Doing research in political theory
Simon Elichko • they/them •
Social Sciences & Data Librarian
Making sense of knowledge
Contemporary academic disciplines
But what does this mean for when you do
research in political theory?
Search tip: Put "On Liberty" inside quotation marks to find articles with those exact words right next to each other. This can help make your search results more accurate.
Caveat: If you search "John Stuart Mill" you won't find articles with his name written as JS Mill or John S Mill.
You can filter articles by (journal) subject in JSTOR
How to filter:
Scroll down to Subject, then type Political Science. Check the box to apply the filter.
What this means:
If you choose Political Science, you'll only see articles* that are published in journals or books that JSTOR's editors have tagged as Political Science.
*Some book chapters too.
Keep in mind that when you search for articles JSTOR, you're getting text matches.
Cited reference searching is another option.
Finding citing articles using Google Scholar
Go to: scholar.google.com
Try this search: Souls of Black Folk author:Du Bois
Select Cited by 27851 to view citing articles and books
* This number is incorrect, but Google Scholar citation searching can be valuable anyway.
You can use Google Scholar to search within articles and books that cite Du Bois' Souls of Black Folk.
Check the "Search within" box before you search.
Try these searches:
Journals & Publishers
Books and journal articles in JSTOR are limited to scholarly journals and university presses. Relatively high-quality, curated selection.
Can find articles from journals in the subjects you specify
Narrower selection of content, but vetted. Citations will be accurate.
Journals & Publishers
Books and journal articles in Google Scholar are often scholarly, but there's no guarantee. Not a curated selection. You'll find high and low-quality materials here.
Can search within articles that cite a certain article/book
Wider selection of content than JSTOR, but full of errors (example).
Find more databases for
Political Science research here:
Relevance
- Is it on topic?
- Search within the article
- What are you looking for?
- Background information
-
Evidence / exhibits
- Texts to analyze
-
Arguments
- Other scholars' points that you can critique and build on
- Methods
Quality
- Is it scholarly?
- Advantage of using JSTOR
-
Author
- Author/contributor bios
- Can look them up
-
Publisher
- _____ University Press
- Routledge, Springer/Palgrave
- Citations
- How often is this article or author cited?
How do you know if a source is any good?
The challenge of researching authors whose work is influential...
Resources for navigating scholarly literature
- These are written by scholars with relevant expertise
- Purpose is to highlight key themes, arguments, and impact
- Helpful for finding sources you may want to read and cite
- Particularly useful for finding your way through a large body of literature. This includes figuring out which questions and arguments have already been addressed by other scholars.
Online: You can limit Oxford Handbooks to the Political Theory category, and then search within for an author (e.g. Foucault).
Paper copies: There are print copies of many Oxford Handbooks at McCabe Library. You can usually borrow them for the semester. (Search Tripod for more info.)
Examples of annotated bibliographies:
Try it:
- Go to swarthmore.edu/libraries
- Search Tripod for Oxford Bibliographies
- Click on any result and follow the link to the Oxford Bibliographies site
- Search for the last name of a theorist you've read this semester.
- Filter your results to show only Political Science. (Look on the left side, "Narrow Your Choices")
Generative AI + political theory research
Interactive story from Financial Times
(how to set up your FT account through Swat)
LLMs are not search engines looking up facts; they are pattern-spotting engines that guess the next best option in a sequence.
- Training data
- Output reflects the biases and patterns of the data the system was trained on
- Particular challenges for research outside of the sciences, even in tools that limit their data to peer-reviewed research. (Currently, most draw on the science-heavy Semantic Scholar database.)
- So-called "hallucinations" - statements that seem correct, but aren't
- Goals for the task vs. strengths and weaknesses of the tool
- General summary versus nuanced analysis
Generative AI and research:
some key considerations
JSTOR Text Analyzer
Starts from a file or a link. Finds related articles and book chapters that are in JSTOR.
Go to jstor.org/analyze
(or use link at the bottom of JSTOR).
Not generative AI
Example of topic modeling
Develop your research skills
& get support with your projects
Meet with Simon
Schedule at bit.ly/selichk1
Email them at selichk1@swarthmore.edu
(including if you need to meet at a different time)
Use the chat in Tripod to get help from librarians and Research & Information Associates (RIAs).
You can email librarian@swarthmore.edu
Research in political theory
By Swarthmore Reference
