The following guides can help you locate additional research resources or can help you develop, organize, and write a quality research paper.

Help with Research

• Guide for the USC Libraries Search Engine -- provides tips for using the search function on the Libraries' main page to access the print and online resources.

• Interlibrary Loan/Document Delivery Services -- describes a free service of the USC Libraries for obtaining books, book chapters, articles, and other research materials through a network of libraries, research centers, and other institutions.

• Library Terminology: Glossary of Library Terms -- provides definitions of specialized terminology and jargon found on the library's website or when using specific research resources.

Other Research Guides

• Political Science -- a research guide that lists and describes databases and other scholarly resources that support the study of political science and its related sub-disciplines.

• Public Diplomacy -- a research guide for locating newspaper and journal articles, research reports, and links to online resources that support research about diplomacy as a communicative discipline.

• Primary Sources -- selective guide to finding databases and directories of archival, primary source materials at USC or available online.

• Spatial Sciences and GIS -- a resource guide that provides access to resources supporting academic scholarship in the spatial sciences and methods of data visualization.

• Statistics and Data -- guide to numeric resources in the social sciences available through the USC Libraries and freely available online.

Help with Writing

• Chicago Manual of Style -- guide to citation and formatting rules of the Chicago Manual. This is the primary citation style used by international relations scholars. A guide to other citation styles can be found here.

• Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Paper -- comprehensive step-by-step description on how to write a college-level research paper in the social and behavioral sciences.

• Organizing Your Social Sciences Research Assignments -- describes how to successfully complete specific assignments commonly assigned in social sciences and behavioral sciences courses.

• RefWorks -- a guide to using RefWorks in the USC Libraries databases environment, a Web-based citation management tool similar to EndNote, Zotero, or Mendeley.