Skip to Main Content

Racer Library Tutorial - MPA Program (POL 670, 671, 681, etc.)

Welcome

Welcome!

Welcome to the Murray State University Libraries Library and Research Tutorial for online classes in the MPA program.

After completing this module, you should be able to

  • identify your subject librarian and utilize means to contact them specifically, or the Information Desk,
  • differentiate between different types of resources,
  • navigate the library website and locate the Research Guide for Political Science/Public Administration
  • navigate a library resource utilizing appropriate search techniques.

So let's get started learning about the useful resources for research available at the University Libraries.

Library Website

The best place to start examining the library's resources is to start with the library homepage.

Library Homepage with numbers

(1) Front and center is our one-search tool which puts all of the library resources right at your finger tips. With this tool, you can search all our collections at once. (2) Need a more specialized search of all our collections, just click on advanced search for more options. (3) The Quick Access Menu buttons provide quick access to the research guides prepared by our university librarians, our database A to Z list, journals, and more.

Research Guides

Library Homepage Research Assistance Highlighted

To access the research guides, click on Research Assistance in the Quick Access Menu.

Research Guides & Videos Webpage

Research Guides are often the best place to start your research, allowing you to focus on the most relevant resources. Our Research Guides are web pages created by the librarians and customized for particular subjects or courses like Biology, English, and more. The guides are arranged by College and Area of Study. Once find your area of study and click on it. Each guide begins with the most popular suggestions for finding sources in that subject area. More options can be found by clicking on the guide menu options. The "Articles" tab will direct you to a list of relevant databases for your topic.

Locating the Research Guide

Under Humanities & Fine Arts, you will find the guides for Political Science, which is the location for the Public Administration Subpage.  Click on the appropriate link to access the guide.

After navigating to the Political Science research guide, click the "Public Administration" tab.