Research

Printed books and e-books can be found in the library's Local Catalogue: You can search for a specific book title and check its availability or research a specific topic.

Help using the local catalogue (only in German)

Would you like to page through a specific journal (electronically) or find a specific article in a scientific journal?
Using the Electronic Journals Library you can search (in German) for specific journals: You can look for a journal by title or select the overview on a particular subject (e.g. political science). With just a few clicks you can access the available online licences and select a specific issue.

Important: In order to gain access to all journal articles, please use the VPN-Client when you are not logged in through the university’s wireless network (WLAN).

Not all journals are available online. Printed journals can be easily located by searching the title in the local catalogue.

Searching in a Database

If you are interested in researching articles by topic, you may use the Subject Databases (DBIS, only available in German). You can reach the databases from the library homepage:

The database is organised by subject. The databases for Politics and Public Administration are located under “Politologie” (Political Science).

The TOP-Databases for “Politologie” (Political Science). include:

- Business Source Premier (via EBSCO Host, English after clicking the link)

- Social Sciences Citation Index

- WISO (in German only)

- JSTOR

These databases are very useful in the social and administrative sciences and are recommended by many  professors.

In the field of management, the following databases can be especially helpful:

- PsycARTICLES  (English after clicking the link)

- PsycINFO  (English after clicking the link)

Depending on the topic or research focus, it might be helpful to also use databases from related disciplines.

•  KonSearch provides access to numerous newspaper articles. You can specifically search by title and author.

• To access specific newspaper databases:
  1. Go to subject databases (DBIS, in German only).
  2. Select Erweiterte Suche (advanced search).
  3. Under Datenbank-Typen (Database Types), select Zeitungen (Newspapers).

• Nexis (formerly LexisNexis) provides extensive research opportunities:
  Selection of a specific newspaper, issue, or time-frame, etc. This database can be located by typing in “Nexis” in the search field under Subject Databases (DBIS).
  If you want to find out more about using “Nexis”, please see the Show me how to....

Data sources such as the World Value Survey, the European Social Survey, Destasis (Statistisches Bundesamt) and many others can be accessed under: Data records (some available in English). This link also provides helpful information (in German) on how to use and illustrate data. Additionally, here  you can find tips (in German only) on how to access appropriate data. 

You are looking for books or journal articles that are not available through the university library?

Two additional options are available:

1. Inter-library loan

- Go to the library website and select “Dokumentlieferung” (Document Delivery)

- Type in the title of the document (i.e. book)

- Select a location which provides access to the document

- Select “Fernleihe” (inter-library loan), then “Diesen Titel als Fernleihe bestellen” (order this title through inter-library loan).

- The library will inform you as soon as the document has been received.

Students are charged 0,50€ for each order. The remaining difference in cost is covered by state quality assurance funds (compensation for the former tuition fees). 

2. Acquisition request

In the case that reference material is not available, you may submit a request for its acquisition. Please contact Judith Heeg, subject specialist for Politics and Public Administration: via email judith.heeg@uni-konstanz.de or via phone at +49 7531 88-2835

KonSearch allows you to search simultaneously for articles, books and other media in electronic and printed form. Whenever possible, the link to the full text is displayed.

KonSearch Help