- University Libraries
- Research Guides
- Subject Guides
- Political thought and philosophy
- Recommended: start here
Political thought and philosophy: Recommended: start here
What's here
This guide focuses on principal research resources in teh foundational subfield of political science. It is supplements the main subject guide for political science and international studies. The Other political science research guides tab is a menu that connects you to related research guides for the major subfields of the discipline and for related programs in the VT School of Public & International Affairs.
Resources listed on this page are clustered into Key databases for accessing scholarly literature, Background information sources; Contact information for the subject librarian; and access to Additional information.
Parts of this guide are also available in related subject guides: News/journalism/streaming media; Advice for searching/citing/engaging with related scholarly literatures; and Accessing VT Library resources off campus.
Essential resources -- start here
- Worldwide Political Science Abstracts from ProQuest
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Worldwide Political Science Abstracts indexes citations and abstracts from journal articles, books, essays, book reviews, working papers, technical reports, theses, and dissertations in the social sciences related to politics. You can limit to peer-reviewed sources. 1975-present. - EconLit with Full Text from EBSCOhost
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EconLit indexes citations, abstracts, and full text of journal articles, books, dissertations, and working papers on all aspects of economics. You can do cited reference searches and limit to scholarly sources. 1886-present.
- HeinOnline Law PortalThe HeinOnline portal offers a large and wide-ranging collection of contemporary and historical legal materials, mainly from the US, including constitutions; statutes and legislative histories, treaties, judicial opinions, regulations and other administrative law, and topical collections of historical law/policy documents. Contains more than 2,500 law reviews and law-related periodicals. Subjects covered include jurisprudence, political science, technology, human rights, and more. Coverage for all journals is from inception (as JSTOR does for scholarly journals); about 90% of journals are available through the current issue or volume.
- Philosopher's Index from EBSCOhostThe Philosopher's Index indexes citations and abstracts from journal articles, books, chapters/essays, book reviews in the fields of philosophy, aesthetics, metaphysics, social philosophy, and axiology. You can limit to peer-reviewed sources. 1940-present.
- Religion & Philosophy Collection from EBSCOhost
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Religion and Philosophy Collection indexes citations, abstracts, and full text from journal articles, magazines, and book reviews in the field of world religions, biblical studies, religious history, epistemology, political philosophy, moral philosophy and the history of philosophy. Full-text materials are available in HTML and PDF. You can limit to peer-reviewed sources. 1967-present. - MLA International Bibliography with Full Text from ESBCOhost
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MLA International Bibliography indexes citations and full text of journal articles, books, dissertations, and scholarly web sites in disciplines such as language, literature, folklore, linguistics, literary theory and criticism, and the dramatic arts. Coverage includes literature from all over the world and includes citations to materials in many languages other than English. 1926-present.
- Open Access Digital Theological Library (OADTL)
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Despite its formal name, the scope of OADTL is not limited to religious studies: its coverage is wide ranging, taking in the range of topics addressed by the world's religious traditions as well as those of interest to clergy as teachers, counselors, and activists. OADTL brings together freely available articles, books, government reports, working papers and the like, using the familiar OCLC WorldCat Discovery platform
Reference and background information
- Oxford Handbooks OnlineOxford Handbooks Online provides scholarly overviews of topics through in-depth articles. We have access to handbooks in Archaeology, Economics & Finance, Business Management, Political Science, Philosophy, Psychology, Music, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Physical Sciences, History, Literature, Neuroscience, Sociology, Classical Studies, Law, Linguistics, Religion, Social Policy and Social Work.
Political Theory : An Encyclopedia of Contemporary and Classic Terms by ISBN: 9783133392020
Temporary, trial access only -- use while you can
The University Libraries at Virginia Tech regularly secure short-term, trial access to online resources in order to gauge their appropriateness to our university's teaching and research missions. These trials run in October, February, and sometimes April. Most trials run 30 days.
This box highlights some of these opportunities. All current trials are listed in a sidebar in the main Databases A-Z directory and as a tab atop this libguide.
Each entry includes a link to a user survey. I and other subject librarians invite you to email us your detailed assessments of resources. Responses from the Virginia Tech community are vital to the library's deliberations about whether and when to acquire or enhance databases and the like.
As appropriate I will list trials and user survey links a resource trials tab in this and my other libguides. Entries for trials I may include in the body of my libguides will go away when the trial period ends.
- BBC Monitoring: Summary of World BroadcastsKindly provide feedback on this database, which is currently on trial until November 3, 2023.
BBC Monitoring: Summary of World Broadcasts contains original, almost daily reports of the world's media output as disseminated on radio, wireless telegraph, and later television and internet. Reports often included commentary and evaluation by subject-matter experts, as well as synopses and specialist briefings. The purpose of gathering open-source intelligence was to help Britain and its allies understand global dynamics and assess emerging global threats and capabilities. Coverage spans from the start of WWII to the early 21st century (1939-2001).
Social Sciences & History Librarian
Office #3050
560 Drillfield Dr
Blacksburg, VA 24061
Email is the best way to contact me with questions or appointment requests.
Office hours (walk-in and/or Zoom): T 1-3:00 pm, W-Th 2-4:00 pm (Eastern time), and by appointment.
- virginiatech.zoom.us/j/95623507981
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Interlibrary Loan Services
All current Virginia Tech students, faculty, and staff, regardless of your location, may request through ILLiad for materials:
- not owned by Virginia Tech (books, articles from journals and conference proceedings, book chapters, standards, and technical papers)
- owned by Virginia Tech but are unavailable for use (print books)
- owned by Virginia Tech and available in print (scans of articles from journals and conference proceedings, book chapters, standards, and technical papers)
We ship requests via UPS to users outside the immediate Blacksburg area (Montgomery, Giles and Pulaski counties).
Articles, book chapters, and many technical papers are delivered in PDF format to your ILLiad account. Occasionally, due to copyright restrictions, a paper copy of an article or standard is held for your at the Newman User Services Desk or sent o the mailing address listed on your account.