Political Science

Start at the Moorpark College Library homepage and use OneSearch (Library Catalog). OneSearch allows you to search the Moorpark College library catalog for books, eBooks, articles, streaming videos and other materials. It searches many of our databases, but not all. It is a great place to begin your research.

1. Experiment with searches using different combinations of your keywords. The words you type into the search box affect your search results. Not all authors use the same language to describe similar topics, so you will need to try a variety of searches. Create a list of possible words that could appear in a book or article related to your topic of interest.

   Come up with synonyms or related terms for those.

2. Helpful Hints: Use upper or lower case. It is not necessary to capitalize proper names. It is not necessary to type "the, a, an" at the beginning of titles.

3. Make sure your topic is not too broad or narrow.

4. Use the "subjects" listed in each item record to find related books or articles. Example of subjects in the following book Amendment XIV: Equal Protection.
    

• Make note of any related terms or synonyms used. Are there  any plurals that you will need to use?  (Consult the "Help" screens for additional search tips)

• Use quotation marks around multi-word names to get better results. This will prompt the system to look for those words next to each other and in that order. Examples: