Social and political sciences

This subject guide is designed for individuals studying and researching topics across social and political sciences, including Central and Eastern European Studies, Economic & Social history, International Relations, Politics, Social & Public Policy, Sociology and Urban Studies. The guide provides details of key resources for finding information and data, advice on effective searching and tips on keeping your research up to date.

Getting started

Most courses will have a reading list to guide you. Follow the link from your course Moodle, or search the Reading Lists @ Glasgow service.

If you are not working from a reading list, use Library Search to find books, journal articles, book chapters, trade literature and many other types of information. Library Search lets you search most of what the library buys or licences. It is the main way to find books and is a useful starting point for finding information for assignments or independent research.

Information sources for social and political science research

Although Library Search is an excellent starting place to find books and journal articles, no single search engine or database indexes all the information sources you are likely to need for assignments, a dissertation or research project. You may need to use a variety of search tools to find the different types of information you need for assignments or to answer a research question.

Databases for social and political science research

Databases provide access to unique information not included in Library Search or on open web search engines.  They have value-added features to help you find related literature and to keep your research up to date. They are important when you are doing a literature review or a systematic search of the literature. 

All the databases that the library provides access to, are listed on the databases page. You can search for a specific database by name or by subject if you do not know what database to use.

The lists below provide information on key databases and websites for social and political science research.  Library databases may be listed as ‘key’ or ‘all’. Key databases are the primary databases for those subjects. These are useful as your starting point. Check the other databases listed for your subject as these can include useful databases for specific tasks.

Films, documentaries and podcasts

AV resources for social and political science research - for acclaimed and independent films, videos, documentaries and podcasts including the British Film Institute, recordings and archive of free to view tv and radio broadcasts and specialist sources.

Oral history collections

These represent a selection of freely accessible oral history collection from libraries, universities and institutions worldwide.

  • BBC Oral Histories Collection, including specialist collections on the Cold War, World War, Pioneering Women, People, Nation, Empire, Elections and political broadcasting
  • Library of Congress Audio recordings including collections on slavery, Tibet, migrant workers, key American figures during World War 1, September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and more.
  • Black Women Oral History Project interview 1976-1981 from the  Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America from the Harvard Radcliffe Institute
  • Behind the veil Oral History Project by Duke University’s Center for Documentary Studies from 1993 to 1995. The project records and preserves the living memory of African American life in the American South during the age of legal segregation and its immediate aftermath, from the 1890s to the 1970s.
  • Suffrage Interviews This is a collection of oral history interviews about the British suffrage movement conducted by the historian Brian Harrison between 1974 and 1981.  The collection consists of 205 interviews with 183 individuals.
  • Refugee voices 150 interviews with Jewish refugees across the UK covering a very wide spectrum of experiences, including those of refugees who escaped to Britain before the outbreak of war in 1939, those who survived in hiding in occupied Europe, and those who survived the camps.
  • Elizabeth Roberts Working Class Oral History Archive  includes transcripts of interviews which capture memories of working-class life in North West England – specifically in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancaster and Preston – and are focused on the period from the late nineteenth century to the outbreak of the Second World War, and from the Second World War through to 1970. 
  • Imperial War Museum Sound Archive over 33,000 recordings relating to conflict since 1914. This consists of the largest oral history collection of its type in the world, with contributions from both service personnel and non-combatants as well as significant holdings of speeches, sound effects, broadcasts, poetry and music.

Newspapers and news services

The library subscribes to newspaper and magazine archives. These are a mix of databases which index the content of newspapers and magazines and let you search for articles in full text. There are also digitised newspapers and magazines which provide digital copies of the magazines and newspapers. These are often historical collections allowing you to search across decades of content.

Primary sources – archives and special collections

The University Library has a rich collection of archives and special collections that you can consult. You can search or browse the collections by topic. Our Russian and East European collection in the main library is a unique historical  and modern collection of books, pamphlets, newspapers and material in microform.

In addition to our physical collections, the library has invested in digital archives. These are included in our database lists for Economic and Social History and History. Browse these to see collections of historical newspapers, periodicals, letters, speeches, official documents, oral testimonies, magazines and more. Notable large collections include:

Gale Primary Sources including  Archives Unbound a huge collection of documents, photographs, official records, FBI files, correspondence, committee papers etc. across a range of countries and topics ; Archives of Sexuality and Gender ; Power to the People a database of counterculture, social movements and the alternative press.

There are many digitised archive collections available from libraries, museums, research projects and organisations. There are some useful portals of archive collections:

  • Archives Hub – records and descriptions of physical and digital archives held across the UK.
  • Archives Portal Europe is an online gateway to the archival heritage on and from Europe. It brings together descriptive records from more than 30 countries, in more than 20 languages (and 5 different alphabets), and from a large variety of institutions: national archives, community archives, parish archives, university archives, corporate and private archives.

Finding and using secondary data

  • Guide for Social Science students on how to find and use secondary data - Information includes sources on doing secondary data analysis – case studies, videos and practice datasets; ethical considerations when using secondary data;  advice on getting started using data from the UK Data Service; lists of major national and international databanks and key open-source data; specialist collections of data (subscriptions available from the University of Glasgow.
  • Software for statistics, analysis and visualisation which is available on computers and remote desktops, or which can be downloaded to your own device.
  • SAGE Research Methods - Datasets is a collection of practice datasets to help you with qualitative and quantitative data analysis.  Search, or browse by method, discipline, or data type.

Grey literature (working papers, theses, and organisational information)

Grey literature is broadly defined as documents which are not controlled by commercial publishers.  This can include material produced by governments, academics, businesses, and organisations.   You can search for government information using keywords on generic search engines or on government websites themselves. Similarly, working papers, theses, business, and organisation information can all be searched using a generic search engine, searching specialist repositories, or by going direct to the organisation web site.

Some grey literature is indexed in subject-specific databases e.g., policy papers, business reports, speeches, and videos.

Useful websites for working papers:

Useful websites for theses

See the library web pages for information on accessing print and digital theses by University of Glasgow authors, as well as links to EThOS, the national these service for the UK’s doctoral research theses.  Find out where to access theses worldwide and how to apply for access to international theses not available via these services.

Managing information, including referencing

Processing information

  • LEADS provide academic writing and study advice for UG and PGT students = these include how to engage with literature structure essays and form arguments. Classes run throughout the semester, and you can attend as many or as few as you want.
  • Research and Innovation service provide courses and online resources for PhD and MRes Students including on academic writing.

Managing information (referencing)

Referencing is the acknowledgement of items you have read and used while creating a written piece of work. When writing an essay, report, or dissertation, you must cite the sources you use, paraphrase, or quote from.

 Citing accurate references is important:

  • 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 your reader to locate cited references easily
  • To help you avoid plagiarism

There are links to reference style guides on the library pages

LEADS run academic writing classes designed to help students understand referencing and incorporate sources into written assessments.

EndNote software can be used to manage and cite information, it is available on the university staff and student standard deskttop

Keeping up to date

It is important to keep up to date with published literature and information in your research area, but this can be challenging as the information ecosystem is vast and there is so much information being created, shared, and published.  There are tools that you can use to help.

  • X and blogs. Even if you don’t tweet, you can use X to follow people that publish or talk about things related to your research or study.  You can subscribe to blogs so that you receive new posts.
  • Table of content (TOC) alerts Set up TOC alerts for the journals that publish in areas relevant to your research or that have been recommended to you. See JournalTOCS
  • You can set up search alerts in databases so that new content matching your search is emailed to you. This is a common feature in research databases. 
  • You can also set up citation alerts so that you receive notification when a document or article is cited. Databases like Scopus and Web of Science have this feature. You can also do this from some publisher’s websites.

Guides on searching

Further help

Information outside of our collections

You may need to use sources that are not available in our collections. You can request journal articles, books and book chapters via Inter Library Loan (ILL). 

You can also suggest resources and books for the library, using our suggestion form.  College Librarians have a budget to support materials required for research.

Using other libraries

You may be able to use other libraries (perhaps close to your home or place of residence), using the SCONUL Access scheme.

Enquiries 

For undergraduate and taught postgraduate students (Masters level):

For doctoral students and staff, please email lynn.irvine@glasgow.ac.uk