Try a subject search for your topic. From the list of subjects, click a subject to view the book titles. Change "View Entire Collection" to "Reference Collection."

For general information, use a subject encyclopedia or dictionary. Get background information on politics, cultural and social environment, education, religion, etc. Although you cannot include general encyclopedias in a bibliography they may be helpful as a preliminary source.

To get the citation for a book, go to the detailed record in the library catalog, click How do I Cite this?, and then select a citation style, such as Chicago/Turabian: Humanities. Copy/paste/edit the citation, as needed. Always check the citation references for accuracy with your professor's requirements.

Books are shelved in Library of Congress (LC) call number order, so similar subjects will be shelved next to each other.

Use the opens new window Library of Congress Classification Outline: Political Science to identify then browse relevant sections in the Reference Collection.

Reference books cannot be checked; however, some titles may have a duplicate in the main collection that is available for checkout. Search the title you need in the library catalog to see if the book is located elsewhere in the library or online. Assistance is available at the the Library Services Desk.