POLS-110: Introduction to Politics

Welcome to the POLS-110 library course guide. It has been designed to introduce students in both 110-A and 110-B to library research tools (e.g. books and scholarly journal articles for your coursework), and the skills required to search them effectively and efficiently.

The learning outcomes of this guide are as follows:

• distinguish between the most common types of citation e.g. book or article;
• identify political studies-specific resources using the library's website;
• be able to distinguish between a primary, secondary and tertiary source;
• further develop research skills by learning to retrieve a "known item"
• learn how to identify secondary sources by subject using a political studies index
• understand the importance of critically appraising research materials

Please proceed through the five sections to learn more (sections are various lengths):

1. Introduction: Some introductory remarks and a quick overview of this guide as well as examples of common citations.
2. Finding Sources. A general orientation to doing research with library tools that includes tips for finding information using the collections at Queen's Library but also useful checklists for evaluating information prior to use.
3. Writing a paper.
4. Citing Sources.
5. Conclusion, and where find research help.