THE INTERNET
Computer-literate students can use direct access to the Internet to
search campus information systems and libraries almost anywhere in
the world for relevant information. Some information facilities, like
Dialog, are commercial operations to which you must pay a sub-
scription, but many are open access. For instance you can access the
Library of Congress and British Library catalogues direct and free of
charge.
A word of warning should be issued on using Web sources ‘it’s on
the Web’ is even less a reliable guide to truth than ‘it’s in print’. It is
essential to assess the reliability of the source and the credibility of the
information. The conclusions of an academic article in a refereed e-
journal; a statement made in a government policy document; a claim
made on an interest group website; a news report in a popular news-
paper or a revelation in an anonymous blog all have very different
status as evidence for an argument. Of course, wherever your evi-
dence or argument comes from it needs to be properly acknowledged.
Some of the most useful World Wide Web addresses from a
political point of view have been listed at the end of each chapter.
Note especially the general political science references after Chapter 1
and the official government sources noted after Chapter 8. A few
more general sources are listed here:
http://www.loc.gov
Library of Congress catalogue – US copyright library.
http://catalogue.bl.org
British Library catalogue – UK copyright library.
http://scholar.google.com
Google Scholar – indexes articles in learned journals.
http://www.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia – comprehensive but not entirely reliable encyclopedia.
http://www.internetworld.com
Internet news service.
http://www.washingtonpost.com
Washington Post.
http://www.guardian.co.uk
Guardian newspaper.246 APPENDIX: SOURCES ON POLITICS