Social and Political Sciences

Articles & Databases

Find journal articles, newspaper articles, book reviews etc.

Note: the search above won't find every article, for a more comprehensive search see the information below on databases.

To find relevant and good quality information for your work, searching databases is the most effective method. You have free access to a range of searchable databases though you may need your username and password to use some of them. Databases contain quality-assessed journal or newspaper articles on particular topics.

Databases

Research

Library & information skills moodles for Social & Political Sciences students

See also Subject Specific Moodles

References

A general introduction to referencing is available.

Referencing and citing – using your sources

What is referencing?

Referencing is the acknowledgement of items you have read and used while creating a written piece of work for your essay, dissertation, article or thesis.

It is important to keep an exact and complete record of the details of all the sources of information that you use for coursework, essays, dissertations or publications. Sources can include books, journal articles, web pages and legal cases. If you don’t keep a precise record you will have difficulty (and a lot more work) when you need to list the sources in your reference list.

Citations

When writing an essay, report or dissertation, it is usual to cite [mention] the sources that you used, referred to, or took quotes from. These references might describe journal or newspaper articles, books, government reports, web pages

Citing accurate references is important for the following reasons:

  • To give credit to concepts and ideas from other authors
  • To provide evidence of the extent of your reading
  • To use other work to support the arguments you make
  • To allow the user to locate the cited references easily
  • To help you avoid plagiarism

Which style of referencing does the School of Social & Political Sciences use?

There are many styles for references, however, the most commonly used styles are Harvard (a version using author/date format) and Vancouver (numbered format). 

Referencing Styles Guides

Software for managing your references

There are a number of reference management software programs which help you to record and store references to books or journal articles and many other sources while you are working on a project. You can then use the stored information to generate bibliographies for your essay, thesis or article using a wide range of styles. The University supports EndNote. There are also a number of freely available pieces of reference management software.

Newspapers

Newspapers

Newspapers can provide information which may not be available elsewhere, and are important sources for current topics, emerging news or historical information. They provide information about people and events and how events were perceived at the time. However, the content may be biased, rather than presenting factual information. The Library provides access to a wide range of UK newspapers in electronic format, both broadsheets and tabloids. Access is provided to current editions and archives.

Below is a listing of the key online newspaper databases:

  • Nexis - Access to 1000 UK and Irish titles including: The Telegraph, Guardian, Independent, Observer & Times and well as hundreds of regional titles. Over 1200 International titles including: Le Monde, New York Times, Washington Post, Die Welt, Der Spiegel, La Stampa, El Pais & Le Figaro.
  • The Times Digital Archive (1785 - 1985) - provides access to every page as published from 200 years of The Times (London). Users are able to search the full-text of the entire newspaper, including articles, editorials and advertising and can also browse - for example, by issue date, story headline, or subject.
  • The Scotsman Digital Archive (1817 - 1950) - provides access to every edition of The Scotsman between 1817 and 1950, offering a unique insight into the history, culture and economic and social life of nineteenth and twentieth century Scotland. Users are able to search the full-text of the entire newspaper, including articles, editorials and advertising and can also browse - for example, by issue date, story headline, or subject. Note: registration required - click on 'WWW' then select the link marked 'Register now free' at top left of page. You must use your 'academic' email address, i.e ending with 'gla.ac.uk'
  • Pravda Digital Archive - Online, digital, full-image and text-searchable archive of Pravda, from its inception in 1912 through until the end of 2011.
  • Izvestiia digital archive - Online, digital full-image and text-searchable archive from 1917 to 2011. Off campus access via GUID
  • Universal Databases of Central Russian Newspapers - provides direct access to the full-text files of over 30 of the most influential Russian newspapers, accessible online for browsing, searching and analysing. Can be searched in Russian/English or using transliteration. Coverage goes back to 1980.
  • Universal Databases of Regional Russian Newspapers -  provides direct access to the full-text files of over 30 of the most influential Russian newspapers, accessible online for browsing, searching and analysing. Can be searched in Russian/English or using transliteration. Coverage goes back to 1980.
  • Universal Database of Publications from Central Asia - Authoritative Russian and English edition of newspapers from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are served from this easy-to-use database. Some titles go back as far as 2000.

Specialist Collections

East European Collections