library Research POLS 3025: A Century of Revolution Adam Taves Scott Library

Research as Conversation

Research Process Eavesdropping Entering Engaging course readings, lectures Entering discussion selecting and focusing a topic finding books and journals Engaging form opinions, ideas critical analysis

Developing a Research Question More than facts What is the problem/question? What do I want to know? What is already known?

Sample Topic Compare and contrast James I’s Trew Law of Free Monarchies and Hobbes’ Leviathan.

Some questions What does Hobbes argue in terms of the social contract?  (i.e., what have post-Hobbesian thinkers said about Hobbes work in this regard?) How has the divine right of kings thesis, as explicated by James I, been handled in other texts?  What have other thinkers said on this theme that may help clarify your understanding of the assumptions that Hobbes was re-examining?

Finding Books Use the library catalogue Keyword search works best Focus your topic before searching

Scholarly Journals Sometimes called “Periodicals” Scholarly vs. popular Written for researchers Extensive bibliographies Often include abstracts

Article Databases Click Find Articles by Subject (under eResources) Choose Political Science Select a database Do a keyword search

Rules of Scholarly Communication Creativity Acknowledgement Acknowledge original source whenever you use someone else’s idea, theory, or opinion How? Direct quotations Paraphrasing Signal phrases The Tools: Style guides

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