Research Guides: POLS 121: American Politics (HC): Background Information

Literature Reviews

Literature reviews are a particularly useful resource when doing research. They address the issues involved in a specific question and the debates among scholars. They map out the intellectual terrain succinctly and give you the major landmarks in terms of key authors and significant titles for greater understanding.

A few examples are listed below. Search in both the Annual Reviews and Oxford Bibliographies Online to find literature reviews that address your political questions.

Annual Review of Political Science
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Articles provide a detailed overview of specific issues in political science and the debates among scholars. They are written for researchers. Relevant examples include:
"Black Lives Matter in Historical Perspective"
"Climate Change and Work: Politics and Power"
"Free Speech and Hate Speech"
"How Do Campaigns Matter?"
"Local Elections and Representation in the United States"
"On the Interdependence of Liberal and Illiberal/Authoritarian Legal Forms in Racial Capitalist Regimes…The Case of the United States"
"On the Theory of Parties"
"Party and Ideology in American Local Government: An Appraisal"
"Polarization and the Judiciary"
"Political Participation Amid Mass Incarceration"
"Politics of Housing"
"Retrospective Voting Reconsidered"
"Social Movement Theory and the Prospects for Climate Change Activism in the United States"
"When and Why Minority Legislators Matter"
Relevant literature reviews from other journals in the Annual Review database include:
"Early Childhood Education: Health, Equity, and Economics" In the Annual Review of Public Health
Oxford Bibliographies Online: Political Science
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Annotated bibliographies on specific topics in political science written by scholars in the field. This section is updated with new entries twice a year. Examples of essays include:
"Climate Change and Politics"
"Critical Elections, Partisan Realignment, and Long-Term Electoral Change in American Politics"
"Education Finance"
"Democratic Citizenship"
"Educational Policy and Race"
"Emotion and Racial Attitudes in Contemporary American Politics"
"Ideological Reasoning in Politics"
"Immigration Politics and Policy in the United States"
"LGBT Politics in the United States"
"Mass Incarceration and US Politics"
"Mechanisms of Representation"
"Media Policy and Governance"
"Outcomes of Social Movements and Protest Activities"
"Personalization of Politics"
"Policy Feedback"
"Political Geography in American Politics"
"Positive and Negative Partisanship"
"Presidential Persuasion and Public Opinion"
"Stereotypes in Political Reasoning"
"The Study of Independent Voters"
"Voter Turnout"
"Youth and Generational Differences in US Politics"

Encyclopedias and Handbooks

Oxford Handbook of American Elections and Political Behavior
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Published in 2012.
Oxford Handbook of American Political Development
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The field of American political development is distinguished by careful, systematic thought about the ways that political processes, civic ideals, the political construction of social divisions, patterns of identity formation, the making and implementation of public policies, contestation over (and via) the Constitution, and other formal and informal institutions and processes.
Oxford Handbook of American Political History
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Chapter length overviews of many key issues including third parties, voting rights, the role of money in politics and drug and alcohol policies.
Oxford Handbook of American Political Parties and Interest Groups
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Thirty chapters critically assess the major contributions to the literature on political parties and interest groups. Published in 2010.
Oxford Handbook of U.S. Social Policy
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Essays address different populations groups (elderly, the poor, differently abled and workers and families) as well as policy lenses and outcomes.
Routledge Handbook of Poverty in the United States
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Fifty five essays by researchers address issues of importance.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
A peer-reviewed, open-access encyclopedia started by the Stanford University Philosophy Department in 1997. The encyclopedia consists of extended articles in all areas of philosophy. Entries are created and updated by experts in the field, and each contains extensive bibliographic references. Entries for some subject areas are still under development. Examples of entries include:
"Civil Disobedience"
"Critical Philosophy of Race"
"Immigration"