Resources for Conducting Research
(for SIPs and other research papers)

Here is a compilation of some resources to assist you in your research projects (especially, not necessarily, for your Senior Individualized Project [SIP]) .

How to use Library databases to search for books and articles:

• Searching for Books:
  1. The first place to start for book searches is the K College Ariadne website.
  2. If K does not have the book, then click "Try MelCat" at the top center of the page, and then you can request the book from other Michigan libraries. It will be delivered to the Upjohn Library circulation desk, and you will receive an email when it has arrived.
  3. Also try searching the Western Michigan University library database .

• Searching for Journal Articles:
  1. Go to K College Library's Indexes and Databases page .
  2. If you know the name of the journal you want to locate, click Electronic Journal Finder. If not, good journal databases to start searching include ProQuest Research Library, JStor, Wilson Select Plus, and Lexis-Nexis News Search (for newspaper/magazine articles) along with Lexis-Nexis Legal Search (for law review journals, for court cases, for legislative statutes and administrative rules).
  3. You should be able to read/download/print the entire articles. But there are some journals that K College does not have online access to. For those, you can read the physical print copies of the journals at the K Library or at the WMU Waldo Library.

Does your Senior Individualized Project (SIP) research need to be approved by the Institutional Review Board?

• If you are conducting interviews for your SIP., you will very likely need to apply for human subjects approval. This is a new step for students in the class of 2008. Previous cohorts of seniors did not have to apply for human subject approval.

• See the Institutional Review Board intranet homepage (under the "committees" pull-down menu on the intranet homepage) for the IRB Policy Manual, IRB Application Form, Sample Consent Form, and Sample Assent Form.

• In addition, see sample consent form used by Dr. Lipson in pdf or in Word format.

Recommended book to read on how to write a SIP:

• We recommend that you browse through the following book for advice on conceptualizing, organizing, and writing your SIP

• Van Evera, Stephen. 1997. Guide to Methods for Students of Political Science. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. JA71.V3 1997, 2nd floor of library

• Note: you can apply for a Ham Grant to reimburse you for the cost of purchasing this (very affordable) book.

EndNote Software & Zotero:

• If you are managing a large bibliography for your SIP or other research project, you may find the EndNote bibliographic software very helpful. It is available at the K College bookstore with an "educational discount" rate.

• Note: you can apply for a Ham Grant to reimburse you for the cost of purchasing this software.

• Note: there is now an excellent free piece of software called Zotero that is a plug-in to use with the excellent and free Mozilla Firefox internet browser. Zotero is in many ways much better than EndNote. And you can use it to organize your favorite websites too for much more than just generating bibliographies. It's excellent, free, open-source and worth checking out.

 

Viewing old SIPs:

• The political science department keeps on file all previous SIPs. Ask any of the political science professors to unlock the cabinet so that you can browse through previous SIPs.

Related departmental links on SIP and Ham Grant:

• General advising notes for Political Science Majors
  
  
• Political Science Senior Individualized Project (SIP) Guidelines
  
  
• Elton W. Ham Scholarship Applications for Majors