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Library Services

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  1. Library Services
  2. Academic Skills Centre
  3. Online study resources
  4. Resource guides by subject
  5. Politics and International Relations
  6. Useful websites

POLITICS - USEFUL WEBSITES

A range of high-quality resources for Politics are available on the web. Start exploring them here:

  • Apolitical: A global, peer-to-peer, digital, policy platform for government that connects policymakers to the solutions, people and partners they need to solve the challenges facing our societies.
  • Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC): The UK's largest organisation for funding research on economic and social issues, supporting independent, high quality research which has an impact on business, the public sector and the third sector.
  • Eurostat: Statistical office of the European Union, providing the EU with statistics at European level that enable comparisons between countries and regions.
  • Gresham College is a registered charity which has been providing a wide remit of free public lectures within the City of London. Check out over 2,000 lectures freely available online from their website.
  • IMF eLibrary Essential Reading Guides offers curated lists of publications in subject areas affecting global economic policies such as fintech and climate change. The lists provide an introduction to the work of the International Monetary Fund and the 25,000+ publications offered free on the IMF eLibrary.
  • NatCen: Independent social research centre; publications include the British Social Attitudes Report.
  • Office for National Statistics: UK national statistics collected through the census, surveys and administrative sources.
  • Hansard Online: Verbatim reports from the Commons and Lords published the next day on the Parliament UK website. Transcripts of Historic Hansard (from 1803) also available.
  • Open Book Publishers is a UK HSS publisher which enables you to access an openly available list of Open Educational Resources (OER) which includes books and textbooks for free. 
  • Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD): Statistical data for member countries.
  • Political Studies Association: Founded in 1950, the Political Studies Association promotes the global study of politics.
  • Virtual Library: International Affairs Resources: A frequently updated Internet directory of over 2000 annotated links to high-quality English-language sources of information and analysis covering a wide range of international affairs.
  • World Bank: Includes statistical data and research reports.

When using the Internet for research, always make sure that the sites you find are reliable and up to date. Check when the page was last updated and think about who is providing the information and why. Sites such as Wikipedia are not suitable for academic work.
The archived version of Internet Detective tutorial looks at the critical thinking required when using the Internet for research and offers practical advice on evaluating the quality of web sites.

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