The Impact of Digital Technology on Politics: A Case Study

Scholarly Journals and Sources Consulted

A very popular topic for Political Science term papers is “the impact of information technology on politics”. Although that’s not a topic for this class, please use my notes on that topic and substitute your research interests for this course. First, use Google Scholar instead of plain vanilla Google. I can’t stress this enough.Second, pick the best search term. I think “digital technology in politics” yields the most interesting results. Third, enter a Custom Date Range. For this topic, I would start by narrowing it down to 2016 - 2020. There certainly are thoughtful and path-breaking books and articles going back to the 1990’s when the World Wide Web, search engines and browsers came into widespread use. However, if you don’t narrow down your results to the past few years, you will be overwhelmed by the amount of literature on the subject. Fourth, look for scholarly journals that appear frequently in the first few pages of search results. I emphasize journals, not books because the journal articles are more likely available online than the books. Journal articles also have the advantage that the text can be copied while the text of digitized books However, the books shown in the Library Sources below are probably not available through the College Library. So, using Google Scholar may give you access to previews of the most interesting books as part of your research. Another advantage of articles from scholarly journals is that they always end with a section on Sources Consulted. This points you to the best sources for your own research and means that you can quickly get away from Google and get right to the most useful articles. Seven, although I tend to stay away from online books, it helps to find the Library of Congress Classification number for the most useful books in your search. The point is to know where to go in the College Library.  LC number are usually found at the bottom of the publications page of the book. For public libraries, look for the Dewey Decimal number. But public libraries usually have fewer (and older) books. For this particular subject, the more recent the sources, the better! Eight. Another possibility is to search for “digital technology in politics” and “syllabus”. This will show you how professors around the world teach the subject and point you to research sources which you might not be aware of.

What are the prospects for the future? Connect to a theory, if applicable

Your policy recommendations?

What is already being done and by whom to address the problem?

What else needs to be done?

How can regular people (like you) use their “human agency” to help address this global problem? 

Why did you choose that issue?

Why is it important?

How is it defined?

What makes it a “global” issue?

How are regular people affected by the problem?

What is the effect on their human rights and human development?

What are the prospects for the future? Connect to a theory, if applicable

Your policy recommendations?

What is already being done and by whom to address the problem?

What else needs to be done?

How can regular people (like you) use their “human agency” to help address this global problem? 

What is the role of globalization?

Is it part of the problem or the solution? How?